Book prize winners

Locus Award for Best First Novel winners

18 winners and 92 nominees we hold, newest first. A prize can lift demand for a book's first printing, so each entry links to its first edition and the points that identify it.

Winners

  1. 2023 Mountain in the Sea by Ray Nayler First edition not yet identified
  2. 2020 Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir First edition: Tordotcom 2019
  3. 2018 The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter by Theodora Goss First edition not yet identified
  4. 2016 The Grace of Kings (The Dandelion Dynasty) by Ken Liu First edition: Gallery / Saga Press 2015
  5. 2014 Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie First edition not yet identified
  6. 2013 Throne of the Crescent Moon by Saladin Ahmed First edition: DAW Books 2012
  7. 2012 The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern First edition: Doubleday 2011
  8. 2011 The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N. K. Jemisin First edition not yet identified
  9. 2010 The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi First edition: Night Shade Books 2009
  10. 2008 Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill First edition not yet identified
  11. 2007 Black Powder War (temeraire Book 3) by Naomi Novik First edition: Ballantine Books 2006
  12. 2007 Temeraire by Naomi Novik First edition: Voyager 2006
  13. 2005 Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke First edition not yet identified
  14. 2004 Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom by Cory Doctorow First edition: Doherty Associates, Tom 2002
  15. 1999 Brown Girl in the Ring by Nalo Hopkinson First edition: Warner Books 1998
  16. 1995 Gun, with Occasional Music by Jonathan Lethem First edition: Harcourt, Brace 1994
  17. 1988 War for the Oaks by Emma Bull First edition: Ace Books 1987
  18. 1981 Dragon's Egg by Robert L. Forward First edition: Ballantine Books 1980

