The Crime Writers’ Association (CWA) announced two new award categories that will be added to their annual Dagger Awards slate for excellence in crime fiction. The Twisted Dagger is aimed at psychological and suspense thrillers, while the Whodunnit Dagger covers cozy crime, traditional mysteries, and Golden Age crime. Eligible books for the CWA Twisted Dagger are psychological thrillers (set in any period), suspense thrillers, and domestic noir, and those that "celebrate dark and twisty tales that often feature unreliable narrators, disturbed emotions, a healthy dose of moral ambiguity, and a sting in the tail." Eligible books for the CWA Whodunnit Dagger include cozy crime, traditional crime, and Golden Age mysteries, which focus on the intellectual challenge at the heart of a good mystery and often revolve around quirky characters. Entries open in early 2024 on the CWA website, with the inaugural awards to be presented at the annual Dagger awards ceremony in 2025.
Dallas Noir At The Bar returns to The Wild Detectives on Sunday, November 5th from 7-9 pm. Authors scheduled to read from their writing include Sean Wright Heeley, Kevin R. Tipple, Jim Nesbitt, Keith Lansdale, Opalina Salas, Graham Powell, Harry Hunsicker, Trang Quynh Thi Vu, and Danny Trest.
The organizers of the Newcastle Noir conference announced it will return to Newcastle upon Tyne in the UK, December 6-9, with panels, talks, and signings. Highlights include Ann Cleeves in conversation with Marsali Taylor and Mari Hannah & Kate London as they offer up a deeper understanding of police work from their novels. Last year's conference which was an in-person and hybrid event featured authors David Baldacci, Lisa Gray, Sarah Hillary, Chris Merritt, and other Northeast UK crime authors, and previous years have included Val McDermid, and Stuart MacBride. For more information and registration, follow this link.
Glencairn Crystal, maker of the "world’s favourite whisky glass" – and sponsor of the McIlvanney and Bloody Scotland Debut crime writing awards - is once again seeking crime short stories in collaboration with Bloody Scotland and Scottish Field Magazine. As with the 2023 contest, the theme will be "A Crime Story Set In Scotland," and short stories must be unpublished and 2,000 words or fewer. First prize is £1,000, and the Runner Up will receive £500, with both winners also snagging a set of six bespoke engraved Glencairn Glasses and publication of their stories in Scottish Field Magazine and online. The competition is open to all writers worldwide who are over 16 years old by October 23, with a deadline for submissions of midnight on Sunday, December 31, 2023.
As The Guardian reported: Billed as "one of the greatest rarities of English literature," a signed copy of William Butler Yeats’s first play, Mosada, is on display this weekend for the first time since 1956 – and its £125,000 price tag is all thanks to a message from beyond the grave.
In the Q&A roundup, Lisa Haselton interviewed cozy mystery author Diane Bator to chat about the third book in a series, All that Shimmers; Shots Magazine's Ayo Onatade spoke with Maxim Jakubowski about his new novel, Just A Girl With a Gun, featuring a stripper who is recruited for her hidden talents and becomes an unlikely assassin; and Author Interviews welcomed Elise Hart Kipness, a former television sports reporter turned crime writer, whose debut mystery, Lights Out, is based on the author’s experience in the high-pressure, adrenaline-pumping world of live TV.
As one of the readers at Sunday's Noir at the Bar Dallas, big time thank you for mentioning it. There has been a lineup change as of about two weeks ago now--Sean is out and Reavis Z. Wortham is in. Should be a fun night.
Posted by: Kevin R. Tipple | November 03, 2023 at 10:56 AM
Sure hope it's a smashing success, Kevin! I'm so glad you and all the Dallas "gang" can arrange these on a regular basis.
Posted by: BV Lawson | November 03, 2023 at 06:13 PM