“Finding Josephine,” the year-old blog written by MEWSie Dionne Ford, was just nominated for Family Tree Magazine’s 40 Best Genealogy Blogs. Voting has begun and continues through December 20th at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/ft40-2011voting. Winners will be announced in the magazine’s July 2011 issue.
MEWSie BRAD PARKS, who won the Shamus Award in October and just received the Nero Award last weekend, has become the first author to garner both honors for the same book in the combined 60-year history of the Nero and the Shamus. That book, Parks’s debut mystery, Faces of the Gone, features the exploits of investigative reporter Carter Ross.
The next book in the series, Eyes of the Innocent, releases in February, and Parks will be at Watchung Booksellers on Saturday February 12th to discuss the book.
With the dual win, Parks joins a select list of crime fiction authors who have won the Nero and the Shamus over the course of their entire careers: Michael Connelly, Dennis Lehane, Laura Lippman, Walter Mosley and S.J. Rozan.
The Nero Award recognizes the “Best American Mystery” of the year and is named after Nero Wolfe, the protagonist of 72 books and novellas written by Rex Stout. The award is given annually at the Black Orchid Banquet by the Wolfe Pack, a literary society that venerates all things Nero Wolfe, who has been likened to the American Sherlock Holmes.
“Winning this award is really a crowning achievement in my young career,” Parks said during his acceptance speech for the Nero. “I am deeply honored and grateful to the Stout family and the Wolfe Pack for this recognition.”
The Nero Award is determined in a two-step judging process. According to Wolfe Pack awards chair Jane K. Cleland, each publishing house is allowed to submit up to three works for consideration. A panel of six readers sends a shortlist of finalists to a second panel of four readers, which then selects the winner.
“We have very rarely given this award to a debut novelist,” Cleland said during the banquet. “But our readers loved this book.”
Parks, 36, is a former reporter for The Star-Ledger and The Washington Post. A graduate of Dartmouth College, he is now a full-time novelist. More about his writing can be found at www.BradParksBooks.com.
MEWSIE and Montclair State writing professor DAVID GALEF writes: Starting this fall, Montclair State University will have a creative writing minor. The students are talented, and we want to reward the best with annual awards in both fiction and poetry. Would anyone out there be interested in sponsoring one of these contests to the tune of $100-200 per year? It’s a good opportunity not just to support the arts but also to plug whatever business or individual is supplying the funds. We have a printed pamphlet listing sponsors and an annual awards night where the sponsors can make short speeches.
Contact David at 973-655-5145 or galefd@mail.montclair.edu
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