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News
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PRIZZI'S HONOR: Przybilka Wins Lifetime Achievement Award |
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by Jim Madison Davis
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Thomas Przybilka, mystery scholar and AIEP Vice-president of Western Europe has been named as the winner of the Ehren-Glauser prize awarded by Das Syndikat for lifetime achievement in recognition of his commitment to the German-language crime fiction and for his many writings in the field of crime fiction.
A bookseller and author, Przybilka was born in East Berlin. In 1957 he moved "without the appropriate approval of the responsible organs of the workers 'and peasants' state," settling in 1960 in Bonn. He worked from 1969 to 1997 as a bookseller and since 1998 leads the Bonn office of the book distributor "Missing Link."
Przybilka has been a member of the Advisory Board of the Archives of Detective Fiction at Empire State College, State University of New York, is a jury member for the German Crime Prize (Critics Award), and a founding member of the German Chapter of Sisters in Crime.
In 1989 he founded the renowned "Boka," the Bonn Crime Archive of Secondary Literature (Bonner Krimi Archiv Sekundärliteratur). The enormous non-profit archive collects international publications on the crime fiction genre and has been used by scholars in Germany and abroad. In 1998 he founded the newsletter Krimi-Tipp about the background, trends and issues in the European and international crime literature scene.
Przybilka has moreover built an unprecedented collection of documents about female crime writers. Since 1995 he has published numerous essays, articles, interviews, fiction and participated in documentaries on the subject, in Japan, the USA, Finland, France, and Bulgaria. For international media Przybilka is a respected source for German crime fiction.
This fast reading, red wine drinking, bearded scholar has been a member since 1991 a member of Das Syndikat, the German crime writers' association, where he is regarded as the memory of German crime literature, equally adept at trivia ("What spy novels existed before Kennedy? How many Holmes translations are there? "), or literary topics ("What shaped the genre in France in 1968?").
The jury awarding him the prize (Nina George, Gisbert Haefs and Andreas Izquierdo) also remarked that for many years Przybilka was Das Syndikat's heart, brain, and constant unyielding jury secretary. "We hereby honor him for 23 years of enduring power and passion."
The Ehren-Glauser has been awarded 26 times. Previous winners were, among others, Ingrid Noll, Felix Huby and Jürgen Roland. On Saturday, 28 April 2012, during the "Tango Criminale "- the exciting closing gala of the 26th Criminale, the largest of the German crime writing festivals, and the location of the annual meeting of Das Syndikat, the award will be presented. Information about the festival is available at www.die-criminale.de. A complete list of Glauser nominees for the best in German crime writing is also available at this site.
**This article is adapted from the jury's announcement. It is available in its original form at this website (Click Here).. |
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NORTH AMERICAN HAMMETT PRIZE NOMINEES ANNOUNCED |
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by Mary Frisque
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The North American Branch of the International Association of Crime Writers is pleased to announce nominees for their annual Hammett Prize for a work of literary excellence in the field of crime writing by a US or Canadian author. The nominees are as follows:
James Lee Burke, Feast Day of Fools: A Novel (Simon & Schuster)
Sara Gran, Claire DeWitt and the City of the Dead ( Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)
Michael Ondaatje, The Cat's Table (McClelland & Stewart/Canada; Knopf/US)
Thomas Perry, The Informant (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt/An Otto Penzler Book)
James Sallis, The Killer is Dying: A Novel (Walker & Company)
A reading committee of IACW/NA members selected the nominees, based on recommendations from other members and the publishing community. The committee was headed by Deen Kogan and included Jedediah Berry, Vicki Cameron, Lorenzo Carcaterra, and Thomas Laird.
The winner will be chosen by three distinguished outside judges: Kevin Connolly, Canadian poet and editor; Eileen Hutton, founder of Brilliance Audio; and Paula J. Massood, author of Black City Cinema: African American Urban Experiences in Film.
The organization will name the HAMMETT PRIZE winner, during the Bloody Words Conference, in Toronto, June 1-3. The winner will receive a bronze trophy, designed by sculptor Peter Boiger. |
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House of the Baskervilles in Peril |
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by David Charles Rose
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Dear Colleagues,
As you may already know, it has been announced that on 23rd May 2012, the High Court in London will be undertaking the judicial review of Waverley Borough Council's granting of planning permission for what would amount to the destruction of Conan Doyle's house, Undershaw in Surrey. Undershaw has been left empty since bought in 2004 by Fosseway Ltd, which has planning permission to turn the house into three maisonettes and to build over the gardens. The judicial review is being undertaken on the laudable initiative of the Undershaw Preservation Trust ( www.saveundershaw.com).
