World Fantasy Award—Novel
The World Fantasy Awards are given each year by the World Fantasy Convention for the best fantasy fiction published in English during the previous calendar year. The awards have been described by book critics such as The Guardian as a "prestigious fantasy prize", and one of the three most prestigious speculative fiction awards, along with the Hugo and Nebula Awards. The World Fantasy Award—Novel is given each year for fantasy novels published in English or translated into English. A work of fiction is defined by the organization as a novel if it is 40,000 words or longer; awards are also given out for pieces of shorter lengths in the Short Fiction and Long Fiction categories. The Novel category has been awarded annually since 1975.
World Fantasy Award nominees and winners are decided by attendees and judges at the annual World Fantasy Convention. A ballot is posted in June for attendees of the current and previous two conferences to determine two of the finalists, and a panel of five judges adds three or more nominees before voting on the overall winner. The panel of judges is typically made up of fantasy authors and is chosen each year by the World Fantasy Awards Administration, which has the power to break ties. The final results are presented at the World Fantasy Convention at the end of October. Winners were presented with a statue in the form of a bust of H. P. Lovecraft through the 2015 awards; more recent winners receive a statuette of a tree.
During the 45 nomination years, 159 authors have had works nominated; 46 of them have won, including ties. Five authors have won twice: Gene Wolfe, out of eight nominations; Tim Powers, out of five; Patricia McKillip, out of four; Jeffrey Ford, out of three; and James K. Morrow for both of his nominations. Wolfe has the most nominations for an author who has won at least once, while Stephen King has the most nominations without winning, at nine, followed by Charles L. Grant at six and Jonathan Carroll at five.
is one of only five authors who have won the World Fantasy Award Novel category twice.
Winners and nominees
In the following table, the years correspond to the date of the ceremony, rather than when the novel was first published. Each year links to the corresponding "year in literature". Entries with a blue background and an asterisk next to the writer's name have won the award; those with a white background are the other nominees on the shortlist.* Winners
| Year | Author | Novel | Publisher/publication | Ref. |
| * | Atheneum Books | |||
| Merlin's Ring | Ballantine Books | |||
| Doubleday | ||||
| * | Bid Time Return | Viking Press | ||
| Salem's Lot | Doubleday | |||
| * | Doctor Rat | Alfred A. Knopf | ||
| Farrar, Straus and Giroux | ||||
| Dark Crusade | Warner | |||
| Bobbs-Merrill Company | ||||
| Ballantine Books | ||||
| Quartet, DAW Books | ||||
| * | Our Lady of Darkness | Berkley Books | ||
| Holt, Rinehart & Winston | ||||
| Doubleday | ||||
| * | Gloriana | Avon Publications | ||
| Charles Scribner's Sons | ||||
| Night's Master | DAW Books | |||
| Doubleday | ||||
| Doubleday | ||||
| * | Watchtower | Berkley Books | ||
| Berkley Books | ||||
| Atheneum Books | ||||
| Harpist in the Wind | Atheneum Books | |||
| Doubleday | ||||
| St. Martin's Press | ||||
| * | Simon & Schuster | |||
| Ariosto | Pocket Books | |||
| Firelord | Doubleday | |||
| Dark Forces | ||||
| Shadowland | Coward, McCann & Geoghegan | |||
| * | Little, Big | Bantam Books | ||
| Timescape | ||||
| Macmillan Publishers | ||||
| Timescape | ||||
| Viking Press | ||||
| * | Nifft the Lean | DAW Books | ||
| Fevre Dream | Poseidon Press | |||
| Pocket Books | ||||
| Phantom | Atheneum Books | |||
| Timescape | ||||
| * | Timescape | |||
| Poseidon Press | ||||
| Lyonesse | Berkley Books | |||
