New York-based Indian writer Mimi Mondal has won the 2018 Locus Award in the non-fiction category for her first book, Luminescent Threads: Connections to Octavia Butler, which she co-edited with Alexandra Pierce. The awards ceremony began in Seattle on Saturday.

The annual Locus Awards are given by the Locus Science Fiction Foundation, which runs the science fiction and fantasy magazine Locus. The awards were first presented in 1971.

The 2018 awards recognised the best among science fiction novels, fantasy novels, horror novels, young adult books, first novels by authors, novellas, novelettes, short stories, anthologies, art books and non-fiction books. There were categories for collections, magazines, publishers, editors and artists too.

Winners are chosen through a survey of readers in an open online poll.

Luminescent Threads is a collection of works by more than 40 writers, published to mark Octavia Butler’s 70th birth anniversary. Butler was an American science fiction writer who died in 2006. According to its publisher, the book has essays and letters that “explore Butler’s depiction of power relationships, her complex treatment of race and identity and her impact on feminism and women in science fiction”.

On March 31, Mondal’s book was also named a finalist for the 2018 Hugo Awards, one of science fiction’s most prestigious prizes. The awards will be presented in August.