Author photo by Peter W. Allen

The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association has announced that the 2025 Kate Wilhelm Solstice Award will be presented to Eugen Bacon!

The Kate Wilhelm Solstice Award is bestowed by SFWA to a person who has made significant contributions to the science fiction, fantasy, and related genres community.

SFWA President Kate Ristau shared,

We are proud to celebrate Eugen for her continued work in the community, challenging us to create and contextualize our own creative practice. In her Bloomsbury Academic book Writing Speculative Fiction, Eugen tells us there’s a story in you. With her curiosity, playfulness, and keen eye for storytelling, Eugen continues to inspire and motivate the speculative fiction community to write that story. Thank you, Eugen, for your passionate leadership and support.

Eugen Bacon is an Tanzanian-Australian author of several novels and collections. She’s a British Fantasy and Foreword Indies Award winner, a twice World Fantasy Award finalist, and a finalist for the Shirley Jackson, Philip K. Dick, Victorian Premier’s Literary Award in Australia, and the Nommo Awards for speculative fiction by Africans. Bacon is also part of the Sauúti Collective. Her recent publications include a collection of short stories A Place Between Waking and Forgetting (Raw Dog Screaming Press) and the edited anthology Afro-Centered Futurisms in Our Speculative Fiction (Bloomsbury Academic).

In accepting the Solstice Award, Bacon said,

I am beyond words—we don’t always feel visible. Deepest thanks to SFWA for this amazing recognition! I see the work you do, and can only stay earnest in the hope that science fiction and fantasy writers, globally, will continue to make a difference in these particularly challenging times. My heart is glowing.

The 2025 Kate Wilhelm Solstice Award will be presented to Eugen Bacon at an awards ceremony on June 7, 2025 as part of the 60th Annual SFWA Nebula Awards Conference, which will be held online and in-person from June 5–8, 2025 in Kansas City, Missouri. Registration for the conference, in both formats, is now open here.

Congratulations to Eugen Bacon!