Darby Ronning has been awarded the 2026 Honey & Wax Book Collecting Prize for her collection titled The Alldera Collection: Feminist Science Fiction of the Twentieth Century. This marks the final year of the annual prize, established in 2017 for American women book collectors aged 30 and younger.
Ronning, who receives a cash prize of $1,000, chose the name of her collection based on Alldera, the protagonist from Suzy McKee Charnas’s The Holdfast Chronicles. The collection focuses on the various ways science fiction written by and about women was published, marketed, and read throughout the 20th century. It includes items ranging from pulp paperbacks to self-published feminist fanzines.
Notable authors featured in Ronning’s collection include prominent names like Ursula K. Le Guin, Joanna Russ, and James Tiptree, Jr. However, Ronning emphasizes her interest in lesser-known writers, stating, “I try not to spend more than ten dollars per title, a rule that, by design, sways the collection towards smaller names. These writers were veterinary radiologists and gymnastics instructors, physicians and mothers, and their backgrounds inform their storytelling. My collection aims to get at this entire ecosystem of imagining alternative worlds.”
The judging panel highlighted Ronning’s focus on the popular reception of the novels she collects, noting the active fan culture surrounding science fiction in the 1970s. “Fans connected over reviews, art, and fiction circulated through zines,” Ronning said, mentioning landmark fanzines like Janus and Aurora. She aims to document the feminist science fiction narrative through these underrepresented sources and actively searches for titles that may be poorly documented or undigitized, including a recent acquisition titled New Moon.
In addition to Ronning’s award, five honorable mentions were given, each receiving $250. The recipients include:
- Juniper Couture for An Unusual Collection of Miniature Books Formed by a Lady, who documents her collecting and bookbinding on social media as @thelilliputianlibrary.
- Maya Fell for her collection Armed Women Vernacular Photography, which examines over 100 images of armed women in global liberation movements.
- Leila Louhaichy for Opening the Door for a Native New Yorker, which evolved from focusing on the city’s architectural history to a broader map of New York City.
- Rose McCandless for The Book as Art and Commodity: Design Reform and Commercial Publishing, 1890–1915, discussing how the Arts & Crafts movement influenced mass-produced books.
- Caitlin Paton for ‘Let Me Be a Little Girl as Long as I Can:’ A Collection of Little Women, featuring various editions of Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women.
Heather O’Donnell of Honey & Wax Booksellers and Rebecca Romney of Type Punch Matrix, co-founders of the Honey & Wax Prize, expressed gratitude for the response to the prize: “The response to this prize has exceeded all of our expectations. As we celebrate our tenth and final year, we want to thank all the collectors who shared their projects with us over the past decade.”
