57th Seiun Awards: Iori Miyazawa's 'Tokitoki Channel Nai Tenki Tsukutte Mita' Wins Japanese Short Story Category, While R.F. Kuang's 'Babel' and Alastair Reynolds' 'Inverse Region' Share Overseas Long Story Award

The winners of the 57th Seiun Awards were announced today, June 1st.

Iori Miyazawa's 'Tokitoki Channel Nai Tenki Tsukutte Mita' (Sogen Nihon SF Sosho) won the Japanese Short Story category, while R.F. Kuang's 'Babel: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution' (translated by Yoshimichi Furusawa, Overseas Literature Selection) and Alastair Reynolds' 'Inverse Region' (translated by Naoya Nakahara, Sogen SF Bunko) simultaneously won the Overseas Long Story category.

This is a historic achievement, as it is the first time that works from Tokyo Sogensha have won concurrently in one of the Seiun Award categories!

The Seiun Award is determined annually by votes from participants of the Japan SF Convention. Divided into nine categories, it is the oldest and longest-running SF award in Japan.

Iori Miyazawa's 'Tokitoki Channel Nai Tenki Tsukutte Mita': Having achieved the monetization requirement of 500 subscribers, the channel faces a crisis of survival. This is the second installment of streamer SF, told entirely through streaming tone and viewer comments.

R.F. Kuang's 'Babel: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution': Set in the 19th century, where the British Empire dominates the world through the magic of translation. This full-scale fantasy work about the power of language has previously won the Nebula and Locus awards.