This is part of my ongoing series on using Awards Lists as a RA tool. Click here for all posts in the series in reverse chronological order. Click here for the first post which outlines the details how to use awards lists as a RA tool.I am on record, multiple times, saying that the Shirley Jackson Award is my favorite award. If I had to pick only 1 award for fiction, this would be it. And that is saying a lot because I love awards, hence this series.
But why this one? A few reasons,
First, the Shirley Jackson Awards are an excellent RA tool not only for the normal reasons I outline with the links to start this post, but also because they are an award that is NOT bound by genre. The entire point of the books that are nominated for and win this award is that they represent the legacy of Jackson, herself. Books that are darkly speculative and/or are intensely psychological; books that defy conventions but are great. Each and every year titles are honored that are amazing reads but are almost always overlooked by genre awards, not because they aren't great [because they are], but because when push comes to shove, they do not fit as easily into the genre box as the other options.
Second, because books that win the Shirley Jackson Award already live on the fringes, the jurors and the titles they choose are more diverse than your average award.
Third, this award can be used as a "readalike" list on its own. Why? Because the main thing these nominated titles all share is a connection to Jackson and her brand of storytelling; thus, they all have an appeal connection that other awards can not promise in the same way.
Fourth, the entire concept of the books, being "genreless," means you have a very WIDE audience to handsell these titles to.
And fifth, this is collection development gold. You want to have the best dark speculative titles, authors, collections, and anthologies for your patrons? Here is an easy purchasing list. And not only is the list diverse in terms of the identity of the writers themselves, but also the range of publishers here is wide. You can learn about some excellent small presses, putting out award worthy material. Just receiving a SJA nomination alone, is a reason to check these new to you publishers out.
Which reminds me, sixth, the Shirley Jackson Awards not only have annual jurors who rotate every year but they also have a board of directors and an advisory board. You can access all of those people and their bios on this one page. Every single one of those authors is also readlaike option.
Speaking of, a few years ago I was asked to be on the SJA Advisory Board which has been amazing. As a member of the Advisory Board, I am able to nominate titles to be read by the Jury (which changes every year), If I nominate a title it will put into the pool that the jury considers. I take this advisory role very seriously, and every year I see titles I passed on make it to the nominee list.
And of course seventh, the super easy backlist access of nominees and winners going back to 2007, all avaiable with 1 easy click.
You want a display of weird, unsettling, and compelling titles, look no further than these tales, all of which are singled out for outstanding achievement in the literature of psychological suspense, horror, and the dark fantastic. Those nominated for this year and all past years. There are so many options you will never run out of a suggestion for your patrons searching out this type of read.
Before I get to this year's nominees, which like all past years are amazing and I have read and reviewed many of them, I want to also shout out the physical prize. Not only do the winners get that very cool sundial award above, but every single nominees gets a stone. If you don't know why, first go read "The Lottery," If you either know why, or don't care about knowing on the of best twists in all of literature ever, click here for an article about the tradition from LitHub.
Now here are this year's Shirley Jackson Award Nominees. All of them are worth your time.
Boston, MA (May 2026) — In recognition of the legacy of Shirley Jackson’s writing, and with permission of the author’s estate, The Shirley Jackson Awards, Inc. has been established for outstanding achievement in the literature of psychological suspense, horror, and the dark fantastic.
The Shirley Jackson Awards are voted upon by a jury of professional writers, editors, critics, and academics. The awards are given for the best work published in the preceding calendar year in the following categories: Novel, Novella, Novelette, Short Fiction, Single-Author Collection, and Edited Anthology.
The nominees for the 2025 Shirley Jackson Awards are:
NOVEL
- Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng by Kylie Lee Baker (Harlequin Trade Publishing / Hanover Square Press)
- How to Fake a Haunting by Christa Carmen (Thomas & Mercer)
- The Lamb by Lucy Rose (HarperCollins Publishers)
- Moonflow by Bitter Karella (Run For It [Orbit, Hachette Book Group])
- Old Soul by Susan Barker (Penguin Random House/G.P. Putnam’s Sons)
- Witchcraft for Wayward Girls by Grady Hendrix (Berkley, Penguin Random House)
NOVELLA
- The Cold House by A. G. Slatter (Titan Books)
- The Death of Mountains by Jordan Kurella (Lethe Press)
- DuMort by Michelle Tang (Ghost Orchid Press)
- The Glass Garden by Jessica Lévai (Lanternfish Press)
- Psychopomp & Circumstance by Eden Royce (Tordotcom Publishing/Tor Publishing Group)
NOVELETTE
- The Confirmed Bachelors by Stephen Volk (Black Shuck Books)
- “Emily” by Vanessa Santos (Make a Home of Me)
- Letter Slot by Owen King (Amazon Original Stories)
- “The Millay Illusion” by Sarah Pinsker (Uncanny Magazine Issue Sixty-Seven)
- “The Severity of Things” by Mo Moshaty (Clairviolence: Tales of Tarot and Torment)
SHORT FICTION
- “Bitter Skin” by Kaaron Warren (Night & Day)
- “Lapse” by Kirsty Logan (Unquiet Guests)
- “Mother’s Mother’s Daughter” by Audrey Zhou (Silk and Sinew: A Collection of Folk Horror from the Asian Diaspora)
- “Room 24” by Caroline Kepnes (The End of the World As We Know It)
- “Silver Boots” by Donna Lynch (HOWL: An Anthology of Werewolves from Women-in-Horror)
SINGLE-AUTHOR COLLECTION
- Clairviolence: Tales of Tarot and Torment by Mo Moshaty (Tenebrous Press)
- Good and Evil and Other Stories by Samanta Schweblin, translated by Megan McDowell (Alfred A. Knopf)
- Issues with Authority by Nadia Bulkin (Ghoulish Books)
- Moon Songs: The Selected Stories of Carol Emshwiller by Carol Emshwiller (Third Man Books)
- Portalmania: Stories by Debbie Urbanski (Simon & Schuster)
EDITED ANTHOLOGY
- Night & Day, edited by Ellen Datlow (Saga Press)
- Roots of My Fears, edited by Gemma Amor (Titan Books)
- Silk and Sinew: A Collection of Folk Horror from the Asian Diaspora, edited by Kristy Park Kulski (Bad Hand Books)
- Unquiet Guests, edited by Dan Coxon (Dead Ink Books)
- Were Wolf Short Stories, edited by Gillian Whitaker, Catherine Taylor & Nick Wells (Flame Tree Publishing)
The 2025 Shirley Jackson Awards will be presented in-person on Saturday, July 11, 2026, at 8pm at Readercon 35, Conference on Imaginative Literature, in Burlington, Massachusetts. Readercon 35 Guests of Honor P. Djèlí Clark and David Gerrold will host the ceremony.
Shirley Jackson (1916-1965) wrote such classic novels as The Haunting of Hill House and We Have Always Lived in the Castle, as well as one of the most famous short stories in the English language, “The Lottery.” Her work continues to be a major influence on writers of every kind of fiction, from the most traditional genre offerings to the most innovative literary work.
