China’s Top Sci-Fi Writer Nominated for Second Hugo Award

Sales of Liu Cixin’s works have outpaced their progress to cinema screens.

China’s best-known science fiction author, Liu Cixin, was nominated for a second Hugo Award this week, even as the film version of his first novel, The Three-Body Problem, is still waiting for its shot at the big screen.

Liu’s Death’s End is one of six books nominated for Best Novel, in an announcement from The Hugo AwardsThree-Body Problem won that award in 2015, the first work by a Chinese author to do so. Three-Body Problem and Death’s End are part of Liu’s Remembrance of Earth’s Past trilogy.

The film version of Three-Body Problem is due out this year, but no release date has been set, having been postponed from 2016. It stars Feng Shaofeng and Zhang Jingchu, and is directed by Zhang Fanfan. Rights to a story by the author, The Wandering Earth, were sold, and development work was expected to begin in March, China Film Insider reported in February.

The 2017 Hugo Awards will be presented on the evening of Friday, August 11, 2017, at a ceremony at Worldcon 75, the 75th World Science Fiction Convention.