Thriller Awards 2025

 

The International Thriller Writers Organization (ITW) announced the winners of the Thriller Awards on Saturday 21 June 2025 during ThrillerFest. 

BEST SHORT STORY

Jackrabbit Skin by Ivy Pochoda

BEST FIRST NOVEL

Deadly Animal by Marie Tierney

BEST YOUNG ADULT NOVEL

Darkly by Marisha Pessl

BEST AUDIOBOOK

No One Can No by Kate Alice Marshall (Narrated by Karissa Vacker)

BEST STANDALONE MYSTERY NOVEL

Missing White Woman by Kellye Garrett

BEST STANDALONE THRILLER NOVEL

The Last One at the Wedding by Jason Rekulak 

BEST SERIES NOVEL

To Die For by David Baldacci

Congratulations to all the winners and the nominated authors.

2025 ITW Thriller Award Nominees

Congratulations the finalists of the 2025 ITW Thriller Awards have been announced.

BEST STANDALONE THRILLER NOVEL

The Paris Widow by Kimberly S. Belle

The Chamber by Will Dean

Worst Case Scenario by L.J. Newman, 

The Last One at the Wedding by Jason Rekulak, 

The Truth about the Devlins by Lisa Scottoline, 

BEST STANDALONE MYSTERY NOVEL

Negative Girl by Libby Cudmore, 

The Night We lost Him by Laura Dave

Missing White Woman by Kellye Garrett, 

The Life and Death of Rose Doucette by Harry Hunsicker, 

What Happened to Nina? by Dervla McTiernan, 

Lake County by Lori Roy

BEST SERIES NOVEL

To Die For by David Baldacci, 

The Last Few Miles of the Road by Eric Beetner, 

The Dark Wives by Ann Cleeves, 

Shadowheart by Meg Gardiner, 

Flashback by Iris Johansen and Roy Johansen, 

A Forgotten Kill by Isabella Maldonado, 

BEST FIRST NOVEL 

Rabbit Hole by Kate Brody, 

After Image by Jaime deBlanc, 

The Astrology House by Carinn Jade,

Blood in the Cut by Alejandro Nodarse, 

Deadly Animals by Marie Tierney

BEST AUDIOBOOK 

Darling Girls by Sally Hepworth, Narrated by Jessica Clarke

Hollywood Hustle by Jon Lindstrom, Narrated by Jon Lindstrom

No One Can Know by Kate Alice Marshall, Narrated by Karissa Vacker

Beyond All Doubt by Hilton Reed, Narrated by George Newbern

Listeen for the Lie by Amy Tintera, Narrated by January LaVoy and Will Damron

BEST YOUNG ADULT NOVEL

Influencer by Adam Cesare, 

The Other Lola by Ripley Jones, 

Darkly by Marisha Pessl, 

49 Miles Alone by Natalie D. Richards, 

Girls Like Her by Melanie Sumrow, 

BEST SHORT STORY 

Not a Dinner Party Person by Stefanie Leder, 

Double Parked by Twist Phelan, 

Jackrabbit Skin by Ivy Pochoda, 

The Doll's House by Lisa Unger, 

And Now, an Inspiring Story of Tragedy Overcome by Joseph S. Walker,

Congratulations t all the nominated authors - Winners will be announced at ThrillerFest XX on Saturday, June 21, 2025 at the New York Hilton Midtown, New York City. 

LA TIMES BOOK PRIZE: MYSTERY/THRILLER FINALISTS

 The LA Times Festival of Books have announced the Mystery and Thriller finalists

Dark Ride by Lou Berney

All The Sinners Bleed by S A Cosby

Everybody Knows by Jordan Harper

Time's Undoing by Cheryl A. Head

Sing Her Down by Ivy Pochoda

 Congratulations to all the nominated authors! Winner will be announced at the LA Times Festival of Books on Friday 19^th April 2024 at 7:00pm.

The Macavity Award Nominees 2021

 

The Macavity Award Nominees 2021 (for works published in 2020) have been announced.

