Q & A with Attica Locke

©Ayo Onatade

Attica Locke is the author of five award-wining novels.  Her first novel Black Water Rising (2009) was nominated and shortlisted for a number of awards including the Orange Prize, an Edgar Award, a NAACP Image, a Los Angeles Times Book Award and the Strand Magazine Critics Award to name a few.  The Cutting Season (2012) won the Ernest J Gaines Award for Literary Excellence, was a finalist for the Hurston-Wright legacy Award, was long-listed for the Chautauqua Prize and was the honour book by the Black Caucus of the American Library Association. Pleasantville (2015) won the Harper Lee Prize for Fiction and was long-listed for the Bailey’s Women’s Prize for Fiction.  Bluebird, Bluebird (2017) won an Edgar Award, Anthony Award and the CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger Award.

In addition, Attica Locke was a writer and a producer for the Fox drama Empire and more recently for Netflix’s When They See Us.  She recently received the Texas Writer of the Year Award  at the 2019 Texas Book Festival.

Q -

Your books have always had a political focus and many authors are now turning to crime fiction to explore the current political climate. Do you think this growing trend has come about because the general mood both in the UK and the US is that the crooks are in power? Do you feel crime fiction is the best lens to examine politics?

Attica -I don’t know about the “best lens,” but it’s a damn good one. Crime fiction takes the theoretical ideas and ideology behind politics and puts them into real character’s lives. And because crime fiction’s first responsibility is to be entertaining, and crime books are usually plot-heavy, writers can avoid being polemical, and readers can avoid feeling lectured to. It’s politics as a visceral experience.

Q -

You were screenwriter on one of the biggest and most critically acclaimed TV series of the year so far, When They See Us. Could you tell us about how that came about? As with your crime writing, are you more drawn to writing for shows that explore politics / injustice? 

Attica - Ava Duvernay knew of my books, and she knew that I also wrote for television, so she reached out to me. Our first meeting was by Skype. 

I don’t think it’s crime writing that draws me to stories of politics and injustices. It’s because I’m interested in politics and injustice that I was probably drawn to crime fiction in the first place. I grew up in a political family of former activists. My name is “Attica,” for goodness sake (named after the prison uprising at Attica Correctional Facility in upstate New York). I grew up thinking about politics and issues of injustice all the time.

Q -

The response to When They See Us was phenomenal. Were you expecting it to be such a smash hit?

Attica - No. But I wasn’t really thinking about anything but telling those men’s stories. The idea of an audience having a positive or negative reaction seemed small compared to the responsibility we all felt to get the truth out – no matter what happened next.

Q -

Heaven, My Home is the second book in your Highway 59 trilogy. Without giving too much away, what can we expect from book three?  

Attica - Not giving anything away at all. It ends on another cliffhanger, like Bluebird, Bluebird. So there will definitely be a third book. I think four in all. A quartet.

Q -

And finally, what are you hopeful for?

Attica - Very little at the moment, sad to say. But it’s been an ugly few months—few years, really—in the United States. I suppose knowing that there will always be good books to read makes me happy and hopeful. And that my daughter might get into a good high school.

Heaven My Home by Attica Locke (Published by Profile Books) Out now

Nine-year-old Levi King knew he should have left for home sooner; instead he found himself all alone, adrift on the vastness of Caddo Lake. A sudden noise - and all goes dark. Ranger Darren Matthews is trying to emerge from another kind of darkness; his career and reputation lie in the hands of his mother, who's never exactly had his best interests at heart. Now she holds the key to his freedom, and she's not above a little blackmail to press her advantage. An unlikely possibility of rescue arrives in the form of a case down Highway 59, in a small lakeside town. With Texas already suffering a new wave of racial violence in the wake of the election of Donald Trump, a black man is a suspect in the possible murder of a missing white boy: the son of an Aryan Brotherhood captain. In deep country where the rule of law only goes so far, Darren has to battle centuries-old prejudices as he races to save not only Levi King, but himself.

