If you’re looking for a bit more structure for your Sirens reading, or you simply love a challenge, you’re in the right place. Each year, our staff reads a wide selection of fantasy works written by women and nonbinary authors, some within our theme and some more broadly. We invite you to take our challenge!
To complete the challenge, simply read 25 books, in accordance with the rules below, by October 1, 2020. Once you’ve finished—and by no later than October 1—send an email to (help at sirensconference.org) with Reading List Challenge as the subject line, and let us know that you’ve finished the challenge and the books that you read to do so. We’ll give all timely finishers a special button, suitable for gloating, at Sirens
If you buy from Amazon and you’d like to purchase these books, please use the links below. We are a member of the Amazon Associates program, and if you use these links to purchase these books, Amazon will provide us with a referral fee.
Sirens 2020 Reading Challenge
In each required category, you must read—or have previously read—each work listed. In each category of selections, you must select books by authors who are new to you. If you cannot reach the required number of selections without selecting authors you have already read, you may select works you haven’t yet read by authors you have read before. If you cannot reach the required number of selections without selecting books you’ve read, bravo, and please read as many new-to-you books as you can to complete the challenge.
Guests of Honor: Required
Kinitra D. Brooks
Rin Chupeco
Sarah Gailey
Joamette Gil (publisher)
Heartwood: Non-binary Tales of Sylvan Fantasy
Fonda Lee
Villains Books: Required
Kameron Hurley
Marjorie Liu & Sana Takeda
Dia Reeves
Angela Slatter
Noelle Stevenson
Villains Books: Pick Five
Kendare Blake
Kelly Barnhill
Kacen Callender
April Daniels
Julie C. Dao
Kelly Sue DeConnick, Emma Ríos & Jordie Bellair
Nicky Drayden
Maria Dahvana Headley
Tessa Gratton
Alaya Dawn Johnson
R. F. Kuang
Claire Legrand
Tahereh Mafi
Cori McCarthy & Amy Rose Capetta
Sarah Pinborough
Sarah Porter
Rory Power
Emily Skrutskie
Caitlin Starling
Nova Ren Suma
Middle Grade/Young Adult Books: Pick Five
Nafiza Azad
Rena Barron
Claire Eliza Bartlett
Amy Rose Capetta
Emily Carroll
Roshani Chokshi
Charlotte Nicole Davis
Akwaeke Emezi
Hafsah Faizal
Corey Ann Haydu
Joan He
E. K. Johnston
Elizabeth Lim
Erin Entrada Kelly
Emily Lloyd-Jones
Tehlor Kay Mejia
Joanna Ruth Meyer
Mai K. Nguyen
Margaret Rogerson
Rebecca Kim Wells
Adult: Select Five
Cecelia Ahern
Robyn Bennis
Mirah Bolender
Amal El-Mohtar & Max Gladstone
Jennifer Giesbrecht
Alix E. Harrow
Daisy Johnson
Karen Lord
Kate Mascarenhas
Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Tamsyn Muir
Claire North
Mallory O’Meara
Helen Oyeyemi
Sarah Pinsker
Sofia Segovia
Namwali Serpell
Samantha Shannon
Sharma Shields
Rivers Solomon
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