EJ Swift Wins 2026 Arthur C Clarke Award for Climate-Focused Science Fiction

EJ Swift’s novel When There Are Wolves Again has been named the winner of the 2026 Arthur C Clarke Award, the prize given each year to “the best science-fiction novel” first published in the United Kingdom during the previous year. The award carries a £2,026 prize, continuing the incremental increase established in 2001.

The Guardian

The book follows two women across half a century in a near-future Britain. Lucy, whose childhood is shaped by Covid lockdowns, becomes a climate activist campaigning to re-wild the nation’s habitats. Hester, a documentary-maker, carries the legacy of the Chernobyl disaster. Critics have highlighted its character-driven argument for rewilding and its passionate love of nature.

The Guardian

Judges evaluated a record 132 submissions from 52 UK publishing imprints and independent authors. The shortlist included Matt Dinniman’s *Dungeon Crawler Carl*, Laila Lalami’s *The Dream Hotel*, Silvia Park’s *Luminous*, qntm’s *There Is No Antimemetics Division*, and Lorraine Wilson’s *The Salt Oracle*. The panel was chaired by Dr Andrew M Butler, a critic and academic, and comprised film and translation scholar Eliza Claudia Filimon, writer Antony Jones, novelist and editor Tiffani Angus, space physicist John Coxon, and games-studies professor Esther MacCallum-Stewart.

The Guardian

Award director Tom Hunter said the prize underscores science fiction’s capacity to present alternative futures rather than deterministic predictions. Guardian reviewer Lisa Tuttle called it “evocative and beautifully written,” praising its argument for rewilding. Swift cites Margaret Atwood, Barbara Kingsolver, Kim Stanley Robinson and Emily St John Mandel among her influences; the award’s lineage includes Atwood’s 1987 win for *The Handmaid’s Tale*, Colson Whitehead’s 2017 win for *The Underground Railroad*, and Emily St John Mandel’s 2015 win for *Station Eleven*.

The Guardian

“Science fiction at its most powerful is often not about predicting the future but showing us that no one future has to be inevitable.” — Tom Hunter

The Guardian