Emily St John Mandel’s Station Eleven was declared the winner of the 29th Arthur C. Clarke Award for Science Fiction at the ceremony held in London on May 6th.

Chair of the judges, Andrew M Butler, explained: “While many post-apocalypse novels focus on the survival of humanity, Station Eleven focuses instead on the survival of our culture, with the novel becoming an elegy for the hyper-globalised present.”

Award director Tom Hunter told the Guardian: “Diversity in genre is the big topic right now. For us diversity means starting with as broad a range of voices and books as possible so we can pick a shortlist that we think really is the best science fiction literature of the year.

“This year, we received over 100 submissions from 36 publishing imprints, our second-highest ever. One of the reasons for this continuing growth is the rise in submissions, and recognition of the award from more mainstream publishing houses – and of course the attraction of science fiction and fantasy stories to an ever-growing fanbase. Publishers know that the barriers between genres are coming down. The Geek Pound will seek out great new books, no matter where they happen to be shelved.”

The judging panel consisted Duncan Lawie and Nicholas Whyte of the British Science Fiction Association, Sarah Brown and Lesley Hall of the Science  Fiction Foundation, and Leila Abu El Hawa from Sci-Fi London film festival.

Mandel reacted on Twitter: “Oh my god. I am slightly beside myself over here.”

Read our review here