2016 Edgar Week Activities

Come celebrate the 2016 Edgar Awards at the Mysterious Bookshop, Tuesday, April 26th at 6:00pm.  Join us for a thrilling evening featuring members of Mystery Writers of America, the Edgar Award nominees, bestselling authors, and publisher representatives.  This is a wonderful opportunity to meet some of the best and brightest in the mystery world!

Where:  Mysterious Bookshop
58 Warren Street
New York NY
Phone:  212-587-1011
Time:  6:00 – 8:00 pm
Map of Area:  http://tinyurl.com/hnctatt

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Wednesday, April 27, 2016

This year’s symposium features many of this year’s Edgar(r) nominees and the program will end with a one-on-one interview with the 2016 Grand Master – Walter Mosley.

Register NOW for the 2016 Edgar® Week Symposium!

Date: Wednesday, April 27, 2016
Location:  Grand Hyatt Hotel – Ballroom Level (Room TBD)
East 42^nd Street @ Grand Central Station

Below is a schedule preview (subject to change)

8:30 – 8:50:                    Registration
8:55 – 9:00:                   Welcome – MWA’s Executive Vice President – Donna Andrews
9:00 – 10:00:                 The Name of the Game Was Murder – Inspiration. The muse. Curiosity. Val McDermid says, when asked why she writes what she does, ‘because I’m a sick twisted bitch.” Join us for a lively discussion on inspiration, where the ideas come from, and why we write what we write.
Moderator:                     TED HERTEL, JR., MWA NATIONAL BOARD MEMBER
Panelists:                       Matthew Baker (2016 Best Juvenile Nominee – If You Find This, Little, Brown BFYR)
Jessica Knoll (2016 Best First Novel Nominee – Luckiest Girl Alive, Simon & Schuster)
Jane Shemilt (2016 Best PBO Nominee – The Daughter, William Morrow)
David C. Taylor (2016 Best Novel Nominee – Night Life, Forge Books)

10:15 – 11:15:              SHOW ME THE EVIDENCE – Almost all crime writers despise the phrase, often used by lazy reviewers, “transcends the genre.”  But what exactly does that mean, if anything? Is there a formula that can be followed for writing crime fiction? Join us for a lively discussion of tropes, stereotypes, and ways our nominated authors work within the genre to create art.
Moderator:                    JANET RUDOLPH, 2016 Ellery Queen Honoree
Panelists:                      Suzanne Marrs (2016 Best Critical/Bio Nominee – Meanwhile There are Letters, Arcade)
Mindy McGinnis (2016 Best Young Adult Nominee – A Madness So Discreet, Katherine Tegen Books)
Lauren Oliver (2016 Best Juvenile Nominee – Curiosity House:The Shrunken Head, HarperCollins’ Children’s Books)
Duane Swierczynski (2016 Best Novel Nominee – Canary, Mulholland Books)

11:30 – 12:30:                BEAST IN VIEW – Most mystery readers and writers cut their teeth on Nancy Drew, the Hardy Boys, and various other mystery novels for juveniles and young adults. But the world has changed since Nancy Drew first got into her blue sportster and went looking for the old Crowley clock. Are there any topics or subjects that are taboo for young readers in the world of the Internet and social media? How do you hold the attention of a reader conditioned to 148 characters or less?
Moderator:                   LYNDSAY FAYE, MWA National Board Member (Jane Steele, G.P. Putnam’s Sons)
Panelists:                     Lamar Giles (2016 Best Young Adult Nominee – Endangered, HarperTeen)
Kevin Sands (2016 Best Juvenile Nominee – Blackthorn Key, Simon & Schuster – Aladdin)
Henry Turner (2016 Best Young Adult Nominee – Ask the Dark, Clarion Books)
Susan Vaught (2016 Best Juvenile Nominee – Footer Davis is Probably Crazy, Paula   Wiseman Books12:30 – 1:30                  Lunch Break (On Your Own)
1:30 – 2:30:                    A Cold and Lonely Place – The mean, sun-drenched streets of Chandler’s Los Angeles. The foggy hills of Hammett’s San Francisco. The complicated neighborhoods of Lippman’s Baltimore. Some of the best crime fiction has a setting so real and palpable that it’s almost a character itself. Our panelists discuss the importance of setting and scene to their work, and to other great works of crime fiction.
Moderator:                   ALISON GAYLIN, USA TODAY Best-selling author (What Remains of Me, William Morrow)
Panelists:                     Megan Abbott (2016 Best Short Story Nominee – “The Little Men,” Bibliomysteries)
Lou Berney (2016 Best PBO Nominee – The Long and Faraway Gone, William Morrow)
Gordon McAlpine (2016 Best PBO Nominee – Woman With A Blue Pencil, Seventh Street)
Lori Rader-Day (2016 Mary Higgins Clark nominee – Little Pretty Things, Seventh Street)

2:45 – 3:45:                   A Dram of Poison – Just because you’re writing fiction doesn’t give you a license to make things up. Research is very important to every crime writer, whether it’s as major as the effects of poison on a victim, or which way a one-way street runs in the French Quarter. Join us as we talk about the importance of research, when it’s okay to just make stuff up (if ever), and helpful hints on where to start looking.
Moderator:        BRENDAN DUBOIS, MWA National Board member (Night Road, Midnight Ink)
Panelists:           Susanna Calkins (2016 Mary Higgins Clark Nominee – The Masque of a Murderer, MInotaur)
Glen Erik Hamilton (2016 Best First Novel Nominee – Past Crimes, William Morrow)
Gilly Macmillan (2016 Best PBO Nominee – What She Knew, William Morrow)
Lori Roy (2016 Best Novel Nominee – Let Me Die in his Footsteps, Dutton)

4:00 – 5:00:                   From the Writer’s Desk
                                       2016 Grand Master Walter Mosley – Interviewed by Oline Cogdill

Cost:  $95 members, $125 non-members – with a $15 retroactive discount for those who join Mystery Writers of America within 30 days after Symposium.

You may also pay online via the MWA Store.

Please sign up at:  https://mysterywriters.org/2016-edgar-symposium

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The 2016 Edgar Banquet will be held on Thursday, April 28, 2016 at the Grand Hyatt Hotel (Ballroom Level).  The hotel is located on East 42nd St at Grand Central Station.  Cocktails will begin at 6:30 pm, dinner at 7:30 pm. The awards program will begin after dinner and will be emceed by our current president – Jeff Abbott.

We have arranged for a very discounted room rate at the Grand Hyatt Hotel of $299/per night.

This rate will be available for reservations made for the period beginning on Sunday, April 24th through Wednesday, May 4th. To make a reservation, call 800-233-1234 and ask for the “mystery writers” rate.  This rate will only be available until April 6,2016, so don’t wait if you need a hotel room.  You may also reserve your hotel room via this link: https://resweb.passkey.com/go/f1934a9a

You may purchase tickets to the banquet via the MWA store at our website or by sending a check. Please make sure you return the RSVP card if you pay online.  Tickets are $195/per person.

Dress:  Dress to Kill – Black Tie Preferred

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

Invitations for all Edgar Week activities will be mailed very soon but we wanted to get the news out so you may hold all the dates.

Hope to see you there!

MWA National Board of Directors