From 15 to 19 August 2019, my city, Dublin, hosted WorldCon, the world’s largest annual science fiction convention. Over those five days, thousands of fans, readers, writers, filmmakers, artists, and curious onlookers came together to celebrate all things sci-fi, fantasy, horror, fairytale, folklore, or just plain weird.
One highly anticipated segment of the convention each year is the awards ceremony, where the best sci-fi from the past year is showcased, recognized, and celebrated. This year’s awards ceremony, however, was a scene of controversy when British writer Jeannette Ng—winner of the John W. Campbell Award, which recognizes the best new sci-fi writer of the last two years—used her acceptance speech as a platform to launch a withering attack on the award’s namesake.