Strand Mag Press Releases
Contest Announced to Complete Graham Greene's
Unfinished Novella
The Strand Magazine has announced that a contest will be
held to determine who will complete the unfinished Graham Greene novella The
Empty Chair, which for the past year has been serialized in the Strand.
“I think we’re very excited to see what comes our way,”
Andrew F. Gulli, the managing editor of the Strand said, “As an editor, it’s
easy to underestimate the ingenuity of aspiring writers.”
The Empty Chair was discovered in a library by French scholar François Gallix
while he was going over Graham Greene’s papers for a research project. The first
part of the 23,000 word manuscript was published in the 2009 summer issue of The
Strand magazine and generated worldwide publicity and interest not only among
Greene fans, but among the reading public. “I think what this proves is that
despite being dead for almost twenty years, Greene is very much alive in the
conscious of the reading public,” said Frank Simon, the associate publisher of
the Strand.
Graham Greene was born in 1904 and has a reputation as one
of the greatest novelists of the 20th century for writing novels such
as, The Power and the Glory,
The End of the Affair, Our Man in Havana, and The Quiet
American. He died in 1991.
The idea for a contest came from Greene’s son Francis, who
thought that The Strand was the ideal venue to publish The Empty Chair since his
father published several short stories for the old Strand
in the 40s.
The final part of the story will be published in the holiday issue of the Strand
Magazine. “In our holiday issue we have a very short chapter five written by
Greene,” Gulli said, “Then the novella ends rather abruptly, immediately
following chapter five, we’ll publish the concluding chapter penned by winner of
the contest.”
Winners of the 2009 Strand Critics Awards announced
and Elmore Leonard honored
Michael Connelly took the top prize for Best Novel for Nine Dragons (Little,
Brown) and Josh Bazell and Bryan Gruley shared the best first novel award for
Beat the Reaper (Little, Brown) and Starvation Lake (Touchstone). The winners
were announced at an invitation only cocktail party in Manhattan, by bestselling
author Jonathan Santlofer.
Set in Hong Kong, Nine Dragons is Connelly’s 14th Harry Bosch book and has
garnered rave reviews for being one of Connelly’s best novels to date.
"Considering that it comes from Strand Magazine and the pedigrees of those on
the judging panel, I am blown away by receiving this award, it is truly very
special to me,” Connelly said after receiving the award.
Beat the Reaper by Josh Bazell, blends humor with a darkly inventive thriller
and has been translated into several languages. The Wall Street Journal’s Bryan
Gruley, author of Starvation Lake, has earned comparisons to Dennis Lehane and
has been hailed by critics as one of the most promising debut novelists of 2009.
Otto Penzler introduced the lifetime achievement award honoree Elmore
Leonard. Leonard who has been described as the greatest living American crime
writer has authored scores of novels, screenplays and short stories. Leonard
thanked the judges and paid tribute to many of the writers who influenced him.
Best Novel:
Nine Dragons by Michael Connelly (Little, Brown and Company)
The Mystic Arts of Erasing All Signs of Death by Charlie Huston (Ballantine
Books)Life Sentences by Laura Lippman (William Morrow)
The Renegades by T. Jefferson Parker (Dutton)
The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters (Riverhead Books)
Best First Novel
Beat the Reaper by Josh Bazell (Little, Brown and Company)
The Manual of Detection by Jedediah Berry (Penguin Press)
A Reliable Wife by Robert Goolrick (Algonquin Books)
Starvation Lake by Bryan Gruley (Touchstone)
Black Water Rising by Attica Locke (Harper)
"It was great to have many of the nominees in attendance," said Andrew F.
Gulli, the managing editor of The Strand. "And to have Elmore Leonard who
provided the inspiration to so many of these writers at the awards was
wonderful."
This year's judges included a panel of reviewers from Time Magazine, The
Washington Post, LA Times, The Florida Sun Sentinel, The Associated Press, The
Wall Street Journal, The Guardian and The Chicago Tribune.
Nominees for the 2009 Strand Critics Awards announced
and Elmore Leonard honored
The Strand, February 19,
2010 -- The Strand Magazine has announced its nominees for the 2009 Strand
Magazine Critics Awards. Recognizing excellence in the field of mystery fiction,
the Critics Awards were judged by a select group of book critics and
journalists, including Ron Charles (The Washington Post), Julia Keller (Chicago
Tribune), Tom Nolan (Wall Street Journal) Paul Harris (The Guardian), and Hallie
Ephron (The Boston Globe).
