Mystery
Writers of America Announces 2015 Grand Masters Lois Duncan and James Ellroy Plus
2015 Raven and Ellery Queen Award Winners
December
12, 2014 – New York, NY – Lois
Duncan and James Ellroy have been
chosen as the 2015 Grand Masters by Mystery Writers of America (MWA). MWA's Grand Master Award represents the
pinnacle of achievement in mystery writing and was established to acknowledge
important contributions to this genre, as well as for a body of work that is
both significant and of consistent high quality. Ms. Duncan and Mr. Ellroy will be presented
with their awards at the Edgar Awards Banquet, which will be held at the Grand
Hyatt Hotel in New York City on Wednesday, April 29, 2015.
When
told of being named a Grand Master, Duncan said, "I'm stunned and overwhelmed by this incredible honour! To have my own name included on this
illustrious list of my idols--Agatha Christie, Ira Levin, Stephen King, Tony Hillerman--is
something I could never have imagined.”
Lois
Duncan published her first short story in a national magazine when she was
thirteen, and her first novel, Debutante
Hill, at age eighteen. Early in her
career, Duncan primarily focused on romance novels for teens and pictures books
for children. In 1966, Duncan published
two novels that revolutionized the world of young adult fiction: Point of Violence and Ransom. Prior to these two novels, most fiction aimed
at young adults was filled with ‘lessons
to be learned’ and two-dimensional lead characters. Duncan changed that, using the realistic viewpoint
she had brought to her earlier romance novels, presenting her main characters
with choices and decisions that had consequences, paving the way for many other
young adult authors that followed. She
never shied away from social issues in her work. Daughters
of Eve tackled societal sexism; Killing
Mr. Griffin the pressure placed on teens to perform and get into good
colleges, and I Know What You Did Last Summer
dealt with the Vietnam War and society’s reactions to it, plus the struggles of
returning veterans. She was nominated
several times for the Edgar Award for Best Juvenile, and her books have been
made into films. Ms. Duncan was also a
long time writing instructor at the University of New Mexico.
Few
crime writers have received the acclaim and recognition that newly named Grand
Master James Ellroy has received in his three-decade-long career. Ellroy’s work has long been recognized as the
worthy successor to such classic crime writers as Chandler, Hammett, and Cain. Ellroy managed to combine noir and hard-boiled
crime fiction with a literary style that has influenced other mystery writers
as well as impressed critics. His Los
Angeles is a dark place brimming with sexism, crime, homophobia, and racism. Ellroy confronts these issues in all of their
ugliness with brutal honesty. Ellroy
doesn’t pretend that the past was a pretty place. His characters live on the page, warts, and
all, and he has experimented with style, point of view, and language in a way
that doesn’t interfere with the rapid pace of his stunning plotting. Several times his work has been filmed. L. A. Confidential may be one of the best
crime films ever made.
Upon
learning he was named a Grand Master, Ellroy said, “This is a splendid honour; it lauds my career to date and spurs me on
to stay young, healthy, and productive. The
Mystery Writers of America: ever honourable, ever grand in their contribution
to the craft of crime writing.”
Previous
Grand Masters include Robert Crais, Carolyn Hart, Ken Follett, Margaret Maron,
Martha Grimes, Sara Paretsky, James Lee Burke, Sue Grafton, Bill Pronzini,
Stephen King, Marcia Muller, Dick Francis, Mary Higgins Clark, Lawrence Block,
P.D. James, Ellery Queen, Daphne du Maurier, Alfred Hitchcock, Graham Greene,
and Agatha Christie.
The Raven Award recognizes outstanding
achievement in the mystery field outside the realm of creative writing. Two Raven Awards will be awarded in 2015: one
to the Jon and Ruth Jordan and the other to Kathryn Kennison.
It’s
impossible to overstate the passion that Jon and Ruth Jordan have for mysteries. The
The Jordan’s
have been heavily involved with the Bouchercon World Mystery Convention, too,
having first met at Bouchercon in 1999. Ruth
Jordan co-chaired Bouchercon Baltimore in 2008.
Jon Jordan chaired Bouchercon St.
Louis in 2011, and the two of them, with Erin Mitchell, will co-chair the St.
Petersburg convention in 2018.
