Kate Heartfield and Fonda Lee are among the winners of the 2024 Aurora Awards.
The annual awards ceremony honors Canadian science fiction and fantasy authors in ten categories, including fiction, young adult literature, poetry, comics, illustration and fan literature.
Toronto-based novelist and journalist Heartfield won the award for best novel for The Valkyriea book inspired by the characters of Norse mythology. The Valkyrie introduces readers to Brünhild, a shieldmaiden of the Allfather Odin, Gudrun, a princess of Burgundy, and Sigurd, a legendary warrior. Legends tell of love, deception, and their intertwined fates – but not all legends are true.
Heartfield’s other books include The Embroidered Book And Armed in their own way, Both were awarded the Aurora Prize for Best Novel.
Canadian-American writer Lee won the award for best novella for Unbound Heaven.
Unbound Heaven is about how far we will go for those we love, even if it means the ultimate sacrifice. When Ester’s mother and brother are killed by a manticore, she becomes obsessed with finding a way to bring justice and some semblance of peace to what’s left of her family.
Her search leads her to the king’s royal stables, where she teams up with a Roc, a flying beast known for hunting manticores, to take part in the hunt. The journey could cost Ester her life, but there’s no turning back now.
Lee has already won three Aurora Awards, including Best Novel for Jade City and best YA novel for Exo. Jade City also won the World Fantasy Award in 2018.
The next chapter18:46Science fiction author Fonda Lee transforms the classic animal story into something fantastic
Fonda Lee explores the natural world in her latest novella, “Untethered Sky,” and puts a fresh twist on the classic animal adventure – with monsters and mythical creatures. She is best known for her epic urban fantasy series, “The Green Bone Saga.”
Other notable winners include Cherie Dimaline and Premee Mohamed.
Dimalines Funeral songs for dying girls won the award for best young adult novel.
Funeral songs for dying girls deals with grief and haunting. Winifred has lived her entire life with her father in an apartment above the Winterson Cemetery office. Shortly before the cemetery closes, rumors start to spread that the cemetery is haunted and Winifred begins to question everything she knows about life, love and death.
Cherie Dimaline is a successful Métis author, best known for her young adult novel The Mark Thieves. The Mark Thievesbecame one of the The 100 best young adult novels of all time according to Time Magazine and was supported by Jully Schwarz To Canada reads 2018. Her other books include VenCo, Red Rooms, The girl who grew a galaxy, A gentle habit And Empire of the Wild.
Q14:02Cherie Dimaline tells how working in the world of magic made her a better writer
Cherie Dimaline talks about her new young adult novel “Funeral Songs for Dying Girls” and how she incorporates socially critical commentary into children’s books.
Mohamed’s story A ghost at every door won the award for best short story.
Mohamed is an Indo-Caribbean scientist and science fiction writer from Edmonton. Her series Beneath the Rising has been nominated for the Crawford Award, the British Fantasy Awards, the Locus Awards and the Aurora Awards.
Your book The annual migration of clouds won the 2022 Aurora Award for Best Novella. Her other books include The Butcher of the Forest, No one will come back for us And The Siege of the Burning Grass, which was shortlisted for the Ursula K. Le Guin Prize for Fiction 2024.
Your latest We speak through the mountain is a sequel to the post-apocalyptic Albertan book The annual migration of cloudsShe was also recently named one of CBC Books’ authors to watch in 2024.
The next chapter11:25This gripping tale is set in the future in the climate crisis-stricken wilderness of Alberta’s Rocky Mountains
Ryan B. Patrick interviews Premee Mohamed about her latest science fiction work, We Speak Through the Mountain, a sequel to the Aurora Award-winning novella The Annual Migration of Clouds.
The full list of winners can be found below.
- Best novel: The Valkyrie by Kate Heartfield
- Best Young Adult Novel: Funeral songs for dying girls by Cherie Dimaline
- Best short story: A ghost at every door by Premee Mohamed
- Best Novella: Unbound Heaven by Fonda Lee
- Best related work: The best Canadian fantasy and science fiction literature of the year: Volume 1 edited by Stephen Kotowych
- Best Graphic Novel or Comic: A Call to Cthulhu by Norm Konyu
- Best poem or song: awakening by Tiffany Morris
- Best cover image or best interior illustration: Augur Magazine, Issue 6.1, Cover Art, Lorna Antoniazzi
- Best Fan Writing and Publication: Polar Borealis Magazine, Issues 24, 25, 26 and 27, edited by R. Graeme Cameron
- Best Fan-Related Work: Ephemera Reading Series, KT Bryski and Jen R. Albert, co-chairs, online
The Aurora Awards have been presented annually since 1980. Some of the winning books are available in accessible formats on the Centre for Equitable Library Access website.
