J. Madison Davis, Acting Executive Director of the International Association of Crime Writers North American Branch, alerted me to the news that Colson Whitehead's Crook Manifesto (Doubleday) has won the Hammett Prize trophy, which is awarded to the book of the year that best represents the conception of literary excellence in crime writing for the previous year. The other finalists included Night Letter by Sterling Watson (Akashic Books); The Almost Widow by Gail Anderson-Dargatz (Harper Avenue); Stealing by Margaret Verble (Mariner Books) and The Quiet Tenant by Clémence Michallon (Alfred A. Knopf). Congrats to Whitehead and all the finalists!
At this past weekend's Public Safety Writers Association Conference, the winners of the PSWA Writing Awards were announced. The Marilyn Meredith Award for Excellence in Writing went to Colin Conway; Best Book Cover to Hope Dies Last, A Stefan Kopriva Mystery by Frank Zafiro; Published Fiction Books–Police Procedural to Colin Conway for The Fate of Our Years, A 509 Crime Story; Published Fiction Books–Thriller to Devil Within, A Nathan Parker Detective Novel by James L’Etoile; Published Fiction Books–Suspense to Hope Dies Last, A Stefan Kopriva Mystery by Frank Zaffiro; Published Non-Fiction Book to The Alaskan Blonde: Sex, Secrets, and the Hollywood Story That Shocked America by James Bartlett; and Best Published Memoir, Living With Mr. Fahrenheit by Lisa Beecher. For all the finalists in those categories and the winners and finalists in the unpublished division, head on over to the PSWA website.
The 2024 Killer Nashville Claymore Award finalists for unpublished manuscripts were announced this week. The contest is limited to only the first 50 double-spaced pages of unpublished English-language manuscript, or appropriately formatted play or screenplay, containing elements of thriller, mystery, crime, suspense, action, and/or romance not currently under contract. The winners of the seventeen categories will be revealed at the Killer Nashville Awards Dinner on August 24, 2024 in Nashville, Tennessee.
The International Association of Media Tie-In Writers announced the finalists for the 2024 Scribe Awards, which celebrate and honor excellence in the field of writing tie-in fiction for media franchises. The works include novels, short stories, audio dramas, and graphic novels tied to licenses of movies and TV shows, as well as video games, comics, songs, and even book series. Although this year's field is heavily tilted toward science and speculative fiction, there are a few crime fiction works in the Original Novel – General category, including Legend of the Five Rings: Three Oaths by Josh Reynolds; Murder, She Wrote: Fit for Murder by Jessica Fletcher and Terrie Farley Moran; and Watch Dogs Legion: Cold Reboot. It was also announced that IAMTW’s 2024 Grandmaster and Faust Award Winner is James Reasoner, who has written more than 350 novels and more than 100 short stories. Although perhaps best known for westerns, he has written across many genres from mystery (including Walker, Texas Ranger tie-ins) to fantasy to science fiction.
Sisters in Crime’s Scarlet Stiletto Awards for Australian women’s best short crime and mystery stories, which offers a record $13,400 in prizes, is open for submissions. A brand-new award – the Cate Kennedy Award for Best Story Inspired by a Forensic Clue ($500) – is also being offered this year. The shortlist will be announced in October, with the awards being presented at a gala ceremony in Melbourne in late November. The closing date for the awards is August 31, 2024. For more information, head on over to their website.
Penguin Noir is back by popular demand with two events coming to Brisbane and Melbourne this August, featuring an action-packed showcase with some of the best Australian crime writers. Authors scheduled to participate in the Brisbane event on August 1 include Benjamin Stevenson (Everyone In My Family Has Killed Someone), Candice Fox (a James Patterson co-writer), Fiona McIntosh (Jack Hawksworth series), Margaret Hickey (The Creeper), and Georgia Harper (What I Would Do to You). The event in Melbourne will take place a week later on August 8 and feature Kerryn Mayne (Lenny Marks Gets Away with Murder), Amanda Hampson (The Cryptic Clue), Amy Doak (Eleanor Jones Can't Keep a Secret), and Lyn Yeowart (The Silent Listener).
Registration is now open for NoirCon 2024, the 8th and biggest NoirCon yet, with four thrilling days of mystery and intrigue at the Palm Springs Cultural Center in Palm Springs, California, from November 7th to 10th, 2024. The organizers are partnering with the Palm Springs Cultural Center and the Best Bookstore in Palm Springs to bring you this year's event, which will feature panels, speakers, classic film screenings with special guests, notable author events, in-person book signings, and more. For more information and to register, follow this link.
The Thunderbolt Prize for crime writers resident in Australia is open for submissions. It includes major prizes and a youth category for writers under 18yrs. All genres of crime writing are eligible, from hard-boiled to comic, to paranormal to rural, noir to cozy, with entries welcome from anywhere in Australia. Works must be a maxmium of 2,500 words for fiction and non-Fiction and 60 lines for poems and be submitted by Friday, September 27, 2024.
Martin Edwards paid tribute to CADS 92, the final installment of Crime and Detective Stories, a magazine that Geoff Bradley has been running since July 1985. As Edwards notes, that's an incredible 39 years of dedication, "and the result has been something unique, an informal magazine that has gained immensely from its combination of homespun charm yet authoritative comment from a very wide of contributors."
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