The Macavity Awards are nominated by members of Mystery Readers International, subscribers to Mystery Readers Journal, and friends of MRI. The winners will be announced at opening ceremonies at the Bouchercon in New Orleans.

Best Novel 

Before She Was Helen, by Caroline B. Cooney (Poisoned Pen Press)

Blacktop Wasteland, by S.A. Cosby (Flatiron Books)

Blind Vigil, by Matt Coyle (Oceanview Publishing)

All the Devils Are Here, by Louise Penny (Minotaur)

These Women, by Ivy Pochoda (Ecco Press)

When She Was Good, by Michael Robotham (Scribner)

Best First

Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line, by Deepa Anappara (Random House)

Murder in Old Bombay, by Nev March (Minotaur)

The Thursday Murder Club, by Richard Osman (Pamela Dorman Books)

Winter Counts, by David Heska Wanbli Weider (Ecco Press)

Darling Rose Gold, by Stephanie Wrobel (Berkley)

Best Critical/Biographical

Sometimes You Have to Lie: The Life and Times of Louise Fitzhugh, Renegade Author of Harriet the Spy, by Leslie Brody (Seal Press)

Howdunit: A Masterclass in Crime Writing by Members of the Detection Club, edited by Martin Edwards (HarperCollins)

Ian Rankin: A Companion to the Mystery Fiction by Erin E. MacDonald (McFarland)

H R.F. Keating: A Life of Crime, by Sheila Mitchell (Level Best Books)

Southern Cross Crime: The Pocket Essential Guide to the Crime Fiction, Film & TV of Australia and New Zealand by Craig Sisterson (Oldcastle Books)

Best Short Story

“Dear Emily Etiquette" by Barb Goffman (Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, Sept/Oct 2020)

“The Boy Detective & The Summer of ‘74” by Art Taylor (Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, Jan/Feb 2020)

"Elysian Fields" by Gabriel Valjan (California Schemin’: The 2020 Bouchercon Anthology, edited by Art Taylor; Wildside Press)

“Dog Eat Dog” by Elaine Viets (The Beat of Black Wings: Crime Fiction Inspired by the Songs of Joni Mitchell, edited by Josh Pachter; Untreed Reads Publishing)

“The Twenty-Five Year Engagement,” by James W. Ziskin (In League with Sherlock Holmes: Stories Inspired by the Sherlock Holmes Canon, edited by Laurie R. King; Pegasus Crime)

Sue Feder Memorial Award for Best Historical Mystery

The Last Mrs. Summers by Rhys Bowen (Berkeley)

The Cabinets of Barnaby Mayne by Elsa Hart (Minotaur)

The Turning Tide by Catriona McPherson (Quercus)

Mortal Music by Ann Parker (Poisoned Pen Press)

The Mimosa Tree Mystery by Ovidia Yu (Constable)

Turn to Stone by James Ziskin (Seventh Street Books)

Congratulations to all the nominated authors.

2021 Edgar® Nominees

January 25, 2021, New York, NY - Mystery Writers of America is proud to announce, as we celebrate the 212th anniversary of the birth of Edgar Allan Poe, the nominees for the 2021 Edgar Allan Poe Awards, honouring the best in mystery fiction, non-fiction and television published or produced in 2020. The 75th Annual Edgar® Awards will be celebrated on April 29, 2021. 

Best Novel

Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line by Deepa Anappara (Penguin Random House – Random House)

Before She Was Helen by Caroline B. Cooney (Poisoned Pen Press)

Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman (Penguin Random House - Pamela Dorman Books)

These Women by Ivy Pochoda (HarperCollins Publishers – Ecco)

The Missing American by Kwei Quartey (Soho Press – Soho Crime)

The Distant Dead by Heather Young (HarperCollins Publishers - William Morrow)

Best First Novel by an American Author

Murder in Old Bombay by Nev March (Minotaur Books)

Please See Us by Caitlin Mullen (Simon & Schuster – Gallery Books)

Catherine House by Elisabeth Thomas (HarperCollins Publishers – William Morrow)

