Liu Cixin's science fiction novel The Three-Body Problem, the first book in a larger trilogy, was announced as the winner of the Best Novel category at the 2015 Hugo Awards on Saturday in Spokane, Washington.
The news was announced by astronaut Dr. Kjell Lindgren and the award was received on Liu's behalf by novelist Ken Liu, the translator of the English version of The Three-Body Problem.
This is the first time a Chinese novelist has won a Hugo Award.
The book starts during the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976) and explores a series of events that lead to an alien invasion of earth.
The book wasn't originally on the list of finalists for the Hugo Awards, but due to "Puppygate," a controversial campaign to skew voting results by right-wing Internet users called the Sad Puppies and Rabid Puppies, one of the original finalists, Marko Kloos, withdrew his book Lines of Departure.
Organizers replaced Kloos' book with The Three-Body Problem.
Yan Feng, the Fudan University professor who wrote the foreword for the Chinese version of the third book in the trilogy, wrote on Sina Weibo that he had sent Liu Cixin a congratulatory text, to which the author replied he "remained calm and reserved" after winning the award. Yan added that this is a good attitude for a novelists to have.