Best Novel:
Nine Dragons by Michael Connelly (Little, Brown and
Company)
The Mystic Arts of Erasing All Signs of Death by Charlie Huston (Ballantine
Books)
Life Sentences by Laura Lippman (William Morrow)
The Renegades by T. Jefferson
Parker (Dutton)
The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters (Riverhead Books)
Best First Novel
Beat the Reaper by Josh Bazell (Little, Brown and Company)
The Manual of Detection by Jedediah Berry (Penguin Press)
A Reliable Wife by Robert Goolrick (Algonquin Books)
Starvation
Lake
by Bryan Gruley (Touchstone)
Black Water Rising by Attica Locke (Harper)
The Strand bestowed its Lifetime Achievement
Award to Elmore Leonard for his huge body of mystery and crime novels which have
been translated into dozens of languages and are regulars on the
New York Times best-seller lists. When
given news of the award, Leonard said, “It’s an honor to receive this award from
The Strand. I’ve been given awards for books that I’ve written, but I’m pleased
to be getting an award for all of my work.”
The awards will be presented in the categories of Best
Novel and Best First Novel at an invitation-only cocktail party, hosted by The
Strand on July 7, 2010, in New York
City.
cjones@strandmag.com. P.O. BOX 1418 • BIRMINGHAM, MICHIGAN
• 48012-1418 PHONE: 1 800 300 6652 (US) • FAX: 248 874 1046 WWW.STRANDMAG.COM
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Richard Price and Tom Rob Smith Capture The Top Prizes
July 8, 2009
(New York, NY) -- The Strand Magazine has announced the winners of the 2008
Strand Magazine Critics Awards. Richard Price took the top prize for Best Novel
for Lush Life and Tom Rob Smith won for Best First Novel for Child 44. The
winners were announced at an invitation only cocktail party in Manhattan, by
bestselling author Jonathan Santlofer. Price and Smith thanked the judges and
paid tribute to their fellow nominees.
Richard Price earned rave reviews for his meticulously researched crime novel
Lush Life which was set in New York's Lower Eastside and explores themes from
crime to class inequality, and the struggle to survive in a violent environment.
Tom Rob Smith's first novel Child 44, hit the New York Times bestseller list and
became an overnight sensation, the novel is loosely based on a true story about
a chilling serial killer in Communist Russia.
Best Novel:
When Will There Be Good News? by Kate Atkinson (Little, Brown and Company)
Master of the Delta by Thomas H. Cook (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)
The Brass Verdict by Michael Connelly (Little, Brown and Company)
Lush Life by Richard Price (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
Hollywood Crows by Joseph Wambaugh (Little, Brown and Company)
Best First Novel:
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson (Knopf)
City of the Sun by David Levien (Doubleday)
A Cure for Night by Justin Peacock (Doubleday)
Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith (Grand Central Publishing)
A Carrion Death by Michael Stanley (Harper)
"Lush Life and Child 44 were worthy efforts by Richard Price and Tom Rob
Smith," said Andrew F. Gulli, the managing editor of The Strand. "The voting was
so close this year, that the winners and nominees were separated by only a
handful of votes."
This year's judges included Otto Penzler, Dennis Drabelle of The Washington
Post, David Ulin of the LA Times, Lev Grossman of Time Magazine, Carol Memmott
of USA Today, Maureen Corrigan of NPR, and Bruce DeSilva of the Associated
Press.
A lifetime achievement award was given posthumously to English author John
Mortimer which was accepted by his wife Penny Mortimer.
The Verdict Is in...
Michael Connelly, Joseph Wambaugh, Tom Rob Smith, Kate
Atkinson, and David Levien, are among the nominees for The Strand Magazine
Critics Awards for Best Novel and Best First Novel. The judges are book
reviewers from several of the nation's top daily newspapers.
March 25, 2009 -- The Strand Magazine has announced its nominees for the
2008 Strand Magazine Critics Awards. Recognizing excellence in the field of
mystery fiction, the Critics Awards are judged by a select group of book
reviewers from the nation's top daily newspapers. Otto Penzler served as the
award chair for best novel and Andrew Gulli served as the award chair for best
first novel. This year's judges include Dennis Drabelle of The Washington Post,
David Ulin of the LA Times, Lev Grossman of Time Magazine, Carol Memmott of USA
Today, Maureen Corrigan of NPR, and Bruce DeSilva of the Associated Press.