Winter Counts by David Heska Wanbli Weiden (HarperCollins Publishers -Ecco)

Darling Rose Gold by Stephanie Wrobel (Penguin Random House – Berkley)

BEST PAPERBACK ORIGINAL

When No One is Watching by Alyssa Cole (HarperCollins Publishers - William Morrow) 

The Deep, Deep Snow by Brian Freeman (Blackstone Publishing) 

Unspeakable Things by Jess Lourey (Amazon Publishing – Thomas & Mercer) 

The Keeper by Jessica Moor (Penguin Random House - Penguin Books) 

East of Hounslow by Khurrum Rahman (HarperCollins Publishers - Harper 360) 

BEST FACT CRIME

Blood Runs Coal: The Yablonski Murders and the Battle for the United Mine Workers of America by Mark A. Bradley (W.W. Norton & Company) 

The Third Rainbow Girl: The Long Life of a Double Murder in Appalachia by Emma Copley Eisenberg (Hachette Book Group – Hachette Books) 

Death in Mud Lick: A Coal Country Fight Against the Drug Companies that Delivered the Opioid Epidemic by Eric Eyre (Simon & Schuster - Scribner) 

Yellow Bird: Oil, Murder, and a Woman's Search for Justice in Indian Country by Sierra Crane Murdoch (Penguin Random House – Random House) 

Veritas: A Harvard Professor, a Con Man, and the Gospel of Jesus's Wife by Ariel Sabar (Penguin Random House - Doubleday) 

BEST CRITICAL/BIOGRAPHICAL 

Howdunit: A Masterclass in Crime Writing by Members of the Detection Club by Martin Edwards (HarperCollins Publishers – Harper360/Collins Crime Club) 

Phantom Lady: Hollywood Producer Joan Harrison, the Forgotten Woman Behind Hitchcock by Christina Lane (Chicago Review Press) 

Ian Rankin: A Companion to the Mystery & Fiction by Erin E. MacDonald (McFarland) Guilt Rules All: Irish Mystery, Detective, and Crime Fiction by Elizabeth Mannion & Brian Cliff (Syracuse University Press) 

This Time Next Year We'll be Laughing by Jacqueline Winspear (Soho Press) 

BEST SHORT STORY 

"The Summer Uncle Cat Came to Stay," by Leslie Elman Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine (Dell Magazines) 

"Dust, Ash, Flight," Addis Ababa Noir by Maaza Mengiste (Akashic Books) 

"Fearless," California Schemin' by Walter Mosley (Wildside Press) 

"Etta at the End of the World," by Joseph S. Walker Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine (Dell Magazines) 

“The Twenty-Five Year Engagement,” by James W. Ziskin In League with Sherlock Holmes (Pegasus Books – Pegasus Crime) 

BEST JUVENILE 

Premeditated Myrtle by Elizabeth C. Bunce (Workman Publishing - Algonquin Young Readers) 

Me and Banksy by Tanya Lloyd Kyi (Penguin Random House Canada - Puffin Canada) From the Desk of Zoe Washington by Janae Marks (HarperCollins Children's Books - Katherine Tegen Books) 

Ikenga by Nnedi Okorafor (Penguin Young Readers – Viking BFYR) 

Nessie Quest by Melissa Savage (Random House Children's Books - Crown BFYR) 

Coop Knows the Scoop by Taryn Souders (Sourcebooks Young Readers) 

BEST YOUNG ADULT

The Companion by Katie Alender (Penguin Young Readers – G.P. Putnam’s Sons BFYR) 

The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes (Hachette Book Group – Little, Brown BFYR) 

They Went Left by Monica Hesse (Hachette Book Group – Little, Brown BFYR) 

Silence of Bones by June Hur (Macmillan Children’s Books – Feiwel & Friends) 

The Cousins by Karen M. McManus (Penguin Random House – Delacorte Press) 

BEST TELEVISION EPISODE TELEPLAY 

“Episode 1, The Stranger” – Harlan Coben’s The Stranger, Written by Danny Brocklehurst (Netflix) 

