I yes’d my way through Renan Bernado’s Hyperspace of Words newsletter earlier this week. His words on global representation are so important and spot-on that I asked if he’d like me to echo his post on my site. I am pleased to share this with you all. And introduce those of you who don’t know Renan to his work.
A Nebula Finalist and Ignyte Nominee, Renan writes science fiction and fantasy. (His full bio at bottom.) We’ve not met in person, yet I feel like we have! (Renan lives in Brazil, I on Turtle Island.)
We connected in solarpunk circles—he was one of the first authors to blurb my novel, The Working. (See “Praise for” on my site.) His inspiring solarpunk collection Different Kinds of Defiance launched around the same time as my novel. We’re both included in Bright Green Futures, edited by Susan Kaye Quinn who’s connected our group of hopeful-future writers beyond the anthology.
Renan mentions N.K. Jemisin’s speech at the Nebulas, which was also potent and inspiring. I encourage you to view it.
Here is his post in entirety:
A brief thought on the 2026 Nebula Awards and the state of global SFF
“The fact that I’m writing this in English and not in (colonizer’s) Portuguese or any other of the more than 200 indigenous languages of Brazil has a lot to say.”
by Renan Bernardo, 08 June 2026
The 61st Nebula Conference happened last weekend in Chicago and the Nebulas were awarded to the winners as picked by the SFWA members during March/April 2026 from the finalists pool of each category. This year, I had the honor of having my novella, Disgraced Return of the Kap’s Needle, among its finalists. I couldn’t travel to Chicago but attended the virtual conference, which featured (among other amazing moments) N. K. Jemisin listing Black Brazilian author Machado de Assis (who wrote several SFF pieces!) alongside Ursula K. Le Guin and Gabriel García Marquez in her powerful speech as recipient for the Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award.
This year was deeply special to me and for Brazilian authors and artists because we had two Brazilian authors in the novella category (myself and Hache Pueyo) and two Brazilian artistsi working in Helen of Wyndhorn, by Tom King (Matheus Lopes and Bilquis Evely). While none of us won, after two Brazilian features were nominated for the Oscars in the past two years, we keep saying: “a nomination is already a win”. And I think it holds true for everyone in the final ballot as I can attest from talking with my finalist peers.
Those who know me are aware I’m an advocate for more global representation in SFF awards in general. Back in 2020 and 2021, when I helped organizing (and participated in) Futurecon, I admit I had my hopes high that the field was skewing to be more inclusive of non-Western, non-Eurocentric, non-Anglophone cultures and voices. I still see more progress than before the beginning of the pandemicii, but that seems to have receded a little. It’s mostly an impression and not an irrefutable truth, but it feels to me that during the pandemic the world was forced to occupy the same space. It brought a little bit more equity to the field, allowing broader participation of disabled, disenfranchised, and global authors and fans—at least pertaining to participation in cons and workshopsiii, but also reflecting elsewhere.
One thing I’ve heard a lot over the years is that global authors shouldn’t complain that these awards tend to be Anglocentric because they’re awarding works written in English. While I understand that they’ll naturally skew to writers from places where English is a native language, I always like to remind people of the imperial role of the English language (stemming both from the British Empire and, more recently, from the USian cultural and financial empire). English is not only the language of those countries, but it’s a language that was imposed (sometimes swiftly, other times not as much) for more than a centuryiv. We have people in the whole world expressing themselves in English for the most varied reasons. The fact that I’m writing this in English and not in (colonizer’s) Portuguese or any other of the more than 200 indigenous languages of Brazil has a lot to say.
There’s also a lot to say about works in translation! Translators and authors publishing in other languages are under heavy scrutiny due to the proliferation of another virus: LLMs. I won’t elaborate on this here, but I’ve recently read some demeaning accusations and thoughts about works in translation, calling them either inferior or “just machine-translated”. While we must be aware and fight against the sloppification of art and the use of these tools in any part of an artistic endeavour, we must be careful before we attack or virtue-signal our peers (because that is precisely what Big Tech is aiming for—it’s easier to introduce an idea or tool as a solution if everyone is shouting at each other).
Anyway, I’m deeply grateful to everyone who voted on Kap’s Needle for the Nebulas and I’m extremely happy to be among this amazing roster of authors. Back in 2024, when I was finalist for Best Novelette (for a translated work!), I was pretty sure it would be an one-time occurrence, and yet it wasn’t. That makes me hopeful.
Last but not least, congratulations to all the winners of the Nebula Awards!
[List of 2026 Nebula finalists provided by Renan are below his bio.]i The awards for comics will be renamed in following years to specify that it’s for comic book writers, but we all know that a comic book is a project that encompasses all the people involved in its craft.
ii As far as I know, the pandemic is still ongoing, even though it’s not considered a public emergency anymore.
iii Considering that the field is heavily centered around the United States, the current political status quo in the country is also very unwelcome for many, including people living in and out of the US.
iv Take the Worldcon, for example. As many have noted elsewhere, the con was originally supposed to have a global quality to it, but it’s mostly a US-focused conference nowadays, even when it’s held in other countries.
Renan Bernardo is an author of science fiction and fantasy.
He is a Nebula Finalist, Ignyte Nominee, Utopian nominee, and a Locus-recommended author. His work has been published in English, Portuguese, Chinese, German, Italian, and Japanese.
You can find his stories in several publications, including Clarkesworld, Reactor (Tor.com), Apex Magazine, Podcastle, Escape Pod, Samovar, Solarpunk Magazine, Translunar Travelers Lounge, and more.
