The 2016 James Tiptree, Jr. Literary Award winner is Anna-Marie McLemore for the novel When the Moon Was Ours, a haunting fairytale of the love between Samir, a transgender boy, and Miel, an orphan girl who grows roses from her wrists. This year’s winner and honorees were announced on March 13.

We’re also pleased that several Tor and Tor.com titles were honored: Seanan McGuire’s Every Heart a Doorway, Ada Palmer’s Too Like the Lightning, and Nisi Shawl’s Everfair were all named to the Tiptree Honor List, and Charlie Jane Anders’ All the Birds in the Sky was included in the Tiptree Worthy List.

You can see the whole list of Honored and Worthy books below.

Tiptree Honors List

Eleanor Arnason, Hwarhath Stories:Transgressive Tales by Aliens (Aqueduct Press, 2016)

Mishell Baker, Borderline (Saga Press, 2016)

Nino Cipri, “Opals and Clay” (Podcastle, 2016)

Andrea Hairston, Will Do Magic for Small Change (Aqueduct Press, 2016)

Rachael K. Jones, “The Night Bazaar for Women Becoming Reptiles” (Beneath Ceaseless Skies, 2016)

Seanan McGuire, Every Heart a Doorway (Tor Books, 2916)

Ada Palmer, Too Like the Lightning (Tor Books, 2016)

Johanna Sinisalo, The Core of the Sun (Grove Press/Black Cat, 2016)

Nisi Shawl, Everfair (Tor Books, 2016)

Tiptree Worthy List:

Charlie Jane Anders, All the Birds in the Sky, (Tor, 2016)

L. Timmel Duchamp, The Waterdancer’s World, (Aqueduct Press, 2016)

Michael Thomas Ford, Lily, (Lethe Press, 2016)

M. Thomas Gammarino, King of the Worlds, (Chin Music Press, 2016)

Porpentine Charity Heartscape, “Vesp: A History of Sapphic Scaphism,” (Terraform, 2016 – an online interactive story),

M.C.A. Hogarth, Cantor for Pearls, (De La Torre Books, 2016)

N.K. Jemisin, The Obelisk Gate, (Orbit, 2016)

Foz Meadows, An Accident of Stars, (Angry Robot, 2016)

Sheree Renée Thomas, Sleeping Under the Tree of Life, (Aqueduct Press, 2016)

Olga & Christopher Werby, Suddenly Paris, (CreateSpace, 2015)

Aliya Whiteley, The Arrival of Missives, (Unsung Stories, 2015)

Charlotte Wood, The Natural Way of Things, (Europa Editions 2016)

McLemore’s When the Moon Was Ours tells a fairy tale within a fairy tale. Samir and Miel face obstacles and bullying, with their story told twice, first as the fairy tale that’s been passed down from mother to child, then as the true story of their lives. But this isn’t just another story for McLemore: “In the author’s note at the end of the book, Anna-Marie McLemore tells us that when she was a teenager she fell in love with a transgender boy who would grow into the man she married. This is their story, reimagined as legend. based on a true love story.”

Anna-Marie McLemore and the authors and books on the Honor List will be celebrated at WisCon 41. The convention will be held on the weekend of May 26-29, 2017 (Memorial Day weekend) in Madison, Wisconsin. McLemore will receive a $1000 prize along with a piece of original artwork, and chocolate.

The judges for the 2016 Tiptree Award were Jeanne Gomoll (chair), Aimee Bahng, James Fox, Roxanne Samer, and Deb Taber; the panel for 2017 will be Alexis Lothian (chair), E.J. Fischer, Kazue Harada, Cheryl Morgan, and Julia Starkey. If you’d like to recommend a work you can submit it to the Tiptree recommendation page. You can find more information about the winner, honors, and worthy books over at the Tiptree Awards site!