Otherwise Award

The Otherwise Award, originally known as the James Tiptree Jr. Award, is an American annual literary prize for works of science fiction or fantasy that expand or explore one's understanding of gender. It was initiated in February 1991 by science fiction authors Pat Murphy and Karen Joy Fowler, subsequent to a discussion at WisCon.

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In addition to the award itself, the judges publish an Honor List, which they describe as "a strong part of the award's identity and ... used by many readers as a recommended reading list."[1]

The award was originally named for Alice B. Sheldon, who wrote under the pseudonym James Tiptree Jr. Due to controversy over the appropriateness of naming an award after Tiptree, the committee administering the award announced on October 13, 2019, that the award would be renamed the Otherwise Award.[2]

Background

Choice of the Tiptree name

By choosing a masculine nom de plume, having her stories accepted under that name and winning awards with them, Alice Sheldon helped demonstrate that the division between male and female science fiction writing was illusory. Years after "Tiptree" first published science fiction, Sheldon wrote some work under the female pen name "Raccoona Sheldon"; later, the science fiction world discovered that "Tiptree" had been female all along. This discovery led to widespread discussion over which aspects of writing, if any, have an intrinsic gender. To remind audiences of the role gender plays in both reading and writing, the award was named in Sheldon's honor at the suggestion of Karen Joy Fowler.

Controversy and name change

In 2019, controversy arose over the appropriateness of naming an award after Tiptree. In 1987, Alice Sheldon shot and killed her ailing husband Huntington Sheldon before killing herself in the same manner. Although some have called the killing a "suicide pact" based on Sheldon's personal writings, others characterize the act as "caregiver murder"—i.e., the murder of a disabled person by the person responsible for caring for them. In light of these allegations, the Tiptree Motherboard received requests to change the name of the award. On September 2, 2019, in response to these requests, the Motherboard made a statement that "a change to the name of the Tiptree Award is [not] warranted now"; but nine days later, on September 11, they announced that the award "can't go on under its existing name".[3]

On October 13, 2019, the Tiptree Motherboard released an announcement stating that the Tiptree Award would become the Otherwise Award. The name refers to "the act of imagining gender otherwise" at the core of what the award has always honored, as well as being "wise to the experience of being the other". The title also draws from the Black queer scholarship of Ashon Crawley around what is termed "otherwise politics".[2] According to the statement, "Otherwise means finding different directions to move in—toward newly possible places, by means of emergent and multiple pathways and methods."[2]

Administration

Fundraising efforts for the Tiptree include publications (two cookbooks), "feminist bake sales", and auctions. The Tiptree cookbook The Bakery Men Don't See, edited by WisCon co-founder Jeanne Gomoll, was nominated for a 1992 Hugo Award. Tiptree Award juries traditionally consist of four female jurors and one male juror (the "token man").[4] The funds are administered by the "Tiptree Motherboard" (currently consisting of Murphy, Alexis Lothian, Gretchen Treu, and Sumana Harihareswara, with Fowler remaining closely involved).[5]

Award to the Tiptree Motherboard

In 2011, the Science Fiction Research Association gave its 2011 "Thomas D. Clareson Award for Distinguished Service" to the Tiptree Motherboard. The Clareson Award was presented to the Tiptree Motherboard for "outstanding service activities – promotion of SF teaching and study, editing, reviewing, editorial writing, publishing, organizing meetings, mentoring, and leadership in SF/fantasy organizations".[6]

Anthologies

Selections of the winners, various short-listed fiction, and essays have appeared in four Tiptree-related collections, Flying Cups and Saucers (1999) and a series of annual anthologies published by Tachyon Publications of San Francisco. These include:

  • Flying Cups and Saucers: Gender Explorations in Science Fiction and Fantasy edited by The Secret Feminist Cabal and Debbie Notkin (1999)
  • The James Tiptree Award Anthology 1 edited by Karen Joy Fowler, Pat Murphy, Debbie Notkin, and Jeffrey D. Smith (2005)
  • The James Tiptree Award Anthology 2 edited by Karen Joy Fowler, Pat Murphy, Debbie Notkin, and Jeffrey D. Smith (2006)
  • The James Tiptree Award Anthology 3 edited by Karen Joy Fowler, Pat Murphy, Debbie Notkin, and Jeffrey D. Smith (2007)

