Final Report on the Strand Critics Awards…
(Alex Segura, Stacy Willingham, Lee Child, James Lee Burke, Nita Prose, and Dan Smetanka took home the top awards via a virtual ceremony held on Wednesday, Jan 10)
Alex Segura in his first nomination for Best Novel took home the top prize for Secret Identity (Flatiron Books). Alexa Segura spoke about, “Those moments when we’re writing the book, when we wonder if anyone’s going to read it. You have to experience that before you get to the finished product that hopefully people will read, and love and it’s really been a wonderful journey to see the response to Secret Identity.”
Stacy Willingham won the Best Debut Novel Award for her riveting thriller A Flicker in the Dark. Willingham expressed her admiration to all the other nominees, “I’m a huge fan of your works and it’s just an honor to even be invited here and be among your company.”
James Lee Burke
Lee Child and James Lee Burke Receive Lifetime Achievement Awards
Adding to an already impressive list of awards, James Lee Burke received The Strand’s Lifetime Achievement Award. After finding early publishing success in the 1960s and early 70s, Burke’s works were largely ignored for over a decade. However, thanks to his undeniable versatility and talent, and the persistence of his legendary literary agent, Philip Spitzer, Burke’s 1986 novel The Lost Get-Back Boogie was finally published to critical acclaim and a Pulitzer Prize nomination. Since then, he hasn’t looked back. In a career spanning six decades, he has received continuous praise and comparisons to an illustrious set of authors ranging from Sartre to Hemingway.
James Lee Burke speaking from Montana said, “It was a long long wilderness. One of my books was rejected 111 times, Phil Spitzer (my agent) had it in circulation for 9 years. And it was actually vandalized by some. I’m not making this up. They stabbed it (my manuscript) with ball point pens.” Burke then spoke about the mystical side of creativity, “I really feel that every artist would share this with me that it comes from somewhere else… it was a hand that came from somewhere else and told me, ‘you’re going to write and you’re going to write, and write and write.’”
Lee Child
Lee Child
After writing for television for many years, Lee Child turned his talents to novels. The result? A highly successful career as one of the most popular thriller authors of the last 25 years. His very first novel, The Killing Floor (1997), hit the best-sellers lists and marked the debut of Jack Reacher, who quickly became one of the most iconic action heroes of the thriller genre. The Jack Reacher books have sold millions of copies in dozens of languages around the world and have been successfully adapted into blockbuster films.
“I should be giving an award to all of you…I’ve been doing this now for what, 25…nearly 30 years. And single best thing about it is the company of people I’ve met through my books,” Child said. “Readers and writers are in my opinion, by definition, the most interesting people on the planet and it has been my absolute joy and privilege to have spent decades in your company.”
Past lifetime achievement award-winners include Walter Mosley, Heather Graham, Joyce Carol Oates, J.A. Jance, Sandra Brown, Nelson DeMille, Jeffery Deaver, Alexander McCall Smith, and Elmore Leonard.
Nita Prose
The Strand Magazine’s Publisher of the Year Award recognizes excellence in publishing…
This year’s recipient of The Strand Magazine’s Publisher of the Year Award is Dan Smetanka, Vice President and Editorial Chief of Counterpoint Press. During his tenure with Counterpoint Press, Smetanka has presided over record growth and distribution, launched critically acclaimed books by authors such as Tod Goldberg, Peter Houlahan, Dana Johnson, and John Verdon, and has also been instrumental in reviving the works of Eve Babitz. Based in Southern California and describing themselves as “an author-driven publishing house” centering on new literary voices, the team at Counterpoint is part of a movement of publishers like Blackstone, Sourcebooks, Bancroft Press, and Camcat Books that are helping to transform and diversify the industry. Unafraid to take risks, Smetanka is beloved by his authors for his hands-on approach and sharp attention to even the smallest details.
Smetanka was asked about his reputation as an editor’s editor and said, “It’s really spending time with authors and learning what their vision for their work is and helping them achieve that to the best of our ability.”
Best Mystery Audiobook
The Strand launched a new award for Best Mystery audiobook, the winner of was Nita Prose for The Maid (Random House Audio). Nita’s editor Hilary Teeman was on hand to accept the award on her behalf, and spoke of reading the original manuscript at the start of the COVID pandemic, “…I picked it up and I couldn’t put it down.”
Desert Star
By Michael Connelly | read by Titus Welliver, Christine Lakin, Peter Giles (Little, Brown and Company)
My Darkest Prayer
By S. A. Cosby | read by Adam Lazarre-White (Macmillan Audio)
The Paris Apartment
By Lisa Foley | read by Clare Corbett, Daphne Kouma, Julia Winwood, Sope Dirisu, Sofia Zervudachi, Charlie Anson (HarperAudio)
The Twist of a Knife
By Anthony Horowitz | read by Rory Kinnear (HarperAudio)
The Bullet That Missed: Thursday Murder Club
By Richard Osman | read by Fiona Shaw, Richard Osman, Steph McGovern (Penguin Audio)
The Maid
By Nita Prose | read by Lauren Ambrose (Random House Audio)
The White Lady
By Jacqueline Winspear | read by Orlagh Cassidy (HarperAudio
The Critics Awards were judged by a select group of book critics from NPR, Time, the Associated Press, Wall Street Journal, LA Times and the Washington Post.
BEST NOVEL
Anywhere You Run by Wanda M. Morris (William Morrow)
Back to the Garden by Laurie R. King (Bantam)
Desert Star by Michael Connelly (Little Brown)
Her Last Affair by John Searles (Mariner Books)
A World of Curiosities by Louise Penny (Minotaur)
Secret Identity Alex Segura (Flatiron Books)
Alex Segura
BEST DEBUT
Stacy Willingham
Jackal by Erin E. Adams (Bantam)
A Flicker in the Dark by Stacy Willingham (Minotaur)
Before You Knew My Name by Jacqueline Bublitz (Atria/Emily Bestler)
Don’t Know Tough by Eli Cranor (Soho)
Lifetime Achievement Awards
Lee Child
James Lee Burke
Publisher of the Year Award
Dan Smetanka