Justina Robson and Geoff Ryman will co-host the Loncon 3 Hugo Awards ceremony on August 17.

Steve Cooper and Alice Lawson, Loncon 3 co-chairs, commented: “Justina and Geoff are greatly liked and admired across the wide Worldcon family and we are sure they will make the 2014 Hugo Awards Ceremony a great success.”

Justina Robson is known for her five Quantum Gravity books and the Transformers Prime official history, The Covenant of Primus. Several of her novels have made the shortlists for the Arthur C. Clarke Award and the British Science Fiction Association (BSFA) Award.

Geoff Ryman’s novel Air (2005) won the John W. Campbell Memorial Award, the Arthur C. Clarke Award, and the Tiptree, Sunburst and BSFA Award. In 2011 he won a Nebula Award for his novelette What We Found.

Fans have wondered about Loncon 3’s delay in making public its choice to succeed Jonathan Ross as Hugo ceremony host. Ross was announced on March 1 and withdrew the same day after his selection lit off massive controversy.

Two months ago the committee named its hosts for the Retro Hugo ceremony but remained quiet about the hosts of the main Hugo Awards ceremony until today.

The full press release follows the jump.

 

Justina Robson and Geoff Ryman to co-host Hugo Awards ceremony

MEDIA RELEASE #31

Loncon 3, the 72nd World Science Fiction Convention

14-18 August 2014 at ExCeL London

http://www.loncon3.org

[email protected]

Justina Robson and Geoff Ryman to co-host Hugo Awards ceremony

London, 17 July 2014 – Leading science fiction and fantasy authors Justina Robson and Geoff Ryman have been named as the co-hosts of the Hugo Awards Ceremony at Loncon 3, the 72nd World Science Fiction Convention (“Worldcon”) being held in London’s ExCeL from 14-18 August.

The Hugo Awards, the leading award for excellence in science fiction and fantasy, have been presented at each Worldcon since 1953 by the World Science Fiction Society. The formal ceremony at Loncon 3 will take place in the evening of Sunday 17 August 2014. Full details of the 2014 Hugo Awards, including a list of the nominees, are available at http://www.loncon3.org/hugo_awards.php

Loncon 3 co-chairs Steve Cooper and Alice Lawson said,

“Justina and Geoff are greatly liked and admired across the wide Worldcon family and we are sure they will make the 2014 Hugo Awards Ceremony a great success.”

Justina Robson has been described by The Guardian as “one of the very best of the new British hard SF writers” and is the author of the five Quantum Gravity books and several other novels as well as the Transformers Prime official history, The Covenant of Primus.

Her debut novel Silver Screen was shortlisted for both the Arthur C. Clarke Award and the British Science Fiction Association (BSFA) Award in 2000. Her second novel Mappa Mundi won the 2000 Amazon.co.uk Writer’s Bursary and was shortlisted for the Arthur C. Clarke Award in 2001. In 2004, her third novel Natural History was shortlisted for the BSFA Award, and came second for the John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Best Science Fiction Novel. She has been a judge for the Arthur C. Clarke award on behalf of the Science Fiction Foundation.

Geoff Ryman has won 15 awards for his short stories, play adaptations, novels, and anthologies. His novel Air (2005) won the John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Best Science Fiction Novel, the Arthur C. Clarke Award, the James W. Tiptree Memorial Award, the Canadian Sunburst Award, and the BSFA Award. What We Found, set in Nigeria, won the Nebula Award for Best Novelette in 2011, and his novel Was has been turned into both a play and a musical.

He currently teaches creative writing at the University of Manchester, sharing the MA prose workshop with Jeanette Winterson. In 2011, he helped set up creative writing programmes in Nigeria at Benue State University in Makurdi and Taraba State University in Jalingo. He also organises ARG! African Reading Groups in both London and Manchester.
For information on how to join the more than 9,000 fans of science fiction and fantasy who have already signed up to attend Loncon 3, please visit http://www.loncon3.org/memberships/.

ENDS

Geoff Ryman on Twitter: @GeoffRyman

Justina Robson on Twitter: @JustinaRobson

For more information please contact [email protected]

ABOUT THE WORLD SCIENCE FICTION CONVENTION

Founded in 1939, the World Science Fiction Convention is one of the largest international gatherings of authors, artists, editors, publishers, and fans of science fiction and fantasy. The annual Hugo Awards, the leading award for excellence in the fields of science fiction and fantasy, are voted on by the Worldcon membership and presented during the convention.

Loncon 3 is the trading name of London 2014 Ltd, a company limited by guarantee, registered in England, company number: 7989510. Registered Office: 176 Portland Road, Jesmond, Newcastle Upon Tyne, NE2 1DJ, UK.

“World Science Fiction Society”, “WSFS”, “World Science Fiction Convention”, “Worldcon”, “NASFiC”, “Hugo Award”, the Hugo Award Logo, and the distinctive design of the Hugo Award Trophy Rocket are service marks of the World Science Fiction Society, an unincorporated literary society.