Winners
Main article: List of Otherwise Award winners
Otherwise Award winners
Year Author(s) Work Publisher Ref.
1991 Eleanor Arnason A Woman of the Iron People William Morrow
Gwyneth Jones White Queen Victor Gollancz Ltd
1992 Maureen F. McHugh China Mountain Zhang Tor
1993 Nicola Griffith Ammonite Del Ray
1994 Ursula K. Le Guin "The Matter of Seggri" in Crank! #3, spring 1994 Broken Mirrors Press
Nancy Springer Larque on the Wing AvoNova
1995 Elizabeth Hand Waking the Moon HarperPrism
Theodore Roszak The Memoirs of Elizabeth Frankenstein Random House
Suzy McKee Charnas Motherlines Berkeley-Putnam
Suzy McKee Charnas Walk to the End of the World Ballantine
Ursula K. Le Guin The Left Hand of Darkness Walker & Co.
Joanna Russ The Female Man Bantam Books
Joanna Russ "When It Changed" in Again, Dangerous Visions Doubleday
1996 Ursula K. Le Guin "Mountain Ways" in Asimov's Science Fiction, August 1996
Mary Doria Russell The Sparrow Random House
1997 Candas Jane Dorsey Black Wine Tor
Kelly Link "Travels with the Snow Queen" in Lady Churchill's Rosebud Wristlet Volume 1, Number 1, winter 1996–1997 Small Beer Press
1998 Raphael Carter "Congenital Agenesis of Gender Ideation" in Starlight 2 Tor
1999 Suzy McKee Charnas The Conqueror's Child Tor
2000 Molly Gloss Wild Life Simon & Schuster
2001 Hiromi Goto The Kappa Child Red Deer Press
2002 M. John Harrison Light Victor Gollancz Ltd
John Kessel "Stories for Men" in Asimov's Science Fiction, October/November 2002
2003 Matt Ruff Set This House in Order: A Romance of Souls HarperCollins
2004 Joe Haldeman Camouflage Ace
Johanna Sinisalo Not Before Sundown (Ennen päivänlaskua ei voi)

Published in the United States as Troll – a love story

 Peter Owen Publishers
2005 Geoff Ryman Air St. Martin's Griffin
2006 Shelley Jackson Half Life HarperCollins
Catherynne M. Valente The Orphan’s Tales: In the Night Garden Spectra Books
Julie Phillips James Tiptree, Jr.: The Double Life of Alice B. Sheldon St. Martin's Press
2007 Sarah Hall The Carhullan Army Faber and Faber (UK 2007); HarperCollins (US 2008)
2008 Patrick Ness The Knife of Never Letting Go Walker & Co. (UK); Candlewick Press (US) [7]
Nisi Shawl Filter House Aqueduct Press [7]
2009 Greer Gilman Cloud and Ashes: Three Winter's Tales Small Beer Press
Fumi Yoshinaga Ōoku: The Inner Chambers Hakusensha (Japan); VIZ Media (English-speaking world)
2010 Dubravka Ugresic Baba Yaga Laid an Egg Canongate Books [8][9]
2011 Andrea Hairston Redwood and Wildfire Aqueduct Press [10]
2012 Caitlín R. Kiernan The Drowning Girl Roc Books [11]
Kiini Ibura Salaam Ancient, Ancient Aqueduct Press [11]
2013 N. A. Sulway Rupetta Tartarus Press
2014 Monica Byrne The Girl in the Road Penguin Random House [12]
Jo Walton My Real Children Tor [12]
2015 Eugene Fischer "The New Mother" in Asimov's Science Fiction, April/May 2015 Dell Magazines [1]
Pat Schmatz Lizard Radio Candlewick Press [1]
2016 Anna-Marie McLemore When the Moon Was Ours Thomas Dunne Books / St. Martin's Griffin [13]
2017 Virginia Bergin Who Runs the World? Macmillan [14][15]
2018 Gabriela Damián Miravete "They Will Dream in the Garden" Latin American Literature Today [16]
2019 Akwaeke Emezi Freshwater Grove Press [17]
2020 Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki Ife-Iyoku, the Tale of Imadeyunuagbon Aurelia Leo [18]
2021 Ryka Aoki Light From Uncommon Stars Tor Books [19][20]
Rivers Solomon Sorrowland MCD Books [19][20]