His collection of Solarpunk/Climate Fiction stories, DIFFERENT KINDS OF DEFIANCE, was published in 2024 by Android Press. His dark space opera novella, DISGRACED RETURN OF THE KAP’S NEEDLE, was published in 2025 by Dark Matter Ink and was a finalist for the Nebula Award.
Here are all the finalists and winners (marked with a * and in bold) are below:
The Nebula Award for Best Novel
When We Were Real, by Daryl Gregory (Saga)
* The Buffalo Hunter Hunter, by Stephen Graham Jones (Saga; Titan UK)
Katabasis, by R.F. Kuang (Harper Voyager US; Harper Voyager UK)
Death of the Author, by Nnedi Okorafor (Morrow; Gollancz)
The Incandescent, by Emily Tesh (Tor; Orbit UK)
Sour Cherry, by Natalia Theodoridou (Tin House; Wildfire)
Wearing the Lion, by John Wiswell (DAW; Arcadia)
The Nebula Award for Best Novella
Disgraced Return of the Kap’s Needle, by Renan Bernardo (Dark Matter INK)
* The River Has Roots, by Amal El-Mohtar (Tordotcom; Arcadia)
The Death of Mountains, by Jordan Kurella (Lethe)
Automatic Noodle, by Annalee Newitz (Tordotcom)
But Not Too Bold, by Hache Pueyo (Tordotcom)
“Descent”, by Wole Talabi (Clarkesworld 5/25)
The Nebula Award for Best Novelette
“Our Echoes Drifting Through the Marsh”, by Marie Croke (Beneath Ceaseless Skies 1/9/25)
* “Uncertain Sons”, by Thomas Ha (Uncertain Sons)
“We Begin Where Infinity Ends”, by Somto Ihezue (Clarkesworld 2/25)
The Name Ziya, by Wen-Yi Lee (Reactor)
“Never Eaten Vegetables”, by H.H. Pak (Clarkesworld 1/25)
“The Life and Times of Alavira the Great as Written by Titos Pavlou and Reviewed by Two Lifelong Friends”, by Eugenia Triantafyllou (Uncanny 3-4/25)
The Nebula Award for Best Short Story
“Through the Machine”, by P.A. Cornell (Lightspeed 5/25)
“Six People to Revise You”, by J.R. Dawson (Uncanny 1-2/25)
“In My Country”, by Thomas Ha (Clarkesworld 4/25)
“The Tawlish Island Songbook of the Dead”, by E.M. Linden (PodCastle 2/18/25)
“Because I Held His Name Like a Key”, by Aimee Ogden (Strange Horizons 6/16/25)
* “Laser Eyes Ain’t Everything”, by Effie Seiberg (Diabolical Plots 5/25)
The Andre Norton Nebula Award for Middle Grade and Young Adult Fiction
The Tower, by David Anaxagoras (Recorded Books)
Gemini Rising, by Jonathan Brazee (Semper Fi Press)
Wishing Well, Wishing Well, by Jubilee Cho (Atthis Arts)
Sunrise on the Reaping, by Suzanne Collins (Scholastic)
* Into the Wild Magic, by Michelle Knudsen (Candlewick)
Goblin Girl, by K.A. Mielke (self-published)
The Nebula Award for Best Game Writing
Spire, Surge, and Sea, by Stewart C. Baker (Choice of Games)
* Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, by Guillaume Broche, & Jennifer Svedberg-Yen (Kepler Interactive), Developer: Sandfall Interactive, Sandfall S.A.S.
Hollow Knight: Silksong, by Ari Gibson & William Pellen (Team Cherry)*
Dispatch, by Ashley Jeffalone, Suzee Matson, Chris Rebbert, Chad Rhiness, & Pierre Shorette (AdHoc Studios)
Hades II, by Greg Kasavin
(Supergiant Games)
Blue Prince, by Tonda Ros (Raw Fury, Developer: Dogubomb)
The Ray Bradbury Nebula Award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation
KPop Demon Hunters, by Danya Jimenez, Maggie Kang, & Hannah McMechan (Netflix)
Sinners, by Ryan Coogler (Warner Bros Pictures)
Severance: “Chikhai Bardo”, by Dan Erickson & Mark Friedman (Apple TV+)
Pluribus: Season One, by Vince Gilligan (Apple TV+)
Superman, by James Gunn (Warner Bros Pictures)
* Murderbot: Season One, by Paul Weitz and Chris Weitz (Apple TV+)
The Nebula Award for Best Comic
Second Shift, by Kit Anderson (Avery Hill)
Carmilla Volume 3: The Eternal, by Amy Chu (Berger)
Helen of Wyndhorn, by Tom King (Dark Horse)
Fishflies, by Jeff Lemire (Image)
* Mary Shelley’s School for Monsters: The Killing Stone, by Jessica Maison (Wicked Tree)
Strange Bedfellows, by Ariel Slamet Ries (HarperAlley)
The Flip Side, by Jason Walz (Rocky Pond)
The Stoneshore Register, by G. Willow Wilson (Berger)
The Nebula Award for Best Poem
“Though You Always Are”, by Linda D. Addison & Jamal Hodge (Everything Endless)
“They Said Robots Are”, by Casey Aimer (Penumbric 6/25)
* “The World To Come”, by Jennifer Hudak (Strange Horizons 12/22/25)
“The Mourning Robot”, by Angela Liu (Uncanny 9-10/25)
“Care for Lightning”, by Mari Ness (Uncanny 1-2/25)
“To Be the Change”, by Nico Martinez Nocito (Strange Horizons 3/10/25)