Their
volunteer contributions have even extended to planning the convention
programming
When
advised they would receive the Raven Award, they said, “Given the list of people who have been given this award, it is humbling
and an honour to be asked to join this group.
We’d also like to note that we squealed and did a little dance when we
found out, though we won’t be doing this dance in public.”
Kathryn
Kennison is the founder and heart and soul of Magna cum Murder, a well-regarded
midwestern mystery conference celebrating its 20th anniversary this
year. Magna’s start can be traced back
to 1993 when Kathryn pitched the idea of putting together a three-day mystery
conference in Muncie, Indiana. What
Kathryn envisioned a "sedate weekend
affair" with about 65 people including 3 or 4 authors ended up as a
party with 265 registered guests including 40 authors, and the festival has
only grown since then. In 2013 the
convention was moved to downtown Indianapolis where there is a larger
population. Guests of honour have
included Alexander McCall Smith, Mary Higgins Clark, Donald Westlake, Sara
Paretsky, Michael Connelly, and Harlan Coben,
Sue Grafton, Lawrence Block, Louise Penny, Ruth Dudley Edwards, Charles Todd,
Jeffrey Deaver, William Kent Krueger and John Gilstrap. It has retained its roots as a fan festival. Kathryn said, “As a natural-born hero-worshipper, my champions always have been
storytellers, so being selected by Mystery Writers of America to receive the
Raven award is more humbling and gratifying than I can begin to describe. I'm so very proud, honoured, and indebted to
you. ‘Thank you’ seems so inadequate,
but I offer my most profound thanks.”
Previous
Raven winners include Aunt Agatha’s Bookstore in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Oline
Cogdill, Molly Weston, The Mysterious Galaxy in San Diego, Centuries &
Sleuths Bookstore in Chicago, Once Upon a Crime Bookstore in Minneapolis,
Mystery Lovers Bookstore in Oakmont, PA, Kate’s Mystery Books in Cambridge, MA,
and The Poe House in Baltimore, MD.
The Ellery Queen Award was established
in1983 to honour “outstanding writing teams and outstanding people in the mystery-publishing
industry”. This year the Board chose to
honour Charles Ardai, editor of Hard Case Crime. Hard Case Crime debuted in 2004, as an homage
to the great pulp fiction paperbacks of the 1950’s and 1960’s (the ‘golden age
of paperbacks’); the very books that helped shape and influence many
generations of crime writers as well as the genre itself. Launched by Ardai and Max Phillips, Hard Case
almost immediately had an impact on the crime fiction world—Domenic
Stansberry’s The Confession won the
Edgar Award for Best Paperback Original and several others were nominated in
the years following. The publishing
company has also brought back into print forgotten gems by Donald Westlake,
Erle Stanley Gardner, Harlan Ellison, Pete Hamill, and Lawrence Block. In the decade since its launch, Hard Case has
published over 100 books and has also produced some excellent new titles,
making short lists for almost every award in the mystery genre. Their list looks like a who’s who in American
crime fiction. On learning he would
receive the Ellery Queen Award, Ardai said, “Ellery Queen has always been my model of what an editor should be:
informed, engaged, ambitious, clever, a passionate evangelist, possessed of
excellent taste, and gifted at unearthing wonders. To receive, for my own editing, the award
that bears his name is that rarest of things in our profession: an honour
beyond words.”
The
Edgar Awards, or "Edgars”, as they are commonly known, are named after
MWA's patron saint Edgar Allan Poe and are presented to authors of distinguished
work in various categories. MWA is the
premier organization for mystery writers, professionals allied to the
crime-writing field, aspiring crime writers, and those who are devoted to the
genre. The organization encompasses more
than 3,000 members including authors of fiction and non-fiction books, screen
and television writers, as well as publishers, editors, and literary agents.
For
more information on Mystery Writers of America, please visit the website:
www.mysterywriters.org
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The
EDGAR (and logo) are Registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office by the
Mystery Writers of America, Inc. 1140
Broadway, Suite 1507, New York, NY 10001 • tele (212) 888-8171 • fax (212)
888-8107
Contacts:
Margery
Flax, MWA, 212-888-8171, mwa@mysterywriters.org
Meryl
Zegarek Public Relations, 917-493-3601, mz@mzpr.com
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