I have felt for a long time, however, that the UPT’s main aim that Undershaw should be returned to use as a private residence was not an objective that would or even should attract maximum support. After testing the water, I and Rakshita Patel, formerly the UPT’s London rep, came up with the idea of a Conan Doyle Museum / Centre for British & Irish Crime Writing as establishing and furthering the cultural and social value of the house, and far more likely to attract funding. We then set about seeking support for this idea among academics and other scholars. I am pleased to say that to date 460 have signed up as ‘Academics for Undershaw’.
There are thus three plans in contention:
(a) the aim of Fosseway Ltd for Undershaw to be turned into multiple private residences;
(b) the aim of the Undershaw Preservation Trust, for it to become a single private residence;
(c) our own aim to save Undershaw for the Nation by relaunching it as the Conan Doyle Museum and Centre for British and Irish Crime Writing, thus affirming its cultural value and Conan Doyle's place in the literary heritage of Great Britain and Ireland, and beyond, open and accessible to the public all year round (including school visits), with a library, crime writing courses and a writer in residence.
We are of course co-operating with the UPT as far as overturning the planning permission is concerned.
With help from the Crime Writers’ Association, we are now setting up a sister list – Crime Writers for Undershaw – and very much hope for your support. A line to me at
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
or to Ms Patel at
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
assenting to (c), is all that is needed. Our total list is attached.
Yours sincerely,
David Charles Rose
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D.C. Rose M.A. (Oxon), Dip.Arts Admin (NUI-Dublin)
Editorial Advisory Board, Irish Studies Review and Literary London
Paris correspondent, Nineteenth Century Art Worldwide
Convenor, Magdalen en France
Co-ordinator 'Academics for Undershaw'
Past President, Société Oscar Wilde en France
1 rue Gutenberg, Paris XV
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by Mary Frisque
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From the North American Branch weekly newsletter
SAD NEWS: Our long-time member Josef Skvorecky died on January 3, in Toronto. He was 87. Skvorecky was a Czech émigré writer who moved to Canada in 1969, where he taught for many years at the University of Toronto, and with his wife, Zdena Salivarova, ran 68 Publishers, which published banned Czech works, including his. His best known novel was The Engineer of Human Souls, which won the Governor-General’s Award in Canada. He also won the Neustadt International Prize for Literature in 1980, and in 1990, he won the Arthur Ellis Award from the Crime Writers of Canada for "Humbug," in The End of Lieutenant Boruvka.
Here’s a link to a fine piece about Josef from the Globe & Mail.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/books/josef-skvorecky-a-writer-between-two-worlds/article2291370/
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Conan Doyle's House In Danger |
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by Jim Madison Davis
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Nick Griffiths, Downroad Photography
An Open Letter:
Without a doubt, the destruction of the house in which Arthur Conan Doyle lived and wrote The Hound of the Baskervilles, as well as other stories, would be regarded by crime writers of all nations as a desecration. Although the creator of Sherlock Holmes was not the first crime writer, he shaped the genre into a vital and evolving form which has become one of the great cultural traditions of Britain and of the world. There is no form of mystery writing that is not in his debt. It is not at all excessive to say Conan Doyle is to crime writing what Beethoven is to music, Michelangelo is to sculpture, and Leonardo is to painting. Contemporary literature’s roots run deep into those words penned in Undershaw, and the branches continue to flower and spread. This site is not just of British cultural significance but world cultural significance.
I think I can with confidence speak for crime writers around the world in emphasizing that it would be an appalling act of barbarism to destroy Undershaw. There could be no more appropriate use of the property than that proposed by Mr. Rose and Ms. Patel, to become a museum and center for the celebration and study of crime writing,and I urge all crime writers everywhere to support their efforts.
For further explanations, please read Mr. David Charles Rose's cry for help: : "House of the Baskervilles in Peril." A link to Save Undershaw, which contains a brief video on the situation is available on the site.
Most Sincerely,
J. Madison Davis
President, The International Association of Crime Writers and
Gaylord Family Endowed Chair of Professional Writing, the University of Oklahoma |
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