Rosewater by Tade Thompson won the Arthur C. Clarke Award today. Congratulations!
My novel Semiosis was on the shortlist, and I’m deeply honored by that.
Just in case, my editor at HarperVoyager in Great Britain, Jack Renninson, came with a speech to read on my behalf. In it, I thank Arthur C. Clark Award judges, for starters:
“The list of people I also need to thank is long: the ones who helped me with critiques and suggestions, the ones who helped me bring it to readers, and the ones who offered support at every stage. A book is a big group project.
“This novel started when I noticed my houseplants fighting with each other for sunlight. I began to learn more about plants, and I discovered how astonishing they are.
“An oak tree is as perfectly prepared for the challenges of survival as a human being, and it struggles as actively and aggressively as we do to meet those challenges. All life here on Earth is closely related and mutually interdependent. I wanted to explore those relationships, and science fiction gave me the tools to do it, especially to focus on one key question: What if our need for each other overcame all other concerns?
“We have that need, here and now. I hope this idea seeped out of the novel. Our survival as a species depends on the survival of countless other species.”
Congratulations, thank you, and survive!
Semiosis 