Our genre truly overflows with many—and I mean many—excellent writers whose work continues to elevate and enhance the genre.
Notice I didn’t say transcend because I firmly believe that the genre is just fine and continues to grow and progress. Those who write other types of books should hope to transcend to the mystery/crime fiction genre.
And we also have a number of editors and publishers who have done terrific jobs at making sure that the novels they are involved with are at the level of excellence that readers deserve.
So hats off to those who are being honored during NoirCon 2014, a conference that pays tribute to all things noir from literature to film to art and poetry. NoirCon will take place October 30 through November 2, 2014, in Philadelphia.
Bronwen Hruska, at right, of Soho Press is being recognized as an outstanding publisher in crime fiction with the Jay and Deen Kogan Award. Hruska has led the way in translation publishing and opened many doors for women in the field. Before she became publisher of Soho, Hruska worked as a journalist and screenwriter for 20 years. Her articles have appeared in myriad publications including The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, Entertainment Weekly, Cosmopolitan, and the Village Voice. She also is an author. Her first novel, Accelerated, was published in 2012 by Pegasus Books. Accelerated is about a single father pressured by his eight-year-old son's prestigious school to put the boy on medication for ADD. The novel gives Hruska the opportunity to look at the cutthroat culture of prep schools.
Fuminori Nakamura of Tokyo, Japan, will receive the David Goodis Award for excellence in writing. Nakamura’s many awards for his novels include Japan’s most prestigious literary award, the Akutagawa Prize. His novels published by Soho Press include The Thief and Evil and the Mask. The publication of his novel Last Winter, We Parted will coincide with NoirCon 2014.
Author and screenwriter Eddie Muller will receive the Anne Friedberg Award for contribution to noir education and preservation.
The NoirCon conference is produced and headquartered at Society Hill Playhouse in Philadelphia.
The program includes panels on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, parties, movie showings, an awards banquet on the banks of the Delaware River, and a visit to MOCA, the Philadelphia Mausoleum of Contemporary Art.
A few highlights include Muller introducing a special showing of the film The Prowler, written by Dalton Trumbo and first released in 1951, at 1 p.m., Thursday, October 30, at The International House.
Tom Nolan, of The Wall Street Journal, will conduct an interview with Nakamura on Saturday.
Scheduled panels include: The Black Dahlia, Jewish Noir, Existential Noir, The Politics of Noir, A Ross MacDonald Examination, How Springsteen’s Music Shapes Crime Fiction, and Three Minutes of Terror, when every attending writer gets three minutes to share his work or ideas.
Authors scheduled to participate include Megan Abbott, William Lashner, Stuart Neville, Jean Cash, Jonathan Woods, Robert Polito, Vicki Hendricks, Steve Hodel, Carole Mallory, Duane Swierczynski, Alan Gordon, among others. The keynote speaker is Eric Miles Williamson.
For further information call 215-923-0210 or check the website: www.noircon.com.
