Locus Award Best First Novel Winners — Complete List (1981–2026) Home › Locus Awards › Best First Novel Sour Cherry by Natalia Theodoridou 2026LocusFirst Novel Someone You Can Build a Nest In by John Wiswell 2025LocusFirst Novel View on Amazon The Saint of Bright Doors by Vajra Chandrasekera 2024LocusFirst Novel View on Amazon The Mountain in the Sea by Ray Nayler 2023LocusFirst Novel View on Amazon A Master of Djinn by P. Djèlí Clark 2022LocusFirst Novel View on Amazon Elatsoe by Darcie Little Badger 2021LocusFirst Novel View on Amazon Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir 2020LocusFirst Novel View on Amazon Trail of Lightning by Rebecca Roanhorse 2019LocusFirst Novel View on Amazon The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter by Theodora Goss 2018LocusFirst Novel View on Amazon Ninefox Gambit by Yoon Ha Lee 2017LocusFirst Novel View on Amazon The Grace of Kings by Ken Liu 2016LocusFirst Novel View on Amazon The Memory Garden by M. Rickert 2015LocusFirst Novel View on Amazon Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie 2014LocusFirst Novel View on Amazon Throne of the Crescent Moon by Saladin Ahmed 2013LocusFirst Novel View on Amazon The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern 2012LocusFirst Novel View on Amazon The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N. K. Jemisin 2011LocusFirst Novel View on Amazon The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi 2010LocusFirst Novel View on Amazon Singularity's Ring by Paul Melko 2009LocusFirst Novel View on Amazon Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill 2008LocusFirst Novel View on Amazon Temeraire:His Majesty's Dragon/Throne of Jade/Black Powder War by Naomi Novik 2007LocusFirst Novel View on Amazon Hammered/Scardown/Worldwired by Elizabeth Bear 2006LocusFirst Novel Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke 2005LocusFirst Novel View on Amazon Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom by Cory Doctorow 2004LocusFirst Novel View on Amazon A Scattering of Jades by Alexander C. Irvine 2003LocusFirst Novel View on Amazon Kushiel's Dart by Jacqueline Carey 2002LocusFirst Novel View on Amazon Mars Crossing by Geoffrey A. Landis 2001LocusFirst Novel View on Amazon The Silk Code by Paul Levinson 2000LocusFirst Novel View on Amazon Brown Girl in the Ring by Nalo Hopkinson 1999LocusFirst Novel View on Amazon The Great Wheel by Ian R. MacLeod 1998LocusFirst Novel View on Amazon Whiteout by Sage Walker 1997LocusFirst Novel Reclamation by Sarah Zettel 1997LocusFirst Novel View on Amazon The Bohr Maker by Linda Nagata 1996LocusFirst Novel View on Amazon Gun, with Occasional Music by Jonathan Lethem 1995LocusFirst Novel View on Amazon Cold Allies by Patricia Anthony 1994LocusFirst Novel View on Amazon China Mountain Zhang by Maureen F. McHugh 1993LocusFirst Novel View on Amazon The Cipher by Kathe Koja 1992LocusFirst Novel View on Amazon In the Country of the Blind by Michael F. Flynn 1991LocusFirst Novel View on Amazon Orbital Decay by Allen Steele 1990LocusFirst Novel View on Amazon Desolation Road by Ian McDonald 1989LocusFirst Novel View on Amazon War for the Oaks by Emma Bull 1988LocusFirst Novel View on Amazon The Hercules Text by Jack McDevitt 1987LocusFirst Novel View on Amazon Contact by Carl Sagan 1986LocusFirst Novel View on Amazon The Wild Shore by Kim Stanley Robinson 1985LocusFirst Novel View on Amazon Tea with the Black Dragon by R. A. MacAvoy 1984LocusFirst Novel View on Amazon Courtship Rite by Donald Kingsbury 1983LocusFirst Novel View on Amazon Starship & Haiku by Somtow Sucharitkul 1982LocusFirst Novel View on Amazon Dragon's Egg by Robert L. Forward 1981LocusFirst Novel View on Amazon
