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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Entertainment
Amy Hawkins Senior China correspondent

Science fiction awards held in China under fire for excluding authors

China RF Kuang Xiran Jay Zhao Neil Gaiman
RF Kuang sits on a park bench in Boston, Massachusetts
The bestselling book Babel by RF Kuang was deemed ‘not eligible’ for a prize. Photograph: M Scott Brauer/The Guardian

A prestigious literary award for science fiction, which was hosted in China for the first time, has come under fire for excluding several authors from the 2023 awards, raising concerns about interference or censorship in the awards process.

The New York Times bestseller Babel by RF Kuang, an episode of the Netflix drama The Sandman and the author Xiran Jay Zhao were among the works and authors excluded from the 2023 Hugo awards, which were administered by the World Science Fiction Convention (Worldcon) in Chengdu in October.

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