Best Novel:
When Will There Be Good News? by Kate Atkinson (Little, Brown and Company)
Master of the Delta by Thomas H. Cook (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)
The Brass Verdict by Michael Connelly (Little, Brown and Company)
Lush Life by Richard Price (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
Hollywood Crows by Joseph Wambaugh (Little, Brown and Company)
Best First Novel:
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson (Knopf)
City of the Sun by David Levien (Doubleday)
A Cure for Night by Justin Peacock (Doubleday)
Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith (Grand Central Publishing)
A Carrion Death by Michael Stanley (Harper)
"All judges sent to me, as committee chairman, a list of
their 10 favorite books. I made a list that included all of these books--and a
disparate selection it was--and the five with the most votes were to be the
finalists," said Otto Penzler, the world famous publisher and proprietor of the
Mysterious Bookshop. "As it happened, there were three books that made it onto
the short list, with five others tied for fourth, so we had a runoff with an
extra round of voting to determine the top five nominees. Judges were then asked
to list these top five in order of preference, with a first-place vote awarded
five points, a second-place vote four points, and so on."
"I couldn't have been more pleased with this selection of nominees," said Andrew
F. Gulli, the managing editor of The Strand. "When I read several of these books
last year, I had a feeling they would be nominated for the Critics Award."
Awards will be presented in the categories of Best
Novel and Best First Novel at an invitation-only cocktail party, hosted by The
Strand on July 8, 2009, in New York City. A lifetime achievement award will be
given posthumously to English author John Mortimer.
cjones@strandmag.com. P.O. BOX 1418 • BIRMINGHAM, MICHIGAN • 48012-1418 PHONE: 1
800 300 6652 (US) • FAX: 248 874 1046
WWW.STRANDMAG.COM
###
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Previously-unpublished Mark Twain work to
appear in The Strand Magazine:
The spring 2009 issue of The Strand will
include Twain’s “The Undertaker’s Tale”
BIRMINGHAM,
Mich.
-- The Strand Magazine announces the forthcoming publication of a
previously-unpublished Mark Twain short story in an upcoming issue of The
Strand. Adding to a long-running tradition of publishing
works by such great writers as Conan Doyle (published in the original Strand
-- 1891-1950), Ray Bradbury, Alexander McCall Smith, and Ruth Rendell,
The Strand will feature Twain’s “The Undertaker’s Tale” in its spring 2009
issue.
Andrew Gulli, editor of The Strand, said he grew up reading
Mark Twain, and calls the opportunity to publish Twain’s work “an editor’s
dream.” While “The Undertaker’s Tale,” will be published nearly 99 years
after Twain’s death in 1910, Gulli notes that the work is both timely and
timeless.
According to Gulli, “Though the story is called ‘The Undertaker's
Tale,’ I would hazard against bracing for something gloomy—Twain uses his razor
sharp wit to pen a tongue-in-cheek tale about the funeral industry, which could
easily have been written today. After rereading several of Twain’s tales and
essays, it became even clearer to me that Twain’s writings can never be dated.
He tackles the same problems we're challenged with today, and pokes fun at the
same characters that inhabit our present-day world.”
Moreover, added Gulli, “We are especially thrilled because this
issue will also feature a P.G. Wodehouse story that has been lost for almost 100
years.”
Marking the first time an unpublished work of fiction by Mark Twain
has appeared in years, The Strand will publish “The Undertaker’s Tale” in
the spring 2009 issue. The story will also appear in Who is Mark Twain?
(HarperStudio) in April.
“The opportunity to publish something by such a literary icon as
Mark Twain is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” said Frank Simon, Associate
Publisher of The Strand. "We publishers
just live for the chance to be a part of something like this."
Bob Miller, Publisher at HarperStudio, which will release Who is
Mark Twain, a collection of Twain’s previously unpublished stories and
essays later this year, commented, “The idea of publishing never-before-pieces
by Mark Twain appealed to me for a number of reasons: I like the irony of
starting something new with something old, as Twain was published from 1895
until 1910 by Harper Brothers, the company within which we are now starting HarperStudio. Also, the pieces themselves are wonderfully, hilariously
contemporary, and deserve as wide an audience as possible.”
The Strand Magazine
(www.strandmag.com) is the nation’s
leading mystery publication. Published quarterly, The Strand Magazine
brings to the forefront the best of today’s mystery fiction, articles,
interviews and reviews. From hard-boiled detective stories to cozies, The
Strand covers a broad spectrum of the mystery genre. A known and trusted
name for fiction by some of today’s best authors, The Strand features
in-depth interviews with best-selling writers, enlightening articles, as
well as insightful reviews of the latest mysteries and thrillers, including
children’s and young adult mysteries, and audiobooks.
A Lifetime
Achievement Award for John Mortimer
The Strand Magazine has announced that the 2009 Strand Critics Lifetime Achievement Award
goes to John Mortimer.
