Science fiction authors were excluded from awards for fear of offending China

[queenursula]

Organizers of the Hugo Awards, one of the most prominent literary awards in science fiction, excluded multiple authors from shortlists last year over concerns their work or public comments could be offensive to China, leaked emails show. https://t.co/reJJbY0U3a
- NBC News (@NBCNews) February 16, 2024
Organizers of the Hugo Awards, one of the most

Comments

[siaht]

The world really eats out of CCP's hands.

[dbwayfarer]

The really wild thing here is that, based on a story about this I read yesterday, no Chinese people were included in this decision-making process. It was a bunch of non-Chinese speculating, even on books they admit to never having read and not having any concrete ideas about what might be seen as problematic.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/1ar5x8i/chengdu_hugo_committee_emails_revealed/

[melancolour]

wow, what a fucking mess. They should be ashamed.

[aotearoagal]

Maybe don't host your awards there then.

[silverstarry]

Esquire did a very detailed article about what happened which includes this info about the 2021 voting process to have the 2023 Hugo Awards held in China

[fernandocolunga]

i'm tired y'all

[emptyobsidian]

The email about Zhao’s book is wild. Spelled their name wrong repeatedly, could not come up with the correct book title, absolutely zero talk of the QUALITY of the book, just if reimagining a Chinese myth as a Chinese person might offend China.

In fact, every email just...ignored quality and just talked about who wouldn't ruffle feathers. Absolutely embarrassing. They just shot any credibility they had.

[afeelingunacted]

They just shot any credibility they had.

I know they are highly sought after but they ultimately are just a fan award/popularity contest. And this extra bit of dumb censorship just exposes how hollow they really are.