New Zealand crime awards rescheduled
Ever have one of those days when the alarm clock doesn't go off, you miss your bus, or an earthquake forces cancellation of your inaugural Ngaio Marsh Award New Zealand crime-fiction prize ceremony?The hard-working Craig Sisterson did when a quake forced postponement of the event, initially scheduled for Sept. 10 .
Geological conditions permitting, the ceremony will now take place Nov. 30. The details:
The finalists:Whodunnit and Whowunnit? with the presentation of the inaugural Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Crime Novel 7:30pm, Tuesday 30 November 2010 Visions on Campus Restaurant, CPIT, corner Madras St & Ferry Road, Christchurch Drinks and nibbles from 7pm, author panel from 7:30pm $10, includes a glass of wine and nibbles.
Contact: Ruth Todd 03 384 4721 or ruth.todd@xtra.co.nz
- Cut & Run by Alix Bosco (Penguin)
- Burial by Neil Cross (Simon & Schuster)
- Containment by Vanda Symon, (Penguin)
- Lou Allin: crime writer, vice president of Crime Writers of Canada
- Mike Ripley: author of the "Angel" series of comedy thrillers, crime-fiction critic and commentator
- Sarah Minns: writer, deputy editor of Australia's Good Reading magazine
- Graham Beattie: former managing director/publisher of Penguin Books (New Zealand), creator of Beattie's Book Blog, book-industry consultant
- Craig Sisterson: crime fiction reviewer and features writer, creator of the Crime Watch blog
- Ros Henry: (See biographical information in comment, courtesy of Craig Sisterson.)
- Your humble blog-keeper
Labels: awards, Craig Sisterson, New Zealand, Ngaio Marsh award
posted by Peter Rozovsky at 4:35 PM
14 Comments:
Peter - Thanks for the update! It'll be very interesting to see who the winner is...
You're welcome. The one thing I can tell you about the winner is that I don't know who it is. A tight lid is being kept on the results.
Way to overcome obstacles, Craig! I bet Dame Ngaio would be very proud.
In fifty years, New Zealand crime authors and fans will gawk in wonder at the legendary cancellation of the first Nagaio Awards because of an earthquake. Some may not believe it true, but by god, it's important that we set down the facts now for the edification of future generations.
Thanks for the mention Peter. A little info about Ros - she's one of the trustees of the Christchurch Writers Festival Trust, and was co-founder of publisher Shoal Bay Press. She has also written some non-fiction works herself, and is well-known in the New Zealand books world.
Not as relevant, but perhaps interesting nonetheless: Ros is also the matriarch of a family of successful creatives in New Zealand. Her daughter Rachael King is an acclaimed author (not crime fiction, so no conflict there), her son Jonathan King is a feature film director (the horror-comedy BLACK SHEEP), her ex-husband Michael King was a noted historian, and her husband David Elworthy was a publisher and has been a New Zealand Book Awards judge. So a fairly literary family, you could say.
Craig, many thanks. I looked for a short biography of her when I made this post, but I couldn't find one.
Some may not believe it true, but by god, it's important that we set down the facts now for the edification of future generations, who have enjoyed the safety of the earthquake-proof zone of NZAUS since the Great Calamity of 2041.
What would you ask if an earthquake hit during a crime fiction convention? I'd wonder how far the bar was from the epicenter.
Well, you could ask the 50,000 or so people in attendance at Candlestick Park in San Francisco before Game 3 of the 1989 World Series what their experiences were.
I got a bit of a sense of earthquake-induced unreality just a few weeks ago. My hotel and the Bouchercon site in San Francisco were right by the site of the old Embarcadero Freeway, collapsed in the 1989 quake and later demolished.
It was an odd feeling to walk this pleasant promenade and to think a freeway had once stood there. There but for the grace of God, and all that.
Peter, or perhaps now that you're a judge I should say Your Worship, I've never read any Ngaio Marsh, which, admittedly, for a crime fiction fan, is akin to a Christian admitting to never having read the Book of Genesis, but I came across a quotation from one of her books recently which I thought was a cute comment on the crime fiction business:
Journalist: Do you read crime fiction?
Chief Inspector Alleyn: I dote on it. It's such a relief to escape from one's work into an entirely different atmosphere
I've always liked m'lud (and also my learned friend. Has any expression dripped with more sarcastic condescension?).
I've read one of Ngaio Marsh's short stories, and I liked it. And I'll say in the matter of Golden Age crime writers and those who follow in their footsteps that, while it's easy for we lovers of darker crime fiction to condescend to them, P.D. James is a sharp of observer of the genre, and Agatha Christie drew unexpected (to me) raves from Declan Hughes and John Connolly at Bouchercon
While I really enjoy the modern, darker crime fiction, I find I also really still like reading some of the classic cozies as well. I recently read DIED IN THE WOOL (one of Marsh's four novels set in New Zealand, out of the 32 Inspector Alleyn tales), and found it still stood up well, although of course being a bit 'old fashioned' in tone etc.
I also loved Christie as a teen, reading all the Poirot novels and short stories, and a few others - and still find myself re-reading some now and then. They're fun.
I should give Tey, Allingham and Sayers more of a go too. I recently bought a Wilkie Collins book as well.
Craig, one commentator called Georgette Heyer the most underrated of the Golden Age detective-story authors and a better writer than some of the better-known ones.
I found Sayers' "Murder Must Advertise" anticipating certain trends that the rest of popular culture would not catch up to for decades.
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