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8th Nommo Awards 2025 Nominations now open
CONGRATULATIONS TO THE SHORT LIST NOMINEES
& ALL LONG LIST NOMINEES FOR 2020
Below are the Short List Nominees in each of the 4 categories and ALL respective nominees for the 2020 Nommo Awards:
Novel Short List and Long List (The Ilube Nommo Award for Best Speculative Fiction Novel by an African)
Members are given the opportunity to read the following short listed novels online. If you are a member of the ASFS please fill in the Nommo Reader Request Form (with relevant conditions) and submit. If you are an approved member, we will send through access details.
SHORT STORY SHORT LIST
TINY BRAVERY
Ada Nnadi
Ada Nnadi is presently studying for a Bachelor of Science in Psychology at the University of Lagos. She has worked for Brittle Paper as a submissions editor. Her story ‘Tiny Bravery’ made the 2019 Locus Magazine Recommended Reading List for the short story category. She will one day be the mother of many cats —and a dog.
SIN EATER
Chikodili Emelumadu
Chikodili Emelumadu is a writer and broadcaster living in Brighton, East Sussex. She was nominated for a Shirley Jackson award in 2014 for her short story ‘Candy Girl’. She’s been published in Apex, One Throne, Eclectica and many other magazines and anthologies, including the collection African Monsters for which her story ‘Bush Baby’ was nominated for the Caine Prize for African Literature in 2017. She tweets as @chemelumadu.
BETWEEN THE DARK AND THE DARK
Deji Bryce Olukotun
Deji Bryce Olukotun graduated with an MA in Creative Writing from the University of Cape Town, and also holds degrees from Yale College and Stanford Law School. He became the inaugural Ford Foundation Freedom to Write Fellow at PEN American Center, a human rights organization that promotes literature and defends free expression. His work has been published in Guernica, Joyland, Words Without Borders, World Literature Today, and Molussus.
PRINCIPLES OF BALANCE
Ivana Akotowaa Ofori
Ivana Akotowaa Ofori is a Ghanaian storyteller. Self-styled as “The Spider Kid”, she is a weaver of words in many forms, including fiction, non-fiction and spoken-word poetry. She has been longlisted twice for the Writivism Prize, first for nonfiction and second for fiction. Some of her work appears in the Flash Fiction Ghana anthology, Kenkey for Ewes and Other Very Short Stories. When she is not reading or writing, she is likely to be raving online and in person about frustrations with school and life, or about her great love for the color purple.
THE HAUNTING OF 13 OLÚWO STREET
Suyi Davies Okungbowa
Suyi Davies Okungbowa is the author of David Mogo, Godhunter (Abaddon, 2019) and the forthcoming The Nameless Republic trilogy (Orbit, 2021). His fiction and essays have appeared in Tor.com, Lightspeed, Nightmare, Strange Horizons, Fireside and other periodicals and anthologies. Find him at suyidavies.com and at @IAmSuyiDavies on Twitter
WHEN WE DREAM WE ARE OUR GOD
Wole Talabi
Wole Talabi won the 2018 Nommo Award for Best Speculative Short Fiction with ‘The Regression Test’. He also won the Caine Reader’s Prize, related to the Caine Prize for his speculative story ‘Wednesday’s Story’.
The long list consists of all titles in this category that were nominated by members of the ASFS. Some of these works were nominated once, some just missed the shortlist. The ASFS lists them in full to draw attention to all the works members felt worthy of consideration.
