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Join us this May in Berkeley CA to celebrate the finest in science fiction, fantasy. and horror at the Locus Awards!

Locus is thrilled to announce that two of the field’s talented and award-winning authors,Stephen Graham Jones andTananarive Due, will be headlining the2026 Locus Awards as Guests of Honor this May. Bestselling novelists Due (The Reformatory) and Jones (The Buffalo Hunter Hunter) will grace the stage in Berkeley, California, on May 30, 2026, as we celebrate the science fiction, fantasy, and horror works and creators of the last year.

And for the first time, this year’s ceremony will be held in partnership with theBay Area Book Festival, a centerpiece event for the Bay Area celebrating the literary arts, under the festival’s 2026 theme “Writing the Future.” The collaboration will create an exciting weekend of events and conversation for all readers, with more guests and full programming still to be announced.

Events will take place in downtown Berkeley across several venues. The annualLocus Awards will be held on Saturday, May 30, at the historicHotel Shattuck. Readers, authors, and industry experts will be welcomed to join an afternoon of programming celebrating genre fiction, including panels, group conversations and kaffeeklatsches. In the evening, ticketed attendees will enjoy a welcome reception, followed by the Locus Awards banquet and capped with the awards presentation.

All of this takes place during the 12th annualBay Area Book Festival, held Saturday, May 30, and Sunday, May 31, presenting more than 120 first-rate live conversations with 200 acclaimed and emerging authors ahttps://www.baybookfest.org/cross multiple stages, covering genres including science fiction, speculative fiction, horror, literary fiction, fantasy, romantasy, romance, thriller, and queer literature. The festival also features a lively outdoor fair known as the Bookworm Block Party, showcasing 150 literary exhibitors, with the indoor and outdoor components uniting readers, writers, and changemakers across a full weekend of events. 2026 speakers announced to date include Julian Brave Noisecat, Elsiane Hsieh Chou, Emily St. James, Alexis Pauline Gumbs, and Annalee Newitz. The Bay Area Book Festival is visited by around 25,000 people, and 95% of the programming is free and open to the public.

“We’re thrilled to partner with the Locus Awards this year during the Bay Area Book Festival weekend,” said J.K. Fowler, Executive Director of the Bay Area Book Festival. “Their enduring commitment to honoring visionary voices across speculative genres mirrors our own dedication to celebrating the breadth and brilliance of contemporary literature. It’s an honor to bring our communities together in recognition of such transformative work.”

About our 2026 Locus Awards Guests of Honor

Tananarive Due is an award-winning author who teaches Black Horror and Afrofuturism at UCLA. A leading voice in Due has won an American Book Award, an NAACP Image Award, and a British Fantasy Award, and her writing has been included in best-of-the-year anthologies. Her books includeThe Reformatory (winner of a LA Times Book Prize, Chautauqua Prize, Bram Stoker Award, Shirley Jackson Award, World Fantasy Award, and a NYT Notable Book),The Wishing Pool and Other Stories,Ghost Summer: Stories,My Soul to Keep, andThe Good House. She and her late mother, civil rights activist Patricia Stephens Due, co-authoredFreedom in the Family: A Mother-Daughter Memoir of the Fight for Civil Rights. She and her husband, author Steven Barnes, live with their son, Jason.

Stephen Graham Jones is the New York Times bestselling author ofThe Buffalo Hunter Hunter,The Only Good Indians,I Was a Teenage Slasher, andMy Heart Is a Chainsaw, which won the Locus Award for Best Horror Novel in 2022. He has been an NEA fellowship recipient and a recipient of several awards including the Ray Bradbury Award from the Los Angeles Times, the Bram Stoker Award, the Shirley Jackson Award, the Jesse Jones Award for Best Work of Fiction from the Texas Institute of Letters, the Independent Publishers Award for Multicultural Fiction, and the Alex Award from American Library Association. He is the Ivena Baldwin Professor of English at the University of Colorado Boulder.

More speakers and guests will be announced in the run-up to the event.