Charles Cumming’s A COLDER WAR Mole Hunt

Harper Collins are running a special competition to celebrate the release of Charles Cumming’s latest international spy thriller, A Colder War.  

The competition involves a mole hunt. The name of the mole has been hidden amongst blog posts around the internet (see the banner below).

In each post, there are a couple of questions (mine, the final ones are below). The first letter in each answer is in the name of the mole and the answers can be found in the videos. Collect all the answers, and email your answer to killerreads[at]harpercollins.com. The winner gets a Kindle!

Check out the videos of Charles Cumming below and answer the questions. Incredibly simple!

Question 9:- A Colder War is the _______ to A Foreign Country? 

Question 10:- Complete the title of Arthur Miller’s great American play, Death of A _____? 

Best of luck to those of you that have entered the competition.

Robert Wilson on Writing About Cities from the Outside

Today’s guest blog is by CWA Gold Dagger winner Robert Wilson whose new novel You Will Never Find Me is released today. It is the second book in the Charlie Boxer series. The first book in the series was Capital Punishment was shortlisted for the 2013 Ian Fleming Steel Dagger. Shots persuaded Rob to talk about what it means to write about a city from an outsiders point of view.

I was sitting around a dinner table with the production team, director and actors for the Spanish language version of the fourth Falcón novel The Ignorance of Blood. Next to me was the actor playing Consuelo, a Sevillana, called Paz Vega who asked how many years I’d lived in Seville. My answer was: I’d never lived in the city and the longest period I’d ever stayed was for a month.

She found it impossible to believe that I’d written so knowledgeably about Seville and its society without ever having lived there and I countered that it was much easier to do that as an outsider looking in. The moment you become a Sevillano is the moment you stop noticing things because the culture has become your own.

You learn most things about a city within the first month of being there. After that the novelty wears off and the impact gradually diminishes. You start to have to work harder at finding interesting things and move away from the unusual to the more ordinary. How people really live.

The process of learning about the people is a much longer one and comes about gradually through observation and talking, preferably to other outsiders. I knew Spaniards in Seville, who came from Madrid and were able to give me their vision of the Andalucians. It wasn’t always pretty and the Sevillanos didn’t like it, but I was assured by other informed outsiders that it was accurate…and to hold the thin red line.

When I came to write about London I was confronted with a city that I did know. I had lived in Clapham for ten years between 1981-91 and I’d visited it all my life. This was a much tougher assignment and it was no accident that I put off writing about it for twenty years.

London defies physical description. It is just too enormous, varied and stratified to encapsulate, but this is what I wanted to do in the Charles Boxer books: give the reader a real feel for the city. Architecture doesn’t help. There is no defining building that says London. The Houses of Parliament have tourist iconic status but they don’t tell you anything about London life. Even the modern architecture of The Gherkin, The Shard and The Cheesegrater do little more than indicate London’s global significance.

But it is the names given to those buildings that hints at how I decided to approach

describing London. How could it be that our most exuberant expressions of architecture could be reduced to a pickled cucumber, a blade of glass and a kitchen utensil? It’s something fundamental that the two elected mayors of London have understood. This is a city that is all about people. People who are ambitious and determined, but know that they mustn’t take life too seriously or they will risk ridicule. It is a tough culture, one that demands huge energy, which must be applied with a lightness of touch that comes from what is at the core of very Londoner: defiance.

------

You will never Find Me

Charlie Boxer messed up his family life. First the army, then the police, then high-stakes kidnap and recovery, his ex-wife and daughter learnt to live without him as his work took him places no man can come back from unscarred.

Trying to rebuild a relationship with Amy, his teenage daughter hasn't been easy. But Charlie only realises just how wrong things have gone when he finds her empty room and a note: You will never find me.

Having spent years working to track down kidnap victims, Charlie knows that sometimes, the missing don't want to be found. And he knows the hell it brings for families - the vanished are neither dead or alive, but simply gone. Worse still, Charlie Boxer knows how quickly a life can fall apart once you're living under the radar.