See also

References
  1. Notkin, Debbie (April 2016). "2015 Winners, Honor List, and Long List Announced!". James Tiptree, Jr. Literary Award. Archived from the original on May 6, 2016. Retrieved April 2, 2016.
  2. Lothian, Alexis (October 13, 2019). "From Tiptree to Otherwise « James Tiptree, Jr. Literary Award". James Tiptree, Jr. Literary Award. Archived from the original on October 27, 2019. Retrieved October 13, 2019.
  3. Lothian, Alexis (September 2, 2019). "Alice Sheldon and the name of the Tiptree Award". James Tiptree, Jr. Literary Award. Retrieved September 15, 2019.
  4. Merrick, Helen. The Secret Feminist Cabal: A Cultural History of Science Fiction Feminisms ISBN 978-1-933500-33-1 Seattle: Aqueduct Press, 2009; pp. 172–176
  5. "Motherboard « James Tiptree, Jr. Literary Award". James Tiptree, Jr. Literary Award. Archived from the original on November 8, 2021. Retrieved November 7, 2021.
  6. "Tiptree Motherboard Receives Clareson Award" Archived August 8, 2017, at the Wayback Machine Locus Online August 29, 2011
  7. "Tiptree Award Winners". Locus Online. April 26, 2009. Archived from the original on March 11, 2023. Retrieved June 27, 2023.
  8. "2010 Tiptree Award Winner Announced!". James Tiptree, Jr. Literary Award Council. Archived from the original on April 9, 2011. Retrieved March 21, 2011.
  9. "2010 Tiptree Award Winner". Locus Online. March 21, 2011. Archived from the original on August 17, 2022. Retrieved June 27, 2023.
  10. "2011 Tiptree Award Winner announced". James Tiptree, Jr. Literary Award Council. Archived from the original on May 9, 2012. Retrieved March 10, 2012.
  11. "Kiernan and Salaam Win Tiptree Awards". Locus Online. March 5, 2013. Archived from the original on December 10, 2022. Retrieved June 27, 2023.
  12. "Tiptree Awards Winners Announced: Byrne and Walton". Locus Online. April 4, 2015. Archived from the original on December 6, 2022. Retrieved June 27, 2023.
  13. "McLemore Wins 2016 Tiptree Award". Locus Online. March 14, 2017. Archived from the original on March 2, 2023. Retrieved June 27, 2023.
  14. "2017 James Tiptree, Jr. Award". Retrieved March 25, 2018.
  15. "Bergin Wins 2017 Tiptree Award". Locus Online. March 14, 2018. Archived from the original on January 30, 2023. Retrieved June 27, 2023.
  16. "Miravete Wins 2018 Tiptree Award". Locus Online. March 25, 2019. Archived from the original on January 31, 2023. Retrieved June 27, 2023.
  17. "Emezi Wins 2019 Otherwise Award". Locus Online. April 13, 2020. Archived from the original on May 29, 2023. Retrieved June 27, 2023.
  18. "Ekpeki Wins 2020 Otherwise Award". Locus Online. September 7, 2021. Archived from the original on January 25, 2023. Retrieved June 27, 2023.
  19. Lothian, Alexis (January 17, 2023). "Ryka Aoki and Rivers Solomon win 2021 Otherwise Award! Honor List announced". Otherwise Award. Archived from the original on January 22, 2023. Retrieved January 22, 2023.
  20. "2021 Otherwise Award Winners". Locus Online. January 19, 2023. Archived from the original on February 7, 2023. Retrieved June 27, 2023.

Further reading

On James Tiptree, Alice Sheldon and bake sales, archived from the original on November 26, 1996, retrieved February 16, 2013

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