Every year the Hugo Awards are given to top science fiction writers. The awards are given in different cities; last year they were handed out in Chengdu, China. Members of the World Science Fiction Society can nominate up to five works in different categories. The six works with the most nominations are finalists. Unfortunately a number of authors nominated were marked as “not eligible” by the administrators.
It turns out that those ineligible authors were of Chinese descent. They had left China, and the administrators were afraid the Chinese government would take offense, especially since some of the authors had mentioned Tibet or Taiwan.
Note that this was not done on the behest of China. It was done by people who were afraid of China. The awards for 2023 missed some great science fiction, including Babel by R. F. Kuang, which I must ask my library to purchase if they haven’t already.
See Alexandra Alter, “Fear of China Taints Literary Prize, Leaked Emails Show,” New York Times, (Feb. 21, 2024) p. C3.
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