For Charlie, danger has finally come to his front door and to crack the hardest case he's ever worked, it's time to face up to the true meaning of the sins of the father.

Robert Wilson has worked across the world, including spells shipbroking, tour-guiding and exporting bathrooms to Nigeria. After escaping car crashes, civil wars and angry baboons, he and his wife settled in Portugal. Since then, he's written 10 acclaimed crime novels including the CWA Gold Dagger Award winner, A Small Death in Lisbon. His Portuguese set series featuring Javier Falcon was adapted for television by Sky Atlantic in 2012.

More information about Robert Wilson and his work can be found on his website and you can follow him on Twitter @RobWilsonWriter.  You can also find him on Facebook.

Press Release! Specsavers Crime Thriller Awards on ITV 3 2013

Shortlist Announcement heralds the return of the TV Book Club

 

The motives are numerous, the list of suspects lengthy, and the body count sky high…the shortlists for this year’s Specsavers Crime Thriller Awards in association with the Crime Writers’ Association are announced today. In addition to the ceremony itself ITV 3 will show a six-part prime time series, The Crime Thriller Club which includes a crime thriller version of the successful TV Book Club, starting on 16th September.

The winners of 11 Awards honouring TV, Books and Film will be announced at The Specsavers Crime Thriller Awards on Thursday 24^th October at the Grosvenor House Hotel. The stars of all three genres are guaranteed to turn out in force. The awards for books include the CWA Goldsboro Gold Dagger for the Best Crime Novel of the Year, the CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger for the Best Thriller of the Year, and the CWA John Creasey New Blood Dagger for the Best New Crime Writer of the Year, alongside Film and TV-based Daggers.

This year’s CWA Goldsboro Gold Dagger for Best Crime Novel of the Year is fiercely contended, and pits Belinda Bauer’s Rubbernecker, featuring the obsessive Patrick, whose anatomical dissection class reveals unwelcome truths, up against Lauren Beukes’s The Shining Girls, in which the victims of a century jumping psychopath speak again. Also in the mix, Becky Masterman’s Rage Against The Dying reveals the secrets of mummified flesh, and Dead Lions by Mick Herron, brings flesh and blood to the shady world of cold war spooks.

Viewers will need good detective skills to uncover the winner of the CWA John Creasey New Blood Dagger for Best New Crime Writer of the Year, so well matched are the talented debut writers vying for the prize.  The award pits an 82 year old ex-Marine, in Derek B. Miller’s Norwegian By Night against a hired hitman Caruana in Hanna Jameson’s Something You Are. Menacing urban crime is equally apparent in  Malcolm Mackay’s Glasgow based  The Necessary Death of Lewis Winter, whilst Thomas Mogford’s Shadow of the Rock is set in the sunnier, though no less brutal, climes of Tangiers.  

The CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger for Best Thriller of the Year has a cast list that includes Indian mobsters, the remnants of Franco’s savage Secret Police, a secret network of Nazi asylum seekers in Ireland, religious fanatics, and a fair smattering of homegrown British criminal masterminds:  Thriller authors, Roger Hobbs for Ghostman, Stuart Neville for Ratlines, Mark Oldfield for The Sentinel and Robert Wilson for Capital Punishment are all preparing to slug it out.

The awards, which showcase the UK’s best crime fiction and drama are part of the ITV3 Crime Thriller season, which includes a crime writing magazine show for crime fans called The Crime Thriller Club which will feature 'Living Legends' – interviews with established authors Martina Cole, Nicci French, Harlan Coben, Patricia Cornwell, Wilbur Smith and Frederick Forsyth, who will be inducted into the CWA Hall of Fame at the Awards Ceremony.

At the heart of the Crime Thriller Club series is The Crime Thriller Book Club, with six specially selected titles guaranteed to grip readers who can join the discussion online. The 6 books were selected by Amanda Ross of Cactus TV and her team, whose selections for the TV Book Club created many No 1 Best Selling Authors.  The featured titles are:

• Trust Your Eyes by Linwood Barclay (Orion)
• Dare Me by Megan Abbott (Picador)
• Bryant and May and the Invisible Code by Christopher Fowler (Transworld)
• The Necessary Death of Lewis Winter by Malcolm Mackay (Pan Books)
• City of Devils by Diana Bretherick (Orion)
• The Scent of Death by  Andrew Taylor (Harper Collins)

Amanda Ross, Managing Director of Cactus TV, who created the Awards for ITV3 said: “I was delighted to bring a Crime Thriller version of my Book Club to TV. All the titles we’ve picked are great, with a wide range of styles to suit every type of Crime fan, and hopefully encourage some new readers to the Crime Thriller genre.”

Alison Joseph, Chair of the Crime Writers’ Association, commented: "The 2013 Crime Thrillers Award shortlists are all about inspirational story-telling and great writing. They show, once again, just why this genre continues to be so hugely popular and so greatly loved by readers."   

The cream of acting talent is also recognised at the Specsavers Crime Thriller Awards with categories across Film, TV (UK and International) and for those talented individuals who so masterfully bring unsavoury characters to life, with awards for Best Actor and Actress, and Best Supporting Actor and Actress.

Dame Mary Perkins, founder of Specsavers, said: “As autumn creeps in there’s nothing I like more than curling up with a good book, the more bloodcurdling the better. Therefore it’s a pleasure to be a part of the Crime Thriller Awards for several years now, truly the premier showcase of world class writing, acting and production.”

….ENDS…

The Complete Shortlists for Specsavers Crime Thriller Awards are as follows:

The CWA Goldsboro Gold Dagger for Best Crime Novel of the Year 

• Rubbernecker by Belinda Bauer (Bantam/Transworld)
• The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes (HarperCollins)
• Rage Against the Dying by Becky Masterman (Orion)
• Dead Lions by Mick Herron (Soho Crime)

The CWA John Creasey New Blood Dagger for Best New Crime Write of the Year 

•  Norwegian by Night by Derek B. Miller (Faber and Faber)
• Something You Are by Hanna Jameson (Head of Zeus)
• The Necessary Death of Lewis Winter by Malcolm Mackay (Mantle)
• Shadow of the Rock by Thomas Mogford (Bloomsbury)

The CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger for Best Thriller of the Year

•  Ghostman by Roger Hobbs (Transworld)
• Ratlines by Stuart Neville (Random House)
• The Sentinel by Mark Oldfield (Head of Zeus)
• Capital Punishment by Robert Wilson (Orion)

The Film Dagger

• Sky Fall
• Jack Reacher
• Killing Them Softly
• Looper
• Seven Psychopaths

The TV Dagger

• Luther
• Top of the Lake
• Broadchurch
• The Fall
• Bletchley Circle

The International TV Dagger

• Homeland
• Boardwalk Empire
• The Killing 3
• Arne Dahl

The Best Supporting Actor Dagger

• Paul McGann for A Mother's Son 
• Mandy Patinkin for Homeland
• Andrew Buchan for Broadchurch
• Warren Brown for Luther
• Roger Allam for Endeavour

The Best Supporting Actress Dagger

• Pauline Quirke for Broadchurch
• Amelia Bullmore for Scott & Bailey
• Holly Hunter for Top of the Lake
• Jodie Whittaker for Broadchurch
• Ruth Wilson for Luther

The Best Actor Dagger

• Damien Lewis for Homeland
• David Tennant for Broadchurch
• Idris Elba for Luther
• Jason Isaacs for Case Histories
• Paddy Considine for The Suspicions of Mr Whicher: The Murder in Angel Lane

The Best Actress Dagger

• Sofie Grabol for The Killing 3
• Olivia Colman for Broadchurch
• Claire Danes for Homeland
• Gillian Anderson for The Fall
• Lesley Sharp for Scott & Bailey

NOTES TO EDITORS:

Specsavers Crime Thriller Awards

The Specsavers Crime Thriller Awards 2013 will take place on Thursday, 24^th October at London’s Grosvenor House Hotel produced by Cactus TV, and will be televised on ITV3 on the 29^th October at 9pm. The 2013 Awards are the sixth annual event created and produced by Cactus TV for ITV3, and the annual sponsored by Specsavers and in conjunction with the Crime Writers' Association.

