Today, the Ursula K. Le Guin Foundation announced Pip Adam’s Audition (Coffee House Press) as the winner of the 2026 Ursula K. Le Guin Prize for Fiction, which seeks to reward books that represent the legendary writer’s literary, moral, and aesthetic ideals: “realists of a larger reality, who can imagine real grounds for hope and see alternatives to how we live now.”
“Adam uses innovative narrative structure and impeccable prose to do what SFF—what only SFF at its best—can do: make metaphor concrete to completely change our understanding not just of what is happening in the narrative but also how today’s society works,” said judges Nicola Griffith, Mat Johnson, Darcie Little Badger, Fonda Lee, and Peter Rock, in a statement. “The book gradually assumes the urgency of survival as three people whom society has deemed worthless find their way back to themselves, each other, and hope. An astonishing and ultimately joyful work.”
Adam will take home $25,000; you can watch her acceptance speech here.