2018 Edgar Allan Poe Awards

The Edgar Allan Poe Awards, popularly known as the Edgars, are presented every year by the Mystery Writers of America. Since the 1950s, they’ve honored the best in mystery fiction, non-fiction, and television. Past winners include leading authors  like Raymond Chandler, John Le Carre, Dick Francis, Elmore Leonard, Dennis Lehane and Stephen King. FOSEL’s second display of Award Winning Books in the library’s parkside window show the 2018 winners, also listed below.

Edgar Allan Poe, for whom the award is named, was a writer, editor and literary critic best known for his tales of mystery and the macabre. He is considered the inventor of the detective fiction genre. Poe has a local connection; he was born in Boston in 1809 near what is today the intersection of Boylston and Charles Streets. A statue of Poe is located at that corner.

 BELOW ARE THE 2018 EDGAR AWARD INNERS:

 Bluebird, Bluebird by Attica Locke (novel)

She Rides Shotgun by Jordan Harper (first novel)

The Unseeing by Anna Mazzola (paperback original)

Killers of the Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI, by David Grann (fact crime)

Chester B. Himes: A Biography by Lawrence P. Jackson (critical/biographical)

Spring Break by John Crowley (short story)

Vanished ! by James Ponti (juvenile, 7-12 years old)

Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds (young adult)

Somebody to Love by Noah Hawley (episode in a TV series)

The Queen of Secrets by Lisa D. Gray (Robert L. Fish Memorial (Award for best first short story by an American writer)

The Widow’s House by Carol Goodman (Mary Higgins Clark (Award for a suspense novel most closely written in the MHC tradition)

The 2018 Massachusetts Book Awards

The first display in the South End library’s Book Award window. FOSEL has ordered window banners for the project, which will be installed as soon as they come in.

The Friends of the South End Library has initiated a new project to highlight award-winning books in the South End library’s park-side window to the left of the entrance. FOSEL board member Reinhold Mahler has worked closely with library volunteer, Jenni Watson, to install the first display, of the 2018 winners for books authored in 2017, selected by the Massachusetts Center for the Book. Our goal is to connect local residents to a diverse group of organizations that recognize outstanding literary work in a broad variety of categories and..if inspired, to apply.

The Massachusetts Book Awards recognize significant works of fiction, non-fiction, poetry and children’s/young adult literature published by Massachusetts residents. They are sponsored by the Massachusetts Center for the Book and have been awarded since 2000. Winners are selected for originality, liveliness and engaging presentations, as well as for the quality of their publication. 

The winners of books (published in 2017) are: Mercury, by Margot Livesey (fiction); A World of Color: The World of John Singleton Copley, by Jane Kamensky (non-fiction); Vivas to Those Who Have Failed, by Martin Espada (poetry); and The First Step: How One Girl Put Segregation on Trial, by Susan E. Goodman (children’s).

Any individual, organization or company can nominate a book for these awards. The deadline for the 2018 awards is December 31, 2018. Selections are made by a panel of judges from across Massachusetts. Prize-winning books are added to the Special Collections at the State Library of Massachusetts and promoted throughout the state. 

For more information visit www.massbook.org. or call 617 872-3718.