November
23, 2015 – New York, NY – Walter Mosley has been chosen as the 2016
Grand Master 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. Mr. Mosley will
receive his award at the 70th Annual Edgar Awards Banquet, which will be
held at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in New York City on Thursday, April 28, 2016.
When
told of being named a Grand Master, Mosley said, “Receiving the Grand Master Award is the apex of my career as a crime
writer; as a writer. It is, joyfully, one of the seminal events of my life.”
Walter
Mosley is one of the most acclaimed and prolific crime writers of our time. He
started writing when he was thirty-four, and since then has published over
forty novels. He is also the most successful and well-known crime writer of
color.
He
is perhaps best known for his Easy Rawlins series, beginning with Devil in
a Blue Dress, which was made into a film starring Denzel Washington. He
has also written three other series, featuring Fearless Jones, Leonid McGill,
and Socrates Fortlaw. In addition, he has written science fiction, non-fiction,
social criticism, young adult fiction, plays, graphic novels, and numerous
short stories.
Previous
Grand Masters include Lois Duncan, James Ellroy, 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 Margaret Kinsman and the other to Sisters in Crime.
As a
mentor, teacher, scholar, and editor, Margaret Kinsman has supported and
promoted both the mystery genre as a whole and many individual writers. As
senior lecturer in popular culture at Southbank University in London from 1991
– 2012, she played a leading role in making crime fiction an important and
legitimate field of study. She has worked hard both to expand readership of our
genre in the general public and to expand understanding of the genre as a
powerful form of social commentary.
From
2004 to 2011, Kinsman served as Executive Editor of Clues: A Journal of Detection, the only American scholarly
journal dedicated to the mystery. She continues to serve Clues as a consulting editor. She
is an international authority on Margery Allingham and has published
extensively on other American crime writers. She is a U.S. citizen who divides
her time between London and Iowa City, Iowa, where she is conducting research
in the Nancy Drew archives at the University of Iowa.
When
told that she would receive the Raven Award, Kinsman said “I am thrilled to know the MWA is giving me the Raven award this year –
such recognition is indeed an unexpected, and very exciting, honour!”
At
the 1986 Bouchercon in Baltimore, Sara Paretsky convened an initial meeting of
woman writers who were concerned about both the rising tide of graphic violence
against women in mysteries and the lack of equity in review, award nominations,
advances, and other measures of a writer’s success. The following year during
the Edgars Week, a group of woman writers met in Sandra Scoppettone’s SoHo loft
for breakfast and formed Sisters in Crime. Initial steering committee members
were a who’s who of woman mystery writers, including Charlotte MacLeod, Kate
Mattes, Betty Francis, Dorothy Salisbury Davis, Sara Paretsky, Nancy Pickard
and Susan Dunlap.
The
mission of Sisters in Crime is to promote the ongoing advancement, recognition
and professional development of women crime writers. Membership is open
to all persons worldwide who have a special interest in mystery writing and in
furthering the purposes of SinC. The organization has approximately 3,600
members in some fifty regional chapters in the United States and Canada.
When
informed that the organization would receive the Raven Award, current SinC
President Leslie Budewitz said, “Sisters
in Crime is thrilled with this award, honoring nearly thirty years of work in
the trenches, promoting the advancement, recognition, and professional
development of women crime writers. That it comes from one of our partners in
crime and advocacy makes the honor doubly sweet.”
Previous
Raven winners include Kathryn Kennison, Jon and Ruth Jordan, 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 in 1983 to honor “outstanding writing teams and outstanding people in the
mystery-publishing industry”. This year the Board chose to honor Janet A.
Rudolph.
Rudolph
is the director of the fan-based Mystery Readers International, editor of the
Mystery Readers Journal, a teacher of mystery fiction, and has been a columnist
for most of the mystery periodicals. A native of Philadelphia, she now lives in
Berkeley California, where she completed a master’s degree in art history, a
credential in secondary education, and a Ph.D. in religion and literature
specializing in mystery fiction. She has received two Fulbright grants—one to
India and another to Brazil.
Mystery
Readers Journal, her brainchild, is the official publication of Mystery Readers International. Originally started as a newsletter to update the local mystery
community on fun events, it is now one of the most important periodicals in the
field. A quarterly, each issue focuses on a specific theme with major articles,
author essays, special columns and a calendar of events. Members of MRI award
the coveted Macavity for excellence in mystery writing.
On
learning she would receive the Ellery Queen Award, Rudolph said,” I am astonished, delighted, and humbled to
be included in the company of such illustrious past recipients of the Ellery
Queen Award. I feel so privileged that over the past 31 years of publishing the
Mystery Readers Journal, I was able to create and curate a forum in which over
1500 mystery authors contributed with essays offering different angles on
shared themes in their writing, thus extending and increasing mystery reader
awareness and enjoyment.”
Previous
Ellery Queen Award winners include Charles Ardai, Joe Meyers, Barbara Peters
and Robert Rosenwald, Brian Skupin and Kate Stine, Carolyn Marino, Ed Gorman,
Janet Hutchings, Cathleen Jordan, Douglas G. Greene, Susanne Kirk, Sara Ann
Freed, Hiroshi Hayakawa, Jacques Barzun, Martin Greenburg, Otto Penzler,
Richard Levinson, William Link, Ruth Cavin, and Emma Lathen.
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. For
more information on Mystery Writers of America, please visit the website: www.mysterywriters.org.
# # #
The
EDGAR (and logo) are Registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office by the
Mystery Writers of America, Inc.
