Lawrence author R.B. Lemberg has won a 2025 World Fantasy Award for a novella in their ongoing speculative fiction series.
World Fantasy Awards are considered one of the most prestigious wins for science fiction, fantasy and speculative titles, alongside Hugo and Nebula awards.
Awardees were announced this weekend at the World Fantasy Convention hosted in Brighton, located in the East Sussex region of England. Lemberg’s book, “Yoke of Stars,” was up against four other international publications for the title of Best Novella.
Lemberg is a prolific poet and speculative fiction author, as well as a professor at KU, where they are the interim director of undergraduate studies for the Department of Slavic, German and Eurasian Studies.
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“Yoke of Stars” is the fourth book in their non-linear Birdverse universe, with companion titles including “The Four Profound Weaves,” “The Unbalancing,” and “Geometries of Belonging.”
Lemberg is a queer, bigender immigrant from Eastern Europe, and their experiences of migration, linguistics and queerness feature heavily in Birdverse.
“Yoke of Stars” features an assassin apprentice, a linguist and a revenge plot. As the two characters share and interweave their narratives, the book explores storytelling’s ability to transcend linguistic and cultural boundaries.
“Haunting, nuanced, and hopeful, ‘Yoke of Stars’ is essential reading,” according to a review from Kansas-born author Izzy Wasserstein. “Lemberg refuses to look away from the hurt we can do to one another, while reminding us that through listening, labor, and mutual support, we can reject patterns of harm and cultivate something better.”
Lemberg was previously shortlisted for the esteemed Le Guin Prize in 2023 and was a finalist for Nebula, Ignyte, Locus, World Fantasy, Otherwise, and more awards. The Best Novella World Fantasy Award marks their inaugural win.
The World Fantasy Convention — featuring announcements of winners across multiple categories for fantasy writing, art and editorial work — has occurred annually since 1975.
“Yoke of Stars” is available for checkout through the Lawrence Public Library, and for purchase via the Raven Book Store.
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