“Episode 1, Open Water” – The Sounds, Written by Sarah-Kate Lynch (Acorn TV) 

“Episode 1, Photochemistry” – Dead Still, Written by John Morton (Acorn TV) 

“Episode 1” – Des, Written by Luke Neal (Sundance Now) 

“What I Know” – The Boys, Written by Rebecca Sonnenshine, based on the comic by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson (Amazon) 

ROBERT L. FISH MEMORIAL AWARD

"The Bite,” Tampa Bay Noir by Collette Bancroft (Akashic Books) 

****** 

THE SIMON & SCHUSTER MARY HIGGINS CLARK AWARD 

Death of an American Beauty by Mariah Fredericks (Minotaur Books) 

The Cabinets of Barnaby Mayne by Elsa Hart (Minotaur Books) 

The Lucky One by Lori Rader-Day (HarperCollins Publishers – William Morrow) 

The First to Lie by Hank Phillippi Ryan (Forge Books) 

Cold Wind by Paige Shelton (Minotaur Books) 

THE G.P. PUTNAM’S SONS SUE GRAFTON MEMORIAL AWARD

The Burn by Kathleen Kent (Hachette Book Group – Mulholland Books) 

Riviera Gold by Laurie R. King (Penguin Random House – Ballantine Books) 

Vera Kelly is Not a Mystery by Rosalie Knecht (Tin House Books) 

Dead Land by Sara Paretsky (HarperCollins Publishers – William Morrow) 

The Sleeping Nymph by Ilaria Tuti (Soho Press – Soho Crime) 

Turn to Stone by James W. Ziskin (Start Publishing – Seventh Street Books) 

SPECIAL AWARDS 

GRAND MASTER 

Jeffrey Deaver 

Charlaine Harris 

RAVEN AWARD 

Malice Domestic 

ELLERY QUEEN AWARD 

Reagan Arthur, Publisher – Alfred A. Knopf 

We are pleased to announce that this year’s recipient of the Ellery Queen award is Reagan Arthur. She is currently the publisher at Alfred A. Knopf, after a lengthy career in editorial and editorial development. Amongst the authors she has worked with over the years include names like Michael Connelly and Kate Atkinson, and also the enormously successful Catch and Kill by Ronan Farrow. When informed of her selection as recipient of the Ellery Queen Award, Ms. Arthur commented, "Crime fiction has always been an important part of my life as a reader and as an editor. So it's a great honor to join the ilustrious list of recipiennts of the Ellery Queen Award, and to be selected by the MWA, an orgaanistation that has been done so much on behalf of writers, booksellers, and readers.”

****** 

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 some 3,000 members including authors of fiction and non-fiction books, screen and television writers, as well as publishers, editors, and literary agents. 

Mystery Writers of America would like to emphasize our commitment to diversity and fairness in the judging of the Edgar Awards. Judges are selected from every region of the country, from every sub-category of our genre, and from every demographic to ensure fairness and impartiality. 

My favourite fiction reads in 2020

My favourite reads this year have been quite eclectic and they have also included a number of non-fiction titles as well. It has of course been extremly hard to draw up a shortlist of books and I could have easily made this list longer. I have therefore decided to split (for the first time) my list into fiction and non-fiction. I am also putting them in alphabetical order purely because it makes my life easier!

Up first are my favourite fiction reads in alphabetical order  - 

The Law of Innocence by Michael Connelly (Orion Publishing) Defense attorney Mickey Haller is pulled over by police, who find the body of a client in the trunk of his Lincoln. Haller is charged with murder and can’t make the exorbitant $5 million bail slapped on him by a vindictive judge. Mickey elects to defend himself and must strategize and build his defense from his jail cell in the Twin Towers Correctional Center in downtown Los Angeles, all the while looking over his shoulder–as an officer of the court he is an instant target. Mickey knows he’s been framed. Now, with the help of his trusted team, including Harry Bosch, he has to figure out who has plotted to destroy his life and why. Then he has to go before a judge and jury and prove his innocence.

