Locus Award Winners for Best Nonfiction, Related, or Reference Work

The Locus Award for Best Nonfiction, Related, or Reference Work is, as one might expect, something of an oddball of an award. The grab bag of winners in the category include biographies, autobiographies, memoirs, graphic novels, and encyclopedias. And these rub shoulders with collections of essays, books on writing, and histories of genre fiction. It seems like any work that doesn't quite fit into one of the other categories is tossed into this one, and then the voters sort it out by selecting from a slate of wildly disparate works. Because of the chaotic nature of this category, it is difficult to evaluate any of the winners as being particularly noteworthy, either as good choices or poor ones.

1976: Alternate Worlds: The Illustrated History of Science Fiction by James E. Gunn
1979: The Way the Future Was by Frederik Pohl
1980: The Science Fiction Encyclopedia edited by Peter Nicholls

1981: In Joy Still Felt: The Autobiography of Isaac Asimov, 1954-1978 by Isaac Asimov

1982: Danse Macabre by Stephen King
1983: The Engines of the Night by Barry N. Malzberg
1984: Dream Makers, Volume II by Charles Platt
1985: Sleepless Nights in the Procrustean Bed by Harlan Ellison
1986: Benchmarks: Galaxy Bookshelf by Algis Budrys
1987: Trillion Year Spree by Brian W. Aldiss with David Wingrove
1988: Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons
1989: First Maitz by Don Maitz
1990: Grumbles from the Grave by Robert A. Heinlein

1991: Science Fiction Writers of America Handbook edited by Kristine Kathryn Rusch and Dean Wesley Smith

1992: Science-Fiction: The Early Years by Everett F. Bleiler
1993: Dinotopia by James Gurney
1994: The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction edited by John Clute and Peter Nicholls
1995: I. Asimov: A Memoir by Isaac Asimov
1996: Science Fiction: The Illustrated Encyclopedia by John Clute
1997: Look at the Evidence by John Clute
1998: The Encyclopedia of Fantasy edited by John Clute and John Grant

1999: The Dreams Our Stuff Is Made Of: How Science Fiction Conquered the World by Thomas M. Disch

2000: Sixty Years of Arkham House by S.T. Joshi
2001: On Writing by Stephen King
2002: Being Gardner Dozois by Michael Swanwick
2003: Tomorrow Now: Envisioning the Next Fifty Years by Bruce Sterling
2004: The Sandman: Endless Nights by Neil Gaiman
2005: The Wave in the Mind by Ursula K. Le Guin

2006: Storyteller: Writing Lessons and More from 27 Years of the Clarion Writers' Workshop by Kate Wilhelm

2007: James Tiptree, Jr.: The Double Life of Alice B. Sheldon by Julie Phillips
2008: Breakfast in the Ruins by Barry N. Malzberg

2009: Coraline: The Graphic Novel by Neil Gaiman, adapted and illustrated by P. Craig Russell

2010: Cheek by Jowl: Essays by Ursula K. Le Guin

2011: Robert A. Heinlein: In Dialogue with His Century: Volume 1: 1907-1948: Learning Curve by William H. Patterson, Jr.

2012: Evaporating Genres: Essays on Fantastic Literature by Gary K. Wolfe
2013: Distrust That Particular Flavor by William Gibson

2014: Wonderbook: The Illustrated Guide to Creating Imaginative Fiction by Jeff VanderMeer

2015: What Makes This Book So Great by Jo Walton

2016: Letters to Tiptree edited by Alisa Krasnostein and Alexandra Pierce
2017: The Geek Feminist Revolution by Kameron Hurley

2018: Luminescent Threads: Connections to Octavia E. Butler edited by Alexandra Pierce and Mimi Mondal

2019: Ursula K. Le Guin: Conversations on Writing by Ursula K. Le Guin and David Naimon

Book Award Reviews     Home