World Fantasy Awards 2018: Complete list of winners

The 2018 World Fantasy Awards celebrated some of fantasy’s most inventive voices, with Victor LaValle’s The Changeling capturing the Best Novel honor alongside Fonda Lee’s Jade City. LaValle’s contemporary fantasy—a haunting exploration of parenthood and folklore set in modern-day New York—represents the award’s growing appreciation for genre-blending narratives that anchor the fantastical in deeply human stories. Lee’s Asian-inspired urban fantasy, published by Orbit Books, similarly showcases how the World Fantasy Awards recognizes works that expand the genre’s cultural and stylistic horizons.

Beyond the novel categories, the 2018 winners demonstrated the vitality of shorter fantasy fiction. Ellen Klages earned the Novella award for Passing Strange, while Natalia Theodoridou’s “The Birding: A Fairy Tale” took the Short Fiction prize, proving that some of fantasy’s most memorable moments don’t require hundreds of pages. The World Fantasy Awards, one of the field’s most prestigious honors since 1975, has long championed quality over commercial success—a principle these selections reinforce.

This year’s slate reflects a fantasy community eager to honor stories that challenge conventions while maintaining the sense of wonder that defines the genre. Below, you’ll find the complete list of 2018 World Fantasy Awards winners and finalists.

Best Novel

• The Changeling by Victor LaValle
• Orbit Books by Jade City

Best Novella

• Passing Strange by Ellen Klages

Best Short Fiction

• “The Birding: A Fairy Tale” by Natalia Theodoridou