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Ottawa writer Amal El-Mohtar has returned home a conquering hero after winning a prestigious Hugo Award.

The 32-year-old author, who lives in Centretown, said she was shocked to see more than a dozen friends and family members greet her with placards and balloons at the Ottawa airport Monday afternoon after her trip home from the Hugo ceremony in Finland.

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The Hugo Awards, which were created in 1955, are one of the most distinguished awards for the genre of science-fiction. The nominees and winners are chosen by members of the World Science Fiction Convention.

El-Mohtar was honoured for her short story, titled Seasons of Glass and Iron

“This was my first Hugo nomination and my first win. It’s unbelievable,” said El-Mohtar, adding that the attention her story has been getting from science-fiction award juries around the world has been “mind-boggling.”

El-Mohtar said she thinks the prize-winning short story has struck a chord with readers because its “fairy tale mashup” depicts various female characters collaborating to overcome adversaries — “women talking to each other and rescuing each other,” she said, defying the conventional prince-saves-damsel-in-distress narrative.