2020 SHORT STORY LONG LIST
Acan Innocent Immaculate
(Brittle Paper and Go the Way Your Blood Beats, anthology edited by Anathi Jongilanga, Brittle Paper)
Ada Nnadi
TINY BRAVERY (Omenana)
Ama Josephine Budge
A SHOAL OF LOVERS LEADS ME HOME
(Anathema Magazine)
Ayodele Olufintuade
THE STORM PAINTER (Strange Horizons)
Caldon Mull
REFUGIA (Omenana)
Chikodili Emelumadu
SIN EATER (Omenana)
Chinelo Onwualu
WHAT THE DEAD MAN SAID (Slate.com)
Dare Segun Falowo
VAIN KNIFE (The Dark Magazine)
Deji Bryce Olukotun
BETWEEN THE DARK AND THE DARK (Lightspeed)
Ekari Mbvundula
THE BLUE BALL (Story Ink Africa)
Ekpeki Oghenechovwe Donald
IFE-IYOKU (Selene Quarterly)
Eugen Bacon
A PINING (StylusLit),
THE DAY CHIVALRY DIED (AntipodeanSF),
A GOOD BALL (Other Terrain Journal)
(all from the single-author anthology DYING AND OTHER STORIES)
Hannah Onoguwe
(Timeworn Literary Journal)
Haku Jackson
THE SILENT GOD (Omenana)
Imade Iyamu
(in anthology YOUNG EXPLORERS ADVENTURE GUIDE VOL 6 edited by Corie and Sean Weaver, Dreaming Robot Press)
Innocent Chizaram Ilo
FEMALE COMPUTER WANTED APPLY WITHIN
(Fireside Fiction)
Innocent Chizaram Ilo
RED CROWS (Cosmic Roots and Eldritch Shores)
Ivana Akotowaa Ofori
PRINCIPLES OF BALANCE (Jalada)
Kathleen Kayembe
THE OCEAN THAT FADES INTO SKY (Lightspeed)
Keletso Mopai
BECOMING A GOD (from the single-author anthology IF YOU KEEP DIGGING, BlackBird Books) (Omenana)
Keletso Mopai
(from single-author anthology IF YOU KEEP DIGGING, BlackBird Books)
Kofi Nyameye
(Asimovs Science Fiction)
Lesley Arimah
SKINNED (McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern)
Mame Bougouma Diene
ANOTHER DAY IN THE DESERT (EscapePod)
Mame Bougouma Diene
THE LAST OF HER KIND (Omenana)
Mandisi Nkomo
DROPZONE (Mandisi Nkomo)
Mohale Mashigo
(anthology A WORLD OF HORROR edited by Eric J Guignard, Dark Moon Books)
Nick Wood
(from single-author collection LEARNING MONKEY AND CROCODILE, Luna Press)
Nikhil Singh
(from anthology THE UNQUIET DREAMER: A TRIBUTE TO HARLAN ELLISON edited by Preston Grassman, PS Publishing)
Olufunke Ogundimu
IN-BETWEEN (Jalada)
Ope Adedeji
AFTER THE BIRDS (McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern)
Osahon Ize-Iyamu
FLAGS FLYING BEFORE A FALL (Strange Horizons)
Osahon Ize-Iyamu
IN THE GARDEN WATCHING NIM-NOMS (Omenana)
Osahon Ize-Iyamu
WHO HAS NEVER LOVED A GENTLE HOUSE?
(Strange Horizons)
Osahon Ize-Iyamu
THEREIN LIES A SOUL (The Dark Magazine)
‘Pemi Aguda
MANIFEST 11 (Granta)
‘Pemi Aguda
24 ALHAJI WILLIAMS STREET (Zoetrope)
Rafeeat Aliyu
WHERE THE RAIN MOTHERS ARE (Strange Horizons)
Rafeif Ismail
SOMETHING LIKE REVOLUTION (Meanjin Quarterly)
Shingai Kagunda
HOLDING ON TO WATER (Omenana)
Stephen Embleton
THE GIRL WITH TWO BODIES (Kalahari Review)
Suyi Davies Okungbowa
THE HAUNTING OF 13 OLÚWO STREET (Fireside)
Suyi Davies Okungbowa
A LIGHT FOR THE DARK UNDER (Brick Moon)
(also in the anthology IT STARTS WITH A HEIST (Brick Moon)
Tariro Ndoro
(anthology HOTEL AFRICA, Short Story Day Africa)
Tariro Ndoro
(in NOWHEREVILLE: WEIRD IS OTHER PEOPLE, Broken Eye Books)
T L Huchu
CORIALIS (Fiyah)
Tiah Marie Beautement
THE AMERICAN REFUGEE (Cast of Wonders Podcast)
Tobi Ogundiran
FAÊL (Beneath Ceaseless Skies)
Wole Talabi
(Apex Magazine and ALL BORDERS ARE TEMPORARY, TrAP Magazine)
Wole Talabi
ABEOKUTA52 (Omenana)
Wole Talabi
(in NOWHEREVILLE: WEIRD IS OTHER PEOPLE, Broken Eye Books)
SHORT STORIES LONG LISTED BUT NOT ELIGIBLE
Blaize Kaye
BRAND NEW WAYS TO LOSE YOU OVER AND OVER
– short listed 2019 (Omenana)
Dare Segun Falowo
NGOZI UGEGBE NWA – published 2020
(The Dark Magazine)
Derek Lubangakene
ORIGAMI ANGELS – not eligible shortlisted 2019
(Omenana)
Henrietta Rose-Innes
LIMERENCE – first published 2016
(Some Such Stories)
Innocent Chizaram Ilodianya
RAT AND FINCH ARE FRIENDS – published 2020
(Strange Horizons)
Tiah Marie Beautement
MOMENTO MORI – shortlisted 2019
(Omenana)
T L Huchu
NJUZU – shortlisted 2019
(first published in AfroSFV3 edited by Ivor W. Hartmann and in the Johannesburg Review of Books)
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