The Shirley Jackson Awards celebrate “outstanding achievement in horror, psychological suspense, and dark fantasy fiction” and are considered one of the premier awards in horror literature. This is the top of the game for horror writers and a true honour for any author wanting to follow in the footsteps of one of the genre’s great contributors.
The awards are voted on by a jury, not popular choice, and the committee awarded this year’s top award, that in the Novel category, to Emma Cline for The Girls.
The Girls follows the story of Evie, a teenager in the 60s who is caught up in a cult. There’s been no shortage of praise for the work since it’s release, so this was no surprise winner.
Another winner on the night was Victor LaValle, for The Ballad of Black Tom, who took home his second Shirley Jackson Award. LaValle previously won the Best Novel award back in 2009 for Big Machine.
The winners in the remainder of the categories were:
NOVELETTE
“Waxy” – Camilla Grudova
SHORT FICTION
“Postcards from Natalie” – Carrie Laben (The Dark)
SINGLE-AUTHOR COLLECTION
A Natural History of Hell – Jeffrey Ford
EDITED ANTHOLOGY
The Starlit Wood – Dominik Parisien & Navah Wolfe, eds.
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