Visit http://www.crimethrillerawards.com/ for more information

                                                                                                                                                                               

Specsavers

Specsavers was founded by Doug and Dame Mary Perkins in 1984 and is now the largest privately owned opticians in the world. The couple still run the company, along with their three children. Their eldest son John is joint managing director. Specsavers has almost 1,600 stores throughout the UK, Ireland, the Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark, Spain and Australia. Specsavers was voted Britain’s most trusted brand of opticians for the eleventh year running by Reader’s Digest in 2012. More information can be found at: www.specsavers.co.uk.

Cactus TV

Cactus TV is a production company run by husband and wife team Simon and Amanda Ross. Productions include Saturday Kitchen for BBC1, The Roux Scholarship, Hairy Bikers Food Tour of Britain for BBC2, Rachel Allen, The National Book Awards and 8 years of the Channel 4 Richard & Judy show live from Cactus studios. Amanda’s previous Book Club choices have created many million selling authors.

ITV3

ITV3 is the UK’s second most popular digital channel and its focus on character driven narrative and drama helps the channel attract an upmarket audience. ITV3 is available on Freeview (channel 10), Freesat (115), Sky Digital (119) and Virgin Media (116).

Crime Writers’ Association

The Crime Writers’ Association has a membership of over 500 writers of fiction and non-fiction. Its main aims are to promote the crime genre and to support professional writers. The CWA has been providing social and professional support for its members for more than half a century, as well as administering the prestigious Dagger Awards. The Daggers name and Crossed Daggers logo are registered Trade Marks of the Crime Writers’ Association, and are used under licence. For further information on the CWA: www.thecwa.co.uk or contact info@thecwa.co.uk.

Agile Marketing

Agile Marketing is a publishing-specialist promotions & project management agency. They project manage the Crime Thriller Awards in the book trade, liaising with publishers and retailers to ensure the campaign to raise the profile of Crime Fiction is maximised instore and amongst readers. They also manage the supporting website: www.crimethrillerawards.com

  

Tickets

Tickets for the televised Awards event on Thursday, 24^th October 2013 will be limited (tables of 10 and individual tickets are available). For ticket information, please email Alastair, Agile Marketing: alastair@agile-ideas.com

Media enquiries:

Please contact Eleanor Riches at Midas Public Relations on 02073617860 or Eleanor.riches@midaspr.co.uk   

CWA Dagger Shortlists announced!

Thursday August 29th: Today the Crime Writers’ Association announced the shortlists for the remaining three CWA 2013 Gold Daggers.  The eventual winners will be revealed on 24th October, at the Specsavers Crime Thriller Awards 2013.

The shortlisted authors are:

For the CWA Goldsboro Gold Dagger:

Rubbernecker by Belinda Bauer(Bantam/Transworld)

The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes (HarperCollins)

Dead Lions by Mick Herron (Soho Crime)

Rage Against the Dying by Becky Masterman (Orion)

For the CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger:

Ghostman  by Roger Hobbs (Transworld)

Ratlines by Stuart Neville (Random House)

The Sentinel by Mark Oldfield (Head of Zeus)

Capital Punishment by Robert Wilson (Orion)

For the CWA John Creasey Dagger:

Something You Are  by Hanna Jameson (Head of Zeus)

The Necessary Death of Lewis Winter by Malcolm Mackay (Mantle)

Norwegian by Night by Derek B Miller(Faber and Faber)

Shadow of the Rock by Thomas Mogford  (Bloomsbury)

CWA Chair Alison Joseph commented: “These 2013 CWA Dagger shortlists are all about inspirational story-telling and great writing. They show, once again, just why this genre continues to be so hugely popular and so greatly loved by readers.”

  

More information can be found at the CWA