| Pet Sematary | Doubleday | |||
| Tea with the Black Dragon | Bantam Books | |||
| Taplinger | ||||
| * | Bridge of Birds | St. Martin's Press | ||
| * | Mythago Wood | Victor Gollancz | ||
| Archer's Goon | Methuen Publishing | |||
| Viking Press | ||||
| Viking Press | ||||
| Viking Press | ||||
| * | Song of Kali | Bluejay Books | ||
| Weidenfeld & Nicolson | ||||
| Bantam Spectra | ||||
| Illywhacker | Harper & Row | |||
| Alfred A. Knopf | ||||
| Winterking | Atlantic Monthly Press | |||
| * | Perfume | Alfred A. Knopf | ||
| It | Viking Press | |||
| Tor Books | ||||
| Soldier of the Mist | Tor Books | |||
| Strangers | Putnam Publishing Group | |||
| Talking Man | Arbor House | |||
| J. M. Dent & Sons | ||||
| * | Replay | Arbor House | ||
| Ægypt | Bantam Spectra | |||
| Misery | Viking Press | |||
| On Stranger Tides | Ace Books | |||
| Seventh Son | Tor Books | |||
| Swan Song | Pocket Books | |||
| Weaveworld | Poseidon Press, William Collins, Sons | |||
| * | Koko | E. P. Dutton, Viking Press | ||
| Bantam Spectra | ||||
| Fade | Victor Gollancz, Delacorte Press | |||
| Mark V. Ziesing, Ace Books | ||||
| St. Martin's Press | ||||
| Sleeping in Flame | Legend, Doubleday | |||
| * | Madouc | Underwood–Miller | ||
| Carrion Comfort | Dark Harvest | |||
| Legend, Century | ||||
| In a Dark Dream | Tor Books | |||
| Soldier of Arete | Tor Books | |||
| Ace Books | ||||
| * | Only Begotten Daughter | William Morrow and Company | ||
| * | Thomas the Rhymer | William Morrow and Company | ||
| Good Omens | Victor Gollancz, Workman Publishing Company | |||
| Good Omens | Victor Gollancz, Workman Publishing Company | |||
| Mary Reilly | Doubleday | |||
| Tigana | Viking Press | |||
| * | Boy's Life | Pocket Books | ||
| Bone Dance | Ace Books | |||
| Hunting the Ghost Dancer | HarperCollins | |||
| William Morrow and Company | ||||
| Outside the Dog Museum | Macdonald | |||
| Ace Books | ||||
| * | Last Call | William Morrow and Company | ||
| Anno Dracula | Simon & Schuster, Carroll & Graf Publishers | |||
| Briar Rose | Tor Books | |||
| Photographing Fairies | Ballantine Books | |||
| Was | HarperCollins, Alfred A. Knopf | |||
| * | Glimpses | William Morrow and Company | ||
| Drawing Blood | Delacorte Abyss | |||
| Roc Books | ||||
| Millennium, Morrow AvoNova | ||||
| Lord of the Two Lands | Tor Books | |||
| Skin | Delacorte Abyss | |||
| E. P. Dutton, Borderlands Press | ||||
| * | Towing Jehovah | Harcourt Brace | ||
| Brittle Innings | Bantam Books | |||
| Harcourt Brace | ||||
| From the Teeth of Angels | HarperCollins, Doubleday | |||
| Love & Sleep | Bantam Books | |||
| Waking the Moon | HarperCollins, HarperPrism | |||
| * | Touchstone Books | |||
| All the Bells on Earth | Ace Books | |||
| Expiration Date | HarperCollins, Tor Books | |||
| Red Earth and Pouring Rain | Little, Brown and Company | |||
| Requiem | Michael Joseph, Signet Creed | |||
| AvoNova | ||||
| * | Godmother Night | St. Martin's Press | ||
| St. Martin's Press | ||||
| Doubleday | ||||
| Devil's Tower | Del Rey Books | |||
| HarperCollins Voyager, Bantam Spectra | ||||
| DAW Books | ||||
| DAW Books | ||||
| DAW Books | ||||
| Shadow of Ashland | Forge Books | |||
| * | Avon Publications | |||
| American Goliath | St. Martin's Press | |||
| Harcourt Brace | ||||
| Dry Water | Avon Publications | |||
| Tor Books | ||||
| Trader | Tor Books | |||
| * | HarperFlamingo | |||
| Forge Books | ||||
| Mockingbird | Ace Books | |||
| Sailing to Sarantium | Earthlight, Viking Press | |||
| Someplace to Be Flying | Tor Books | |||
| * | Thraxas | Orbit Books | ||
| Gardens of the Moon | Bantam Books | |||
| Ace Books | ||||
| Ace Books | ||||
| Tamsin | Roc Books | |||
| Forge Books | ||||
| * | Declare | Subterranean Press, William Morrow and Company | ||
| * | Galveston | Ace Books | ||
