The winner of the 2014 Crawford Memorial Award, presented annually by the International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts for an outstanding first fantasy book, is Sofia Samatar for A Stranger in Olondria (Small Beer Press).
According to award administrator Gary K. Wolfe, the novel won broad support from the nominating committee. The other books included on this year’s Crawford shortlist are Yoon Ha Lee’s story collection Conservation of Shadows (Prime Books), Helene Wecker’s novel The Golem and the Jinni (Harper), and N.A. Sulway’s novel Rupetta (Tartarus Press).
Participating in this year’s nomination and selection process were Farah Mendlesohn, Cheryl Morgan, Ellen Klages, Graham Sleight, Liza Groen Trombi, Stacie Hanes, Karen Burnham, Candas Jane Dorsey, Jedediah Berry, and Jonathan Strahan. The award will be presented on March 22 during the International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts in Orlando, Florida. The IAFA’s Distinguished Scholarship Award will be presented to Istvan Csicsery-Ronay, Jr., and Vera Cuntz-Leng will receive the Jamie Bishop Memorial Award for a work of scholarship written in a language other than English.