2026 Locus Awards Schedule & Location

Hotel Shattuck:2086 Allston Way, Berkeley, CA 94704 | Phone: (510) 845-7300 | info@hotelshattuckplaza.com

WEDNESDAY – FRIDAY, May 27-29: Warm up for the main event with a series of online readings starting Wednesday, May 27. Each evening, there will be several readers including Locus Awards finalists, plus a live author Q&A. Join us online for your favorite authors reading from their shortlisted works! Plus a live kickoff salon and mixer on Friday night!

SATURDAY, May 30: Enjoy a series of author panels in the afternoon at theHotel Shattuck in Berkeley, California — also broadcast online for our virtual attendees. Panels will be free to attend, but paying members will get priority seating.

LOCUS AWARDS BANQUET: Following programming, a catered reception for ticketed members to mix and mingle with our local SFF folks, followed by the Locus Awards ceremony. The event will be streamed live for those who can’t make it in person, and those in the room will have a chance to pick up their swag bag full of books as well as browse from our bookseller’s table and other exclusive merch.

Membership Options

We will have in-person and virtual membership options for this year’s awards, with a discount for those who sign up early. Membership rates will go up on March 1.

Early Bird Attending Membership is $89 and gives you priority access to the in-person panels on Saturday, May 30; ensures your seat at the Locus Awards banquet and ceremony that evening; and gives you access to a special guest book reading and salon held the evening of May 29. Plus all the virtual readings, exclusive swag and bookbag, a commemorative program, a digital 6-month subscription toLocus(February-August 2026), and more.

Virtual Membership is $29, includes access to the online readings, panels, and the awards ceremony, and helps support the Locus Awards.

The $350Friend of Locus membership supports us as a top-tier donor. You will be thanked in our event program, you can attend all digital and in-person events, plus receive the Locus Awards 2026 T-shirt, an invitation to a VIP reception on May 29, a special backer gift, and our eternal thanks. (Note: you don’t have to attend in person to support at this level.)

We also have a sliding-scale online-only membership for those who would otherwise be unable to attend. This entitles you to attend all Locus Awards online events this year, without the program, or digital Locus issues the regular ticket provides.Please email us for more information.

We can’t wait to see you!

Our partner in literary celebration, the Bay Area Book Festival

TheBay Area Book Festival, now in its 12th year, is a cultural celebration and critical gathering space where activists, authors, and audiences can unite around today’s most urgent issues and uplift marginalized voices.The festival fosters an inclusive culture where participants—staff, volunteers, authors, exhibitors, patrons, and attendees—feel empowered to contribute to our collective future.

Liza Groen Trombi, Publisher ofLocus Magazine, said “‘Writing the Future’ is a conceptLocushas been excited about for more than 50 years, and we’re so pleased that our two Bay Area groups can come together to create a literary celebration for readers of science fiction, fantasy, and horror, and book lovers of all genres.And we can’t wait to welcome Stephen Graham Jones and Tananarive Due — two truly talented voices in the field — to the Locus Awards stage as our guests of honor.”

Our endless gratitude to all of our donors and to present and past sponsors.

About the Locus Awards

The Locus Awards have been held since 1971 to celebrate the best in science fiction, fantasy, and horror publishing, and are voted for by readers ofLocus magazine and the public. Prior winners include Isaac Asimov, Octavia E. Butler, Ted Chiang, Ursula K. Le Guin, Nnedi Okorafor, and G.R.R. Martin, with R.F. Kuang, N.K. Jemisin, T. Kingfisher, Sheree Renée Thomas, and Martha Wells among recent years’ winners. 

Additional information

Safety and conduct: We ask members to test for COVID if possible prior to attending for the safety of the community.Our Code of Conduct is available here, and we encourage anyone to attend—including people of color, women, people with disabilities, older people, and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people. We welcome people of any gender identity or expression, ethnicity, race, sexual orientation, age, size, nationality, religion, culture, education level, and self-identification.

Dress code:There is no dress code for the Locus Awards. Wear whatever makes you happy! From geek chic to dressy casual to full red carpet regalia, we like it all.