Dirty South by John Connolly (Hodder & Stoughton) It is 1997, and someone is slaughtering young black women in Burdon County, Arkansas. But no one wants to admit it, not in the Dirty South. In an Arkansas jail cell sits a former NYPD detective, stricken by grief. He is mourning the death of his wife and child, and searching in vain for their killer. He cares only for his own lost family. But that is about to change . . . Witness the becoming of Charlie Parker.    

Blacktop Wasteland by S A Cosby (Headline) It's a crime that history repeats itself. Beauregard "Bug" Montage: honest mechanic, loving husband, devoted parent. He's no longer the criminal he once was - the sharpest wheelman on the east coast, infamous from the hills of North Carolina to the beaches of Florida. But when his respectable life begins to crumble, a shady associate comes calling with a clean, one-time job: a diamond heist promising a get-rich payout. Inexorably drawn to the driver's seat - and haunted by the ghost of his outlaw father - Bug is yanked back into a savage world of bullets and betrayal, which soon endangers all he holds dear.

Like Flies From Afar by K Ferrari (Cannongate). Luis Machi has had enemies for a long time: after all, he's built his success on dirty deals - not to mention his cooperation with the military junta's coup years ago, or his love life, a web of infidelities. What's new is the corpse in the boot of his car. A body with its face blown off, detained by a pair of furry pink handcuffs that Machi knows well . . .Someone is trying to set him up, but the number of suspects is incalculable. Machi is stuck dredging his guilty past for clues and trying to dispose of the mystery corpse. But time is just another enemy and it's running out fast.

Into the Fire by Gregg Hurwitz. Evan Smoak lives by his own code. As a boy he was taken from a foster home to be raised and trained as an off-the-books government assassin codenamed Orphan X. Then he broke free to live in the shadows as the Nowhere Man, using his unique skills to help those in desperate need. But all good things must come to an end. He'll take on one last mission then go out on a high note. Clean, neat and tidy, just the way he likes it. And then he meets Max Merriweather. Max Merriweather hasn't got much left to lose. Bad luck and trouble have seen off his marriage, his home and his career. On the face of it he's the last guy you'd expect to be trusted with a deadly secret. Which is exactly why his cousin gave him an envelope with the instruction: 'If anything ever happens to me, call the number inside.' Now his cousin is dead and Max's own chances of survival look bleak. On the run and stalked by death, he meets the one man who might save him: Evan Smoak. With Max now under his protection, Evan realizes that the forces against them pose as daunting a threat as he has ever faced. He'll be lucky just to get through it alive . . .

The Less Dead by Denise Mina (Vintage) When Margo goes in search of her birth mother for the first time, she meets her aunt, Nikki, instead. Margo learns that her mother, Susan, was a sex worker murdered soon after Margo's adoption. To this day, Susan's killer has never been found. Nikki asks Margo for help. She has received threatening and haunting letters from the murderer, for decades. She is determined to find him, but she can't do it alone...

The Lost and the Damned by Oliver Norek (Quercus Publishing) A corpse that wakes up on the mortuary slab. A case of spontaneous human combustion. There is little by the way of violent crime and petty theft that Capitaine Victor Coste has not encountered in his fifteen years on the St Denis patch - but nothing like this. Though each crime has a logical explanation, something unusual is afoot all the same, and Coste is about to be dragged out of his comfort zone. Anonymous letters addressed to him personally have begun to arrive, highlighting the fates of two women, invisible victims whose deaths were never explained. Just two more blurred faces among the ranks of the lost and the damned.

Eight Detectives by Alex Pavesi (Penguin Books) All murder mysteries follow a simple set of rules. Grant McAllister, an author of crime fiction and professor of mathematics, once sat down and worked them all out. But that was thirty years ago. Now he's living a life of seclusion on a quiet Mediterranean island - until Julia Hart, a sharp, ambitious editor, knocks on his door. His early work is being republished and together the two of them must revisit those old stories. An author, hiding from his past, and an editor, probing inside it. But as she reads the stories, Julia is unsettled to realise that there are parts that don't make sense. Intricate clues that seem to reference a real murder. One that's remained unsolved for thirty years . . . If Julia wants answers, she must triumph in a battle of wits with a dangerously clever adversary. But she must tread carefully: she knows there's a mystery, but she doesn't yet realise there's already been a murder . . . 

