2026 Edgar Awards Activities

Register NOW for the 2026 Edgar® Week Symposium!

Date: Tuesday, April 28, 2026

Location: Marriott Marquis Times Square – Sky Lobby – 16th Floor
1535 Broadway (between 45th and 46th Streets)

Cost:    $95 members, $125 non-members.

You may also pay online via the MWA Store – Members Rate or Non-Member Rate

Here is the link to a printable schedule.

8:30 – 8:50:       Registration

8:55 – 9:00:     Welcome – MWA’s Executive Vice President – James L’Etoile

 9:00 – 9:50     Murder by Death: Where crime, art and literature intersect

 Moderator:   Alison Gaylin (Alison Gaylin is the Edgar and Shamus-award winning author of 15 books, including the three latest installments in Robert B. Parker’s Sunny Randall series.)
Panelists:   Amanda Chapman (2026 Lilian Jackson Braun Nominee – Mrs. Christie at the Mystery Guild Library, Penguin Random House – Berkley)
                      Allison Epstein (2026 Best Novel Nominee –Fagin the Thief, Penguin Random House – Doubleday)
                      Andrew Klavan (2026 Best Critical/Bio Nominee – The Kingdom of Cain: Finding God in the Literature of Darkness, HarperCollins Christian Publishing – Zondervan)
                      Richard Kopley (2026 Best Critical/Bio Nominee – Edgar Allan Poe – A Life, University of Virginia Press)
                     C.M. Kushins (2026 Best Critical/Bio Nominee – Cooler than Cool – The Life and Work of Elmore Leonard, HarperCollins Publishers – Mariner Books)
                     Abbi Waxman (2026 Best PBO Nominee – One Death at a Time, Penguin Random House – Berkley)                                            

10:00 – 10:50       Composite Sketch: Creating unforgettable characters                                                                               

Moderator:           S.J. Rozan (New Yorker SJ Rozan is the multi-award-winning author of 20 novels and 100+ short stories)

Panelists:             Gwen Florio (2026 Lilian Jackson Braun Nominee – A Senior Citizen’s Guide to Life on the Run, Severn House)
                               Tiffany D. Jackson (2026 Juvenile & Young Adult Nominee – Blood in the Water, (Scholastic Press) & The Scammer, (HarperCollins Children’s Books – Quill Tree Books)
                            Judith Rossell (2026 Juvenile Nominee – The Midwatch Institute for Wayward Girls, Penguin Young Readers – Dial)
                           Chuck Storla (2026 Lilian Jackson Braun Nominee – Murder Two Doors Down, Crooked Lane Books)
                          Dave Zeltserman (2026 Best Short Story Nominee – “Julius Katz Draws a Straight Flush,” AHMM. Sept-Oct 2025)

11:00 – 11:50     Feds and 5-0: Writing about law enforcement 

Moderator:       James L’Etoile (James L’Etoile, MWA Executive Vice President, worked in the toughest prisons for 29 years, drawing inspiration for his award-winning crime fiction)

Panelists:          Lee Goldberg (2026 Sue Grafton Nominee – Fallen Start, Amazon Publishing – Thomas & Mercer)
                              Adam Plantinga (2026 Best Novel Nominee – Hard Town, Hachette Book Group – Grand Central Publishing)
                              Joanna Schaffhausen (2026 Sue Grafton Nominee – Gone in the Night, Minotaur Books)
Matthew Spencer (2026 Best PBO Nominee – Broke Road, Amazon Publishing – Thomas & Mercer)
                              Kevin Wade (2026 Best First Novel Nominee – Johnny Careless, Macmillan Publishers – Celadon Books)
                              John Wirth (2026 Best TV Episode Teleplay Nominee) – “Ye’iitsoh (Big Monster) – Dark Winds, AMC) 

12:00 – 1:00      Lunch Break (On Your Own)               

1:00 – 1:50         Breaking News and Hot Takes: Addressing difficult questions and social issues in fiction 

Moderator:        Terry Shames (Terry Shames is the award-winning author of twelve books in the Samuel Craddock police procedural series and two in the Jessie Madison thriller series.)

Panelists:          Cindy R.X. He (2026 Best Young Adult Nominee – This is Where We Die, Sourcebooks Fire)
                            Gregg Hurwitz (2026 Best Short Story Nominee – Orphan X: A Mysterious Profile, Mysterious Bookshop)
                            Sandra Jackson-Opoku (2026 Mary Higgins Clark Nominee – Savvy Summers and the Sweet Potato Crimes, Minotaur Books)
                           Jakob Kerr (2026 Best First Novel Nominee – Dead Money, {Penguin Random House – Bantam Books)
                           Daniel G. Miller (2026 Sue Grafton Nominee – The Red Letter, Sourcebooks – Poisoned Pen Press)
                           Zoe B. Wallbrook (2026 Best First Novel Nominee – History Lessons, Soho Press – Soho Crime)

 2:00 – 2:50     The Deep Dive: Research and real life (fiction/nonfiction)

 Moderator:     Les Klinger (Les Klinger is the editor of numerous annotated editions of crime fiction, including two Edgar winners, and is Chapter President of SoCalMWA)

Panelists:        Mariah Blake (2026 Best Fact Crime Nominee – They Poisoned the World: Life and Death in the Age of Forever Chemicals, Penguin Random House – Crown)
                           Libba Bray (2026 Best Young Adult Nominee – Under the Same Stars, Macmillan Publishers – Farrar, Straus and Giroux BFYR)
                           Michael Cannell (2026 Best Fact Crime Nominee – Blood and the Badge: The Mafia, Two Killer Cops, and a Scandal That Shocked the Nation, Minotaur Books)
                            Gregg Olsen (2026 Best Fact Crime Nominee – Out of the Woods: A Girl, a Killer, and a Lifelong Struggle to Find the Way Home – Amazon Publishing – Thomas & Mercer)
                            Hallie Rubenhold (2026 Best Fact Crime Nominee – Story of a Murder: The Wives, the Mistress, and Dr. Crippen, Penguin Random House – Dutton)
                          Katharine Schellman (2026 Mary Higgins Clark Nominee – Last Dance Before Dawn, Minotaur Books)

3:00 – 3:50      A Dark and Stormy Night: Setting the scene and building suspense 

Moderator:     Lee Matthew Goldberg (Lee Matthew Goldberg is the author of 16 novels, follow him at LeeMatthewGoldberg.com)

Panelists:        Hannah Deitch (2026 Best First Novel Nominee – Killer Potential, HarperCollins – William Morrow)
                          Erin Soderberg Downing (2026 Best Juvenile Nominee – What Happened Then, Scholastic Press)
                          Sulari Gentill (2026 Mary Higgins Clark Nominee – Five Found Dead, Sourcebooks – Poisoned Pen Press)
                          Hank Phillippi Ryan (2026 Mary Higgins Clark Nominee – All This Could Be Yours, Minotaur Books)
                         Trisha Sakhlecha (2025 Best Novel Nominee – The Inheritance, Penguin Random House – Pamela Dorman Books)
                        Lisa Unger (2026 Best Short Story Nominee – “The Kill Clause,” – Amazon Original Stories)

4:00 – 5:00       From the Writers Desk (interviewed by Oline Cogdill (2013 Raven Award winner)
                               Our 2026 Grand Masters – Donna Andrews and Lee Child

Wednesday, April 29, 2026 – the 80th Annual Edgar Awards Banquet

Hotel Information: