Crime Writers' Association International Dagger Award

Johan Theorin's The Darkest Room has won the Crime Writers' Association's International Dagger award for a crime novel that has been translated into English. Judges called the novel "impossible to reduce... to ghost story, a police procedural or a gothic tale." Theorin bested a shortlist that included Stieg Larsson's The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest, Tonino Benacquista's Badfellas, Andrea Camilleri's August Heat, Arnaldur Indridason's Hypothermia and Deon Meyer's Thirteen Hours.

Man Booker Longlist

The longlist for the Man Booker Prize for fiction has been announced. Chair of judges Andrew Motion said, "Here are thirteen exceptional novels--books we have chosen for their intrinsic quality, without reference to the past work of their authors. Wide-ranging in their geography and their concern, they tell powerful stories which make the familiar strange and cover an enormous range of history and feeling. We feel confident that they will provoke and entertain." The shortlist will be announced September 7, with the winner revealed on October 12. This year's longlist:
Parrot and Olivier in America by Peter Carey
Room by Emma Donoghue
The Betrayal by Helen Dunmore
In a Strange Room by Damon Galgut
The Finkler Question by Howard Jacobson
The Long Song by Andrea Levy
C by Tom McCarthy
The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet by David Mitchell
February by Lisa Moore
Skippy Dies by Paul Murray
Trespass by Rose Tremain
The Slap by Christos Tsiolkas
The Stars in the Bright Sky by Alan Warner

2010 Dagger Awards

The Crime Writers' Association,CWA,has announced the winners of several Dagger Awards. These include:
Dagger in the Library: Ariana Franklin, “the author of crime fiction whose work is currently giving the greatest enjoyment to library users”;
Gold Dagger for Non-Fiction: Ruth Dudley Edwards for Aftermath: The Omagh Bombing & the Families’ Pursuit of Justice;
International Dagger: Johan Theorin for The Darkest Room;
Short Story Dagger: Robert Ferrigno for "Can You Help Me Out There" (which appeared in Thriller 2);
Debut Dagger: Patrick Eden, for his noir tale "A Place of Dying."

New Franz Kafka Manuscripts Found

On Tuesday an Israeli judge rejected a request for a gag order on the contents of a box containing manuscripts written by Franz Kafka. Most of the found documents are letters and manuscripts belonging to Kafka and Max Brod, Kafka's close friend and editor. The box also contains a never before seen handwritten manuscript of a Kafka short story. The handwritten manuscript is of great value since Brod edited Kafka's work. There are more safe deposit boxes to be opened; more documents and manuscripts of the two authors are expected to be found.

Pritzker Military Library Literature Award Announced

The 2010 Pritzker Military Library Literature Award for Lifetime Achievement in Military Writing will be awarded in October to military historian and journalist Rick Atkinson, author of An Army at Dawn, The Long Gray Line, Crusade and many others. The $100,000 honorarium will be presented at the annual Pritzker’s Liberty Gala in Chicago on October 22. "The Pritzker Award recognizes: [A] living author for a body of work that has profoundly enriched the public understanding of American military history." A national panel of writers and historians -- including previous recipients James M. McPherson, Allan R. Millett, and Gerhard L. Weinberg -- reviewed nominations and definitive works submitted by publishers, agents, booksellers, and other professional literary organizations.

Tess Gerritsen's novels Adapted to TV

The TV series, Rizzoli & Isles, based on Tess Gerritsen’s series of mystery novels, has started on TNT. The first show ranked as “the most watched ad-supported cable series launch of all time,” according to Deadline Hollywood. The TV series is largely based The Apprentice, book 2 of the series. The series, in order: 1. The Surgeon (2001); 2. The Apprentice (2002); 3. The Sinner (2003); 4. Body Double (2004);5. Vanish (2005); 6. The Mephisto Club (2006);7. The Keepsake (2008); 8. Ice Cold (2010)

50th Anniversary of Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird

Published in 1960, Harper Lee's novel had been translated into more than 40 languages and sold more than 30 million copies. HarperCollins is releasing a special 50th anniversary hard cover edition that includes the original art work. The book Scout, Atticus, and Boo by Mary McDonagh Murphy recently was published. It contains interviews with people sharing their memories of the novel and its author. HarperCollins has a campaign "50 years, 50 events", for more information, see www.ToKillAMockingbird50Year.com