These Women by Ivy Pochoda (Faber and Faber) In West Adams, a rapidly changing part of South Los Angeles, they're referred to as "these women." These women on the corner ...These women in the club ... These women who won't stop asking questions ... These women who got what they deserved ... They're connected by one man and his deadly obsession, though not all of them know that yet. There's Dorian, still adrift after her daughter's murder remains unsolved; Julianna, a young dancer nicknamed Jujubee, who lives hard and fast, resisting anyone trying to slow her down; Essie, a brilliant vice cop who sees a crime pattern emerging where no one else does; Marella, a daring performance artist whose work has long pushed boundaries but now puts her in peril; and Anneke, a quiet woman who has turned a willfully blind eye to those around her for far too long. The careful existence they have built for themselves starts to crumble when two murders rock their neighbourhood.

Rules For Perfect Murder is by Peter Swanson (Faber & Faber). If you want to get away with murder, play by the rules. A series of unsolved murders with one thing in common: each of the deaths bears an eerie resemblance to the crimes depicted in classic mystery novels. The deaths lead FBI Agent Gwen Mulvey to mystery bookshop Old Devils. Owner Malcolm Kershaw had once posted online an article titled 'My Eight Favourite Murders,' and there seems to be a deadly link between the deaths and his list - which includes Agatha Christie's The ABC Murders, Patricia Highsmith's Strangers on a Train and Donna Tartt's The Secret History. Can the killer be stopped before all eight of these perfect murders have been re-enacted?

City of Spies by Mara Timon (Bonnier Zaffre). LISBON, 1943: When her cover is blown, SOE agent Elisabeth de Mornay flees Paris. Pursued by the Gestapo, she makes her way to neutral Lisbon, where Europe's elite rub shoulders with diplomats, businessmen, smugglers, and spies. There she receives new orders - and a new identity. Posing as wealthy French widow Solange Verin, Elisabeth must infiltrate a German espionage ring targeting Allied ships, before more British servicemen are killed. The closer Elisabeth comes to discovering the truth, the greater the risk grows. With a German officer watching her every step, it will take all of Elisabeth's resourcefulness and determination to complete her mission. But in a city where no one is who they claim to be, who can she trust?

The Devil and the Dark Water is by Stuart Turton (Bloomsbury Publishing) A murder on the high seas. A detective duo. A demon who may or may not exist. It's 1634 and Samuel Pipps, the world's greatest detective, is being transported to Amsterdam to be executed for a crime he may, or may not, have committed. Travelling with him is his loyal bodyguard, Arent Hayes, who is determined to prove his friend innocent. But no sooner are they out to sea than devilry begins to blight the voyage. A twice-dead leper stalks the decks. Strange symbols appear on the sails. Livestock is slaughtered. And then three passengers are marked for death, including Samuel. Could a demon be responsible for their misfortunes? With Pipps imprisoned, only Arent can solve a mystery that connects every passenger onboard. A mystery that stretches back into their past and now threatens to sink the ship, killing everybody on board. 

Honourable mentions also go to -

Box 88 by Charles Cumming (Harper Collins), 

Midnight Atlanta by Thomas Mullen (Little Brown) 

A Song for The Dark Times by Ian Rankin (Orion), 

The Last Protector by Andrew Taylor (HarperCollins), 

The Silver Collar by Antonia Hodgson (Hodder & Stoughton) and 

Angel's Inferno by William Hjortsberg (No Exit Press)

A Private Cathedral by James Lee Burke (Orion)

My favourite non-fiction reads will be posted separately.

