The Infinite

"Okay. Patience Agbabi is a debut author, and she’s very well regarded in spoken word and poetry circles. This is also one of only a few times we’ve shortlisted a novel for younger readers ; I think Stephen Baxter’s H-Bomb Girl was the first example of a YA novel to be shortlisted, in 2008. Patrick Ness , who is very well known, was also shortlisted for Monsters of Men in 2011. But both of those authors are known within the science fiction space. Patience has just leapt right to the front with her first book. And this is a great book for us to start with if we’re talking about what the award is trying to show in terms of the breadth of science fiction . We’ve got here a young heroine. She’s British-Nigerian, she’s autistic. She’s at high school, but this high school is very special in that she’s on a school trip to the future, because she is a time traveler, born on February 29, during which a certain percentage of people are gifted with time traveling powers. But things are going wrong in the future. That’s the crux of the plot. I don’t want to get into spoiler territory, but it’s worth saying that the book opens with a quote from Greta Thunberg , which will perhaps give you a nod towards the direction of travel. Support Five Books Five Books interviews are expensive to produce. If you're enjoying this interview, please support us by donating a small amount . Of course, there are some very recognisable tropes here: you’ve got the school. This is a great way to engage with younger readers, by setting things in environments that they’re familiar with. But while it is aimed at younger readers, that doesn’t mean the writing is any less mature. It’s an absolute page turner. And as you might imagine, it’s a very particular first person voice. You could talk about some comparable titles like Mark Haddon’s The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time , with the autistic protagonist. But Agbabi’s spoken word background brings a freshness. Definitely. Most science fiction readers become fans young, then seek out the stuff that interests them. You know: I liked spaceships the way some kids like football, so now I Iike real spaceships, lego spaceships… it also led to other interests in robotics, cybernetics, digital culture and the environment as well. And it’s exciting to have this book on the shortlist because I know a lot of our fans have kids of their own and are looking for good books to give them. Our award doesn’t have set criteria, as I said. But any award will naturally accrue a kind of understanding of what people think it is. If you’re named after the author of 2001: A Space Odyssey , as we are, I think people are going to think of stark interiors, homicidal AI… anything in the same kind of style. But although I don’t want to speak for Clarke, I think this is one of the books he would fight for if he were on our judging panel."