| Scholastic, Alfred A. Knopf | ||||
| Bantam Spectra | ||||
| Lord of Emperors | Viking Press, HarperPrism | |||
| Perdido Street Station | Macmillan Publishers, Del Rey Books | |||
| * | Harcourt | |||
| American Gods | William Morrow and Company | |||
| Brown Harvest | Four Walls Eight Windows | |||
| Eos | ||||
| From the Dust Returned | William Morrow and Company | |||
| Tor Books | ||||
| Tor Books | ||||
| * | Victor Gollancz | |||
| * | Ombria in Shadow | Ace Books | ||
| Fitcher's Brides | Tor Books | |||
| William Morrow and Company | ||||
| Macmillan Publishers, Del Rey Books | ||||
| * | Tooth and Claw | Tor Books | ||
| Prime Books | ||||
| Fudoki | Tor Books | |||
| Ace Books | ||||
| Veniss Underground | Prime Books | |||
| * | Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell | Bloomsbury Press | ||
| Iron Council | Del Rey Books, Macmillan Publishers | |||
| Perfect Circle | Small Beer Press | |||
| Putnam Publishing Group, Victor Gollancz | ||||
| Tor Books | ||||
| * | Kafka on the Shore | Harvill Press, Alfred A. Knopf | ||
| Victor Gollancz, Atria | ||||
| Lunar Park | Alfred A. Knopf, Macmillan Publishers | |||
| Od Magic | Ace Books | |||
| Tor Books | ||||
| Vellum | Macmillan Publishers, Del Rey Books | |||
| * | Soldier of Sidon | Tor Books | ||
| Victor Gollancz, Bantam Spectra | ||||
| Lisey's Story | Charles Scribner's Sons, Hodder & Stoughton | |||
| In the Night Garden | Bantam Spectra | |||
| Bantam Spectra, Small Beer Press | ||||
| * | Ysabel | Viking Press, Roc Books | ||
| Fangland | Penguin Press | |||
| Tor Books | ||||
| Earthling Publications | ||||
| Territory | Tor Books | |||
| * | William Morrow and Company | |||
| * | Tender Morsels | Allen & Unwin, Alfred A. Knopf | ||
| HarperCollins, Bloomsbury Press | ||||
| Tor Books | ||||
| Pandemonium | Del Rey Books | |||
| * | Macmillan Publishers, Del Rey Books | |||
| Blood of Ambrose | Pyr | |||
| Finch | Underland Press | |||
| In Great Waters | Jonathan Cape, Del Rey Books | |||
| Roc Books | ||||
| * | Who Fears Death | DAW Books | ||
| Orbit Books | ||||
| Redemption in Indigo | Small Beer Press | |||
| Victor Gollancz, Doubleday | ||||
| Under Heaven | Viking Press, Roc Books | |||
| Zoo City | Jacana Media, Angry Robot | |||
| * | Osama | DAW Books | ||
| 11/22/63 | Charles Scribner's Sons | |||
| Among Others | Tor Books | |||
| Tor Books | ||||
| Those Across the River | Ace Books | |||
| * | Alif the Unseen | Grove, Corvus | ||
| Orbit Books | ||||
| Some Kind of Fairy Tale | Victor Gollancz | |||
| Roc Books | ||||
| Crandolin | Chomu Press | |||
| * | Small Beer Press | |||
| Dust Devil on a Quiet Street | Lethe Press | |||
| Tor Books | ||||
| William Morrow and Company | ||||
| Harper | ||||
| Tor Books | ||||
| 2015 | * | Random House | ||
| 2015 | Area X: The Southern Reach Trilogy | Farrar, Straus and Giroux | ||
| 2015 | City of Stairs | Jo Fletcher Books | ||
| 2015 | Tor Books | |||
| 2015 | My Real Children | Tor Books | ||
| 2016 | * | Sceptre | ||
| 2016 | Orbit Books | |||
| 2016 | Uprooted | Del Rey Books | ||
| 2016 | Savages | Subterranean Press | ||
| 2016 | Alfred A. Knopf | |||
| 2016 | William Morrow and Company | |||
| 2017 | * | Redhook Books | ||
| 2017 | Borderline | Saga Press | ||
| 2017 | Lovecraft Country | Harper | ||
| 2017 | Orbit Books | |||
| 2017 | Roadsouls | Aqueduct Press | ||
| 2018 | * | Spiegel & Grau | ||
| 2018 | * | Jade City | Orbit Books | |
| 2018 | Harper Voyager | |||
| 2018 | Ka: Dar Oakley in the Ruin of Ymr | Saga Press | ||
| 2018 | Spoonbenders | Alfred A. Knopf | ||
| 2018 | Saga Press | |||
| 2019 | * | Witchmark | Tor.com Publishing | |
| 2019 | In the Night Wood | John Joseph Adams Books | ||
| 2019 | MCD | |||
| 2019 | Harper Voyager | |||
| 2019 | Trail of Lightning | Saga Press |