Wonder Valley and Skid Row by Ivy Pochoda

In 2009, I moved from my hometown of Brooklyn to Los Angeles, a city that still manages to be both familiar and unknowable to me. To someone accustomed to walking or taking the subway, the shape of Los Angeles was mysterious—a place I couldn’t visualise even as I traversed it. As I drove on the freeways and returned to my strange hilltop apartment in Echo Park, I was struck by the amount of outdoor living, tent encampments, permanently parked camper vans, and derelict cabins that I encountered. This was a city, in places a fancy one, yet people lived in the elements. This made Los Angeles even more mysterious, gave it a texture I hadn’t expected, a secret soul.

After two years in LA, I moved to the Arts District, a rapidly gentrifying neighborhood just east of Downtown. Between Downtown and the Arts District is Skid Row. Every day I drove or rode my bike through Skid Row—a sprawling homeless community of tents, shelters, medical and social services, murals, missions, and churches. And soon, what at first glance seemed to be a dirty, chaotic place began to reveal itself as a true community. Patterns began to emerge. When I looked closely, I was able to see that different encampments had different characters, different personalities. Here were activists. Here were artists. And here were the hopeless and the helpless. I began to pay attention to the society on the streets, to the shape and depth of the neighborhood. I never imagined I’d find inspiration there.

Then one night I emailed LAMP —a homeless shelter, arts organization, community center—and offered to teach a creative writing course. I had no idea what to expect when I turned up for my first class. Would my students be conventionally homeless, like many of the people I saw unable to help themselves on the streets? Would they be rehabilitated? Would they be lucid? Smart? Capable? The truth was they were all of these things. Each of them was on a journey and each showed up with a story to tell, whether one drawn from life or summoned from wild inspiration.

Theirs are the stories that inspired me when I began to write Wonder Valley. Their voices crept into my head, making me wonder if there is a moment that you can pinpoint when things begin to unravel, a specific place in time that is your undoing, regardless of whether or not it is your fault. This is what all the characters in Wonder Valley have in common, a need to discover if there was a specific instance that made their lives spin off course and if knowing that grants them the possibility for redemption.

So my novel became something of a crime story—because no one in Skid Row has a life that has not been touched by crime in some way, whether as a victim or a perpetrator. Crime is a fact of life down there. It’s a daily job to avoid falling prey to those who want to take advantage, to the lawlessness after dark. But it’s also a daily job to work to overcome the mistakes of your own past, to understand that you are not simply the sum of the choices you’ve make and the things that have happened to you. That there is agency in the world beside chaos.

Because no one’s story begins in Skid Row, mine couldn’t either. I had to follow my characters out of downtown Los Angeles and into the places that brought them there—the Mojave Desert and the tony west side of town. I had to go back in time, looking for that misstep that sent their stories in motion.

Wonder Valley is a patchwork, because that’s how I see Los Angeles, layers upon layers, stories that intersect and recoil, neighborhoods that touch but are unknown to each other. It’s a story that I hope suggests that even in the lowest circumstances there is the possibility for beauty and joy. Because that is precisely what I found.

Ivy Pochoda is the author of Wonder Valley, published by The Indigo Press on 20th September 2018. She will be speaking at Festival America on 25th September. For tickets: festivalamerica.co.uk

Wonder Valley by Ivy Pochoda (Indigo Press)

When a teen runs away from his father’s mysterious commune, he sets in motion a domino effect that will connect six characters desperate for hope and love, set across the sun-bleached canvas of Los Angeles.  During a typically crowded morning commute, a naked runner is dodging between the stalled cars. The strange sight makes the local news and captures the imaginations of a stunning cast of misfits and lost souls.  There's Ren, just out of juvie, who travels to LA in search of his mother. There's Owen and James, teenage twins who live in a desert commune, where their father, a self-proclaimed healer, holds a powerful sway over his disciples. There's Britt, who shows up at the commune harbouring a dark secret. There's Tony, a bored and unhappy lawyer who is inspired by the runner. And there's Blake, a drifter hiding in the desert, doing his best to fight off his most violent instincts. Their lives will all intertwine and come crashing together in a shocking way, one that could only happen in this enchanting, dangerous city.

More information can be found on her website.  You can also follow her on Twitter @ivypochoda.