Daggers Longlister Katherine Futers

Welcome today Katherine Black Futers, who turned her MA in Creative Writing into a focus on entering writing contests, and this spring received the validation of reaching the Debut Dagger longlist with the opening chapter of her second novel-length crime manuscript: Lufkin, Texas

Is this your first entry into the Debut Dagger? Where did you hear about this contest for unpublished crime novels, and what decided you to enter? Have you entered other writing contests with this or other works?

KF This was my second entry into the Debut Dagger. I also entered last year with my first novel, No Fouler Fiend. I heard about the competition through my MA course at the University of East Anglia. Since starting the MA in 2019, I’ve entered a number of writing contests. No Fouler Fiend came third in the Yeovil Literary Prize 2021. I think the competitions are a good way to test the writing, plus placing and/or winning gives validation to a manuscript when submitting it to agents and publishers.

 

Tell us a little bit about your shortlisted manuscript: cosy, noir, not easily categorized?

Is this a DAGGER I see before me?

This is not a Dagger Award.

Every May and June my mind flashes back to Spring 2013, when I got the email here in Calgary saying I'd made the longlist for the UK's premier award for unpublished crime novelists: the Debut Dagger. It was the most exciting day of my crime-writing life! 

But it was soon superseded by another email saying I'd made the shortlist too, and that I was invited to the awards banquet in London, England.

Of course I went! All the way from Western Canada straight into southern England's hottest July. London was baking. The Tube was sweltering. I met many great crime