It's time to recognize Global SF

Speculative fiction—including science fiction, fantasy, and related genres—is a global phenomenon. There is a wealth of communities and organizations creating and celebrating SF around the world, and yet, within English-speaking circles, there are no major awards highlighting translated speculative fiction.

The Translated Hugo Initiative wants to change that, by introducing a Hugo Award for Best Translated Work. The Hugos are the annual awards bestowed by the World Science Fiction Society, and generally recognized as the most influential and important award for speculative genres for more than 80 years. However, over the course of the award’s history, only a handful of originally non-English works have made the shortlist, and only a single translated novel has won: Cixin Liu’s The Three-Body Problem, translated by Ken Liu, in 2015.

We believe that it’s a great time to propose this award, due to the strength and variety of speculative fiction being translated today. A shortlist highlighting diverse and interesting science fiction and fantasy from around the world would deepen conversations within fan communities, boost authors and publishers who are expanding what SF is and does, and benefit the librarians, booksellers, educators, and readers who look to the awards for a record of noteworthy books. And, at a time of rising xenophobia & insularity in the the predominant Worldcon host countries, a Translated Hugo would be a small but potent gesture of inclusion toward the world SF community.

Adding a new Hugo category is an involved process. Like the awards themselves, changes to the Hugo structures and rules are proposed and voted on by members of the World Science Fiction Society. Over the coming months and years, we’ll be drafting and revising our proposal, refining our arguments, and considering objections and other feedback. We may see if an upcoming Worldcon is interested in a trial run of the awards as a Special Hugo, and what kind of conversations and programming we can get going in the meantime.

Ultimately, adding the award on a lasting basis will come down to votes at WSFS business meetings, so we’ll be asking supporters to attend and vote in favor when we get to that point. But we’re also planning to show, in the run-up to those votes, that this idea is feasible, that it’s something we can and ought to do, and that it has support among larger fannish and literary communities. We’re going to gather resources that we hope will be useful for interested readers, demonstrate the viability of the project, and support the award as it gets going. We are excited about speculative fiction in translation, and plan to use this project to build on and share that excitement.

So: lots to come, watch this space! If you are a fan of this idea, we’d love it if you added your name to our signatory page, and sign up for our mailing list while you’re at it. You can follow us on Bluesky, and email us with any questions, comments, or suggestions at translatedhugo@gmail.com.

Who we are

Get involved

Our workgroup is run on an open and inclusive framework. Here's how you can help:

• Add your name to the signatory page!
• Share this page so people hear about the initiative! It's hard to get the word out about projects like this—a lot of SFF and literary folks are all split off into separate bubbles. If you're excited about the idea of a Hugo for translated speculative work, spreading the idea on your social medias and other networks of choice would be immensely helpful.
• Translate this website into your own language! Use GitHub to suggest edits directly or reach out to us here!
• Join our work group by reaching out here. We're always looking for more people to help us ideate, write content, reach out to interested parties, and in general make the project work! We're particularly looking to add team members who are:
  • WSFS Members or otherwise involved in the SF convention scene
  • Graphic designers
  • Social media power-users (we could use some help spreading the word and making connections in the BookTok, Bookstagram, & Booktube worlds, and places like Tumblr & Reddit)
  • Translators: as mentioned above, we plan to offer at least some pages on this website in as many languages as we can, and we want to spread the word about the initative to SF groups around the world.
• Attend Worldcon business meetings. If you're already a member of WSFS and want to help us push this initiative, let us know here!