To share your news on the web site, please e-mail the Web Coordinator, Susan C. Shea, at scsauthor (at) mac.com.

NOVEMBER BOOK DRIVE FOR YOUTH WRITING PROGRAM

Norcal member Laurie King let us know about this program, which is seeking book donations from authors this month (November). She’s inviting Norcal members to contribute signed copies of their books:

Santa Cruz area writers volunteer at the County Juvenile Hall’s writing and art program, providing incarcerated teens with opportunities to share their ideas and life experiences. The weekly program encourages literacy, self-reflection, critical thinking skills, non-violent expression and healthy, supportive relationships with adults and their community.

The teens’ poems, essays and other writing are published in a weekly magazine that circulates all over the country and on the Web. For many participants, it is the first positive recognition they've ever received that they have a voice worthy of an audience.

The program is doing a fundraiser to match funds from a grant. The writer-volunteers are asking Bay Area authors to donate signed copies of their books to be given as thank-you gifts to community members who donate cash. You can learn about other participating authors and the fundraiser at: http://beatwithinsantacruz.blogspot.com .

Note from writer/volunteer Jill Wolfson: “It's probably best to limit your donations to those with language and acts that wouldn't give palpitations to your Great Aunt Tillie.” For donations, contact Jill Wolfson at books4beat@gmail.com

NORCAL DONORS to date (if you donate, let Susan Shea know and we’ll add your name to the Norcal site list.

Laurie King
Simon Wood
Diana Orgain

Awards News:

Chapter President Louise Ure has been nominated for a 2009 Nero Wolfe Award for her novel The Fault Tree. The "Nero" is an annual award presented to an author for literary excellence in the mystery genre.

Rhys Bowen won the Macavity Award for Best Historical Mystery for her novel A Royal Pain. The awards were presented at Bouchercon in October. Chapter President Louise Ure (The Fault Tree, best novel), Lisa Lutz (Curse of the Spellmans, best novel) and Kelli Stanley (Nox Dormienda, best historical mystery) were also nominated for Macavitys.

NorCal writers were among the winners of awards presented at Left Coast Crime in Hawaii on March 11. Tim Maleeny (Greasing the Piñata) won the Lefty Award, a prize for the best humorous mystery of 2008. Kelli Stanley received a Bruce Alexander Historical Mystery Award for Nox Dormienda: A Long Night For Sleeping. Former Chapter President Rhys Bowen was one of the Guests of Honor.

Congratulations to NorCal member Rhys Bowen, whose short story "Please Watch Your Step" (The Strand Magazine, Spring '07), won the Macavity Award for Best Short Story.

Congratulations to Patricia Morin, whose short story, "In the Rough," won third place at the Deadly Ink short story contest.

Ann Parker has won the Colorado Book Award for Popular Fiction for Iron Ties, a historical mystery set in the 1880 silver-rush boomtown of Leadville, Colorado. For more information about Ann and her Silver Rush mystery series, visit annparker.net.

Simon Wood won the 2007 Anthony Award - Best Short Story for "My Father’s Secret" (Crimespree Magazine, Bouchercon Special Issue).

Rhys Bowen won the 2007 Macavity Award - Best Historical Novel for Oh Danny Boy.

Tim Maleeny won the 2007 Macavity Award - Best Short Story for "Till Death Do Us Part," from the anthology Death Do Us Part: New Stories about Love, Lust, and Murder, edited by Harlan Coben (Little, Brown).

Member Interviews:

The San Francisco Chronicle interviewed a number of Bay Area crime writers, including many MWA Norcal Chapter members, in a May 4, 2008 article on the the number and variety of mystery writers who live and work in the Bay Area.

NorCal member Mark Coggins, author of Runoff, was interviewed by Fran Halpern on her NPR program "Beyond Words." Listen to the interview.

NorCal member Tim Maleeny, author of Stealing the Dragon, was interviewed by James Calder. Read the interview.

The San Francisco Chronicle featured a great interview with Chapter President Cara Black on April 5, 2007! Read the interview at sfgate.com.

Read an interview with Louise Ure, author of Forcing Amaryllis.