Detroit, Mich., Jan 14, 2009 – Famed British writer and barrister Sir John
Mortimer has won a lifetime achievement award sponsored by
The Strand Magazine and judged by
several critics from top daily papers in the U.S.
In addition to once being one of London’s top barristers, Mortimer has written
numerous successful plays, screenplays and novels, and is most renown for
creating the curmudgeonly defender Horace Rumpole of The Old Bailey.
“I feel honoured to be chosen to receive this Lifetime Achievement Award on
behalf of Horace Rumpole,” said Mortimer, 84, in a statement Wednesday. “He is,
of course, a truly British character and I am delighted that he has come to be
appreciated so much by his American cousins.”
"I think that John Mortimer has made an excellent contribution to crime
writing,” said Andrew Gulli, managing editor of
The Strand. "When you think about
larger-than-life mystery characters, you think of iconic characters like of
Holmes, Poirot, Marlowe and Rumpole "
The first pair of Strand Critics awards were given last year to Laura
Lippman, for best mystery novel, and Marcus Sakey, for best first mystery novel.
This is the first year that a lifetime achievement award will be presented.
Mortimer has written 13 short stories that have appeared in
The Strand. In 2003, “Rumpole and The
Primrose Path” was nominated for an Edgar Award. According to
Strand associate publisher Frank
Simon, “Mortimer is the new Strand’s
equivalent of Conan Doyle — with the years, his work if anything has gotten
better.”
Since publishing
Rumpole of the Bailey in 1978,
Mortimer has authored more than 20 novels and short story collections featuring
Rumpole, which have made the character a worldwide success. The books also
spawned a television series, starring Leo McKern, which lasted from 1978-1992
and was a successful staple for years in the U.S. on Mobil’s Mystery! Series.
On hearing news of the achievement award, Mortimer’s agent, Carol Macarthur,
said, “United Agents are extremely pleased that Sir John Mortimer has been given
this award at this time of his life and would like to thank Andrew Gulli from
Strand Magazine for helping to promote
the Rumpole name in the United States.”
The award will be presented at an invitation-only cocktail party, hosted by
The Strand in July, in New York City. For more information, please
contact Christine Jones at 248 569 3702 or visit
www.strandmag.com
The Strand Magazine
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Christine Jones
Phone: 248 569 3702
Email: cjones@strandmag.com
Strand Magazine Announces Nominees for 2007 Critics Award
Award honors excellence in the field of mystery fiction
DETROIT, March 20, 2008—The Strand Magazine has announced its nominees for the
2007 Strand Magazine Critics Award. Recognizing excellence in the field of
mystery fiction, the Critics Award is judged by a select group of book reviewers
from the nation’s top daily newspapers, as well as by Andrew F. Gulli, Managing
Editor of The Strand Magazine. With Larry Gandle of The Tampa Tribune serving as
The Strand Critics Award chairman, this year’s judges include Patrick Anderson
of The Washington Post, Dick Lochte of the LA Times, Oline H. Cogdill of the
South Florida Sun-Sentinel, David Montgomery of The Philadelphia Inquirer,
Hallie Ephron of The Boston Globe, and Sarah Weinman of The Baltimore Sun.
Best Novel
Down River by John Hart (St Martin’s Minotaur)
The Shotgun Rule by Charlie Huston (Ballantine Books)
The Strangler by William Landay (Delacorte Press)
The Watchman by Robert Crais (Simon and Schuster)
What the Dead Know by Laura Lippman (William Morrow)
Best First Novel
The Blade Itself by Marcus Sakey (St. Martin's Minotaur)
In the Woods by Tana French (Viking)
The Mark by Jason Pinter (Mira Books)
Missing Witness by Gordon Campbell (William Morrow)
When One Man Dies by Dave White (Crown Publishing)
“We’ve got a great group of experienced book reviewers from all over the country
judging these books,” said Frank Simon, Associate Publisher of The Strand. “Add
to that the fact that The Strand is putting its name behind it and you can be
sure that all the nominees represent some of the best mysteries being published
today.”
Awards will be presented in the categories of Best Novel and Best First Novel at
an invitation-only cocktail party, hosted by The Strand on July 9, 2008, in New
York City. For more information, please contact Christine Jones at 248 569 3702
or cjones@strandmag.com.
P.O. BOX 1418 • BIRMINGHAM, MICHIGAN • 48012-1418
PHONE: 1 800 300 6652 (US) • FAX: 248 874 1046
WWW.STRANDMAG.COM
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