The Sunburst Award Society is pleased to congratulate "Blackheart Man" author, Nalo Hopkinson, on winning the $3,000 Sunburst Award for Excellence in Canadian Literature of the Fantastic.
Hopkinson is now a three-time winner of the award. Her previous wins were for Skin Folk (2003) and The New Moon's Arms (2008).
The jurors for the 2025 Award are distinguished authors Natalee Caple, Geoff Ryman, and Lorina Stephens. 78 books were submitted for consideration for the 2025 Award.
Blackheart Man is sublime, bringing an extraordinary landscape of literary, magical, and cultural history together in a new world. The influence of magic is discreet, almost invisible, a sweet low hum that sets the tone as a whole: good natured, optimistic, fun, but serious, too. The characters’ struggles are multivalent; interpersonal, political, and ethical questions are explored through a complex narrative that places identity within and without the individual. The novel gains strength from the windows it opens into our world—the history of slave revolts, the history of colonialism, the slightly topsy-turvy effect of living in a world so like (and unlike) our own. Ultimately, Blackheart Man is a magical book with depth, wisdom, and lightness of touch, challenging the reader to widen their scope on the genre.
Nalo Hopkinson is the award-winning author of numerous novels and short stories for adults.Nalo grew up in Jamaica, Trinidad, and Guyana before moving to Canada when she was sixteen. NaloHopkinson.com
Since its inception in 2001, the Sunburst Award for Excellence in Canadian Literature of the Fantastic has recognized over 225 works of Canadian speculative literature and honoured deserving books through its prestigious awards program.
Visit sunburstaward.org for more information.