Shortlisted and nominated

  1. 2024 Chain Gang All Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah First edition: HarperCollins 2022
  2. 2024 Godkiller by Hannah Kaner First edition: HarperCollins 2023
  3. 2024 Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesh First edition: Little, Brown 2022
  4. 2023 How High We Go in the Dark by Sequoia Nagamatsu First edition: Bloomsbury Publishing 2022
  5. 2023 Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree First edition: Tor 2022
  6. 2022 Blood Like Magic by Liselle Sambury First edition: Margaret K. McElderry Books 2021
  7. 2022 Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao First edition: Penguin Teen 2021
  8. 2022 She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan First edition: Tor 2021
  9. 2022 Summer Sons by Lee Mandelo First edition: Tordotcom 2021
  10. 2022 The Chosen and the Beautiful by Nghi Vo First edition: Tordotcom 2021
  11. 2021 Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas First edition: Feiwel & Friends 2020
  12. 2021 Hench by Natalie Zina Walschots First edition: HarperCollins 2020
  13. 2021 Little Eyes by Samanta Schweblin First edition not yet identified
  14. 2021 The Bone Shard Daughter by Andrea Stewart First edition: Orbit 2020
  15. 2021 The Unspoken Name by A. K. Larkwood First edition not yet identified
  16. 2021 Year of the Witching by Alexis Henderson First edition not yet identified
  17. 2020 A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine First edition: Tor 2019
  18. 2020 The Old Drift by Namwali Serpell First edition: Hogarth Press 2019
  19. 2020 The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates First edition: One World 2019
  20. 2020 Waste Tide by Chen Qiufan First edition not yet identified
  21. 2020 Wilder Girls by Rory Power First edition not yet identified
  22. 2019 A Blade So Black by L.L. McKinney First edition: Titan Books 2018
  23. 2019 Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi First edition: Henry Holt 2017
  24. 2019 Semiosis by Sue Burke First edition: Tor 2018
  25. 2019 Severance by Ling Ma First edition: Farrar, Straus and Giroux 2018
  26. 2019 The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang First edition: Harper Voyager 2018
  27. 2019 Witchmark by C. L. Polk First edition: Doherty Associates, Tom 2018
  28. 2018 An Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon First edition: Akashic Books 2017
  29. 2018 Autonomous by Annalee Newitz First edition: Tor 2017
  30. 2018 Dreadnought by April Daniels First edition: Diversion Publishing Corp 2016
  31. 2018 Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders First edition not yet identified
  32. 2018 Winter Tide by Ruthanna Emrys First edition: A Tor.com Book, published by Tom Doherty Associates 2017
  33. 2017 Too Like the Lightning by Ada Palmer First edition: Tor 2016
  34. 2016 Sorcerer to the Crown by Zen Cho First edition not yet identified
  35. 2016 The Devourers by Indrapramit Das First edition not yet identified
  36. 2014 A Stranger in Olondria by Sofia Samatar First edition: Small Beer Press 2012
  37. 2013 Seraphina by Rachel Hartman First edition: Random House 2012
  38. 2013 Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo First edition not yet identified
  39. 2012 Gods War by Kameron Hurley First edition: Night Shade Books 2011
  40. 2012 Ready Player One by Ernest Cline First edition: Crown 2011
  41. 2012 The Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson First edition: Harper Collins 2011
  42. 2012 The Tiger's Wife by Téa Obreht First edition not yet identified
  43. 2011 How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe by Charles Yu First edition: Pantheon Books 2010
  44. 2010 Ash by Malinda Lo First edition: Little, Brown 2009
  45. 2010 Soulless by Gail Carriger First edition: Orbit 2009
  46. 2009 The Gone-Away World by Nick Harkaway First edition: Heinemann 2008
  47. 2008 Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr First edition: HarperTeen 2007
  48. 2007 A Shadow in Summer by Daniel Abraham First edition: Tor 2006
  49. 2007 The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie First edition: Gollancz 2006
  50. 2006 Fly by Night (Fly by Night #1) by Frances Hardinge First edition not yet identified
  51. 2006 Old Man’s War by John Scalzi First edition: Doherty Associates, Tom 2005
  52. 2006 Poison Study by Maria V. Snyder First edition: Luna 2005
  53. 2004 The Darkness That Comes Before by R. Scott Bakker First edition: Penguin Canada 2003
  54. 2004 The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger First edition: MacAdam/Cage 2003
  55. 2003 The Golden Age by John C. Wright First edition: Tor 2002
  56. 2002 The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde First edition: Hodder & Stoughton 2001
  57. 2001 Daughter of the Forest by Juliet Marillier First edition not yet identified
  58. 2001 House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski First edition not yet identified
  59. 2001 Revelation Space by Alastair Reynolds First edition: Gollancz 2000
  60. 2000 King Rat by China Miéville First edition not yet identified
  61. 2000 Rhapsody by Elizabeth Haydon First edition: Doherty Associates, Tom 1999
  62. 2000 Starfish by Peter Watts First edition: Tor 1999
  63. 1999 Daughter of the Blood by Anne Bishop First edition: Roc 1998
  64. 1999 Green Rider by Kristen Britain First edition: DAW Books 1998
  65. 1999 Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by J. K. Rowling First edition: Bloomsbury 1997
  66. 1998 Expendable by James Alan Gardner First edition: Avon Eos 1997
  67. 1996 Primary Inversion by Catherine Asaro First edition: Tor 1995
  68. 1995 Aurian by Maggie Furey First edition: New York Bantam Books 1994 1994
  69. 1995 Vurt by Jeff Noon First edition: Crown 1993
  70. 1995 Wizard's First Rule by Terry Goodkind First edition not yet identified
  71. 1994 Ammonite by Nicola Griffith First edition not yet identified
  72. 1994 The Element of Fire by Martha Wells First edition: Tor 1993
  73. 1993 Fatherland by Robert Harris First edition: Hutchinson 1992
  74. 1993 Jumper by Steven Gould First edition: Tor 1992
  75. 1992 Raft by Stephen Baxter First edition: Grafton 1991
  76. 1990 The Steerswoman by Rosemary Kirstein First edition: Del Rey 1989
  77. 1989 Fool on the Hill by Matt Ruff First edition: Grove Press 1988
  78. 1989 Neverness by David Zindell First edition: D.I. Fine 1988
  79. 1988 Arrows of the Queen by Mercedes Lackey First edition: DAW Books 1987
  80. 1988 Memoirs of an Invisible Man by H. F. Saint First edition not yet identified
  81. 1988 Swordspoint by Ellen Kushner First edition: HarperCollins 1987
  82. 1987 Shards of Honor by Lois McMaster Bujold First edition: Baen Books 1986
  83. 1987 The Hounds of the Morrigan by Pat O'Shea First edition: Oxford University Press 1985
  84. 1986 Song of Kali by Dan Simmons First edition: Doherty Associates, Tom 1985
  85. 1986 Tailchaser's Song by Tad Williams First edition: DAW Books 1985
  86. 1986 The Summer Tree by Guy Gavriel Kay First edition: McClelland & Stewart 1984
  87. 1985 Neuromancer by William Gibson First edition not yet identified
  88. 1983 Magician by Raymond E. Feist First edition: Doubleday 1982
  89. 1982 Lanark by Alasdair Gray First edition: Canongate 1981
  90. 1981 Master of the Five Magics by Lyndon Hardy First edition: Ballantine Books 1980
  91. 1981 Sundiver by David Brin First edition: Bantam Books 1980
  92. 1981 White Light by Rudy Rucker First edition not yet identified

Prize records from Wikidata (CC0). Only books in our catalogue are listed.

We use Google Analytics cookies to count visits and see which pages help collectors. You can opt out at any time. Privacy