Camarillo, Calif., Aug. 26, 2014 – Sofia Samatar, Assistant Professor of English at CSU Channel Islands (CI), has won the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer for her debut fantasy novel, A Stranger in Olondria. The prestigious award was presented at the 72nd Annual World Science Fiction Convention, Loncon 3 (also commonly known as Worldcon), at London's ExCeL Centre Sunday.
Campbell and Hugo Award winners are selected by Worldcon members and are widely regarded as the equivalent of Academy Award winners in the science fiction and fantasy genre. The awards are the highlight of the five-day international literary convention that brings together acclaimed science fiction and fantasy authors, editors, publishers, and fans.
Samatar, 42, learned of her victory Sunday at the Natural History Museum in Los Angeles. As she roamed the museum with family and friends, congratulations started pouring in via cellphone and Twitter.
"I'm thrilled," Samatar said. "I decided not to go to London because, honestly, I didn't think my chances of winning were all that good. The Campbell voters are a large, diverse group of writers and readers, so it's wonderful to receive recognition from this community. Every new author is eligible for two years after they start publishing. This was my second year of eligibility, and my last chance to win, which makes it even more exciting."
A friend and editor at Strange Horizons accepted the award on Samatar's behalf. The honor comes with a plaque, a star-shaped silver lapel pin, and the distinction of joining an elite group of 42 writers who have held the title since the award first launched in 1973.
Published by Small Beer Press in 2013, A Stranger in Olondria tells the story of Jevick, the book-loving son of a pepper merchant, who has been raised on stories of Olondria, a distant land where books are as common as they are rare in his home. When his father dies, Jevick takes his place on the yearly selling trip to Olondria. However, Jevick's delight at reaching his utopia fades as he is haunted by a ghost and caught up in a war between two powerful cults.
The novel has been heralded by critics as a beautifully crafted, coming-of-age fantasy exploring themes of travel, exile and the conflict between oral and written ways of knowing. The Guardian called it "gloriously vivid and rich," Locus magazine called it "the most impressive and intelligent first novel ... this year" and Library Journal called it "haunting and unforgettable."
In March, the book earned the 2014 William L. Crawford Award for Best Fantasy Debut, presented by the International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts. Samatar's work also has been nominated for Hugo, Nebula, Locus, Rhysling, World Fantasy, British Fantasy Society, and British Science Fiction Association Awards. She is an editor for the online journal Interfictions and her short fiction, poetry and reviews have appeared in a number of places, including Strange Horizons, Stone Telling, and Lightspeed.
Samatar joined CI as an Assistant Professor of English in 2013. This semester, she's teaching Fiction Writing, Themes and Theories in World Literature, and Major Non-Western Authors. A fluent Arabic speaker, she brought the first courses in the Arabic language to CI.
Samatar earned her Ph.D. in African Languages and Literature from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she specialized in modern Arabic literature. She also holds an M.A. in African Languages and Literature from the same institution and a B.A. in English from Goshen College.
Between earning her master's and doctoral degrees, Samatar lived for 12 years in South Sudan and Egypt, where she taught English and began writing A Stranger in Olondria.
"The book represents a great deal of effort to me: an effort to build, to create, to convey feelings, to remain committed to a vision," Samatar said. "I finished the first draft of A Stranger in Olondria in the year 2000, and revised it, on and off, for a decade. I hope people will be taken away by it."
An American of Somali and Swiss-German Mennonite descent, Samatar infuses her writing and classes with a passion for diversity, world literature, fantasy and science fiction, feminism, and "all strange and subversive forms of writing."
She lives in Ventura with her husband, writer Keith Miller, and their two children, and is currently working on The Winged Histories, the sequel to A Stranger in Olondria.
Samatar will participate in reading and signing events on Saturday, Aug. 30, from 2 to 4 p.m. at the Redondo Beach Library's North Branch, and on Saturday, Sept. 27, from 2 to 4 p.m. at Ventura's E.P. Foster Library.
Contact Samatar at sofia.samatar@csuci.edu or visit www.sofiasamatar.com.
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