News Item
2026 Mythopoeic Awards Finalists Announced
Posted on June 2, 2026 by Dennis Wise
The Mythopoeic Society has announced the finalists for the 2026 Mythopoeic Awards. For more information about the awards, visit the Awards section of this site; the finalists for the literature and scholarship awards and text of recent acceptance speeches are also listed in this section. The winners of this year’s awards will be announced at Mythcon 54, “Get Your Fantasy Kicks on Route 66,” which runs July 24-27, 2026, in Weatherford, Oklahoma.
You may download the official press release, in PDF format, here.
The Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Adult Literature is given to the fantasy novel, multi-volume, or single-author story collection for adults published during 2024-2025 that best exemplifies the spirit of the Inklings. Books are eligible for two years after publication if selected as a finalist during the first year of eligibility. Books from a series are eligible if they stand on their own; otherwise, the series becomes eligible the year its final volume appears.
The Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Young Adult Literature honors books for Young Adult readers (ages 13-18), and the Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Children’s Literature honors books for younger readers (ages 12 or younger). Rules for eligibility are otherwise the same as for the Adult literature award. The category of borderline books will be determined by their intended audience as named by the publisher and author.
The Mythopoeic Scholarship Award in Inklings Studies is given to books on Tolkien, Lewis, and/or Williams that make significant contributions to Inklings scholarship. For this award, books first published during the last three years (2023-2025) are eligible, including finalists for previous years.
The Mythopoeic Scholarship Award in Myth and Fantasy Studies is given to scholarly books on other specific authors in the Inklings tradition, or to more general works on the genres of myth and fantasy. The period of eligibility is three years, as for the Inklings Studies award.
The winners of this year’s awards will be announced at Mythcon 54, “Get Your Fantasy Kicks on Route 66,” which runs July 24-27, 2026, in Weatherford, Oklahoma.
A complete list of Mythopoeic Award winners is available on the Society web site: Awards. The finalists for the literature and scholarship awards and text of recent acceptance speeches are also listed in this on-line section.
For more information about the Mythopoeic Awards, please contact the Awards Administrator: , awards@mythsoc.org
The Mythopoeic Society has announced the finalists for the 2026 Mythopoeic Awards. For more information about the awards, visit the Awards section of this site; the finalists for the literature and scholarship awards and text of recent acceptance speeches are also listed in this section. The winners of this year’s awards will be announced at Mythcon 54, “Get Your Fantasy Kicks on Route 66,” which runs July 24-27, 2026, in Weatherford, Oklahoma.
You may download the official press release, in PDF format, here.
Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Adult Literature
- Katherine Arden, The Warm Hands of Ghosts (Del Rey 2024)
- Holly Black, The Charlatan Duology (also known as the Book of Night series), consisting of Book of Night (Tor Books 2022) and Thief of Night (Tor Books 2025)
- Martin Cahill, Audition for the Fox (Tachyon 2025)
- Lev Grossman, The Bright Sword (Viking 2024)
- T. Kingfisher, Snake-Eater (47North 2025)
- Jared Pechaček, The West Passage (Tordotcom 2024)
- Samantha Sotto Yambao, Water Moon (Del Rey 2025)
- Emily Tesh, The Incandescent (Tor 2025)
Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Young Adult Literature
- K. Ancrum, The Corruption of Hollis Brow (HarperCollins 2025)
- Amber McBride, The Leaving Room (Feiwel & Friends 2025)
- Margaret Owen, Little Thieves series, consisting of Little Thieves (Henry Holt and Co. 2021), Painted Devils (Henry Holt and Co. 2023), and Holy Terrors (Henry Holt and Co. 2025)
- Vanessa L. Torres, On the Wings of La Noche (Knopf 2025)
Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Children’s Literature
- Aubrey Hartman, The Undead Fox of Deadwood Forest (Little, Brown 2025)
- Sachiko Kashiwaba, The Village Beyond the Mist, translated by Avery Fischer Udagawa (Yonder 2025)
- Victor Pinñeiro, The Island of Forgotten Gods (Sourcebooks Young Readers 2025)
- David A. Robertson, The Misewa Saga, consisting of The Barren Grounds (Tundra 2020), The Great Bear (Puffin Canada 2021), The Stone Child (Puffin Canada 2022), The Portal Keeper (Tundra 2023), The Sleeping Giant (Tundra 2024), and The World’s End (Tundra 2025)
Mythopoeic Scholarship Award for Inklings Studies
- Anahit Behrooz, Mapping Middle-earth: Environmental and Political Narratives in J.R.R. Tolkien’s Cartographies (Bloomsbury Academic 2024)
- Michael D. C. Drout, The Tower and the Ruin: J.R.R. Tolkien’s Creation (Norton 2025)
- Verlyn Flieger, A Real Taste for Fairy-Stories (Walking Tree 2025)
- Thomas P. Hillman, Pity, Power, and Tolkien’s Ring: To Rule the Fate of Many (Kent State UP 2023)
- Giuseppe Pezzini, Tolkien and the Mystery of Literary Creation (Cambridge UP 2025)
- Hamish Williams, J.R.R. Tolkien’s Utopianism and the Classics (Bloomsbury Academic 2023)
Mythopoeic Scholarship Award for Myth and Fantasy Studies
- Patrick Curry, Art and Enchantment: How Wonder Works (Routledge 2023)
- Sophus Helle, editor, Enheduanna: The Complete Poems of the World’s First Author (Yale University Press, 2023)
- Adam Roberts, Fantasy: A Short History (Bloomsbury Academic 2025)
- Paul R. Rovang, The Archetype of the Dying and Rising God in World Mythology (Lexington 2023)
- Dennis Wilson Wise, editor, Speculative Poetry and the Modern Alliterative Revival: A Critical Anthology (Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 2023)
The Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Adult Literature is given to the fantasy novel, multi-volume, or single-author story collection for adults published during 2024-2025 that best exemplifies the spirit of the Inklings. Books are eligible for two years after publication if selected as a finalist during the first year of eligibility. Books from a series are eligible if they stand on their own; otherwise, the series becomes eligible the year its final volume appears.
The Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Young Adult Literature honors books for Young Adult readers (ages 13-18), and the Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Children’s Literature honors books for younger readers (ages 12 or younger). Rules for eligibility are otherwise the same as for the Adult literature award. The category of borderline books will be determined by their intended audience as named by the publisher and author.
The Mythopoeic Scholarship Award in Inklings Studies is given to books on Tolkien, Lewis, and/or Williams that make significant contributions to Inklings scholarship. For this award, books first published during the last three years (2023-2025) are eligible, including finalists for previous years.
The Mythopoeic Scholarship Award in Myth and Fantasy Studies is given to scholarly books on other specific authors in the Inklings tradition, or to more general works on the genres of myth and fantasy. The period of eligibility is three years, as for the Inklings Studies award.
The winners of this year’s awards will be announced at Mythcon 54, “Get Your Fantasy Kicks on Route 66,” which runs July 24-27, 2026, in Weatherford, Oklahoma.
A complete list of Mythopoeic Award winners is available on the Society web site: Awards. The finalists for the literature and scholarship awards and text of recent acceptance speeches are also listed in this on-line section.
For more information about the Mythopoeic Awards, please contact the Awards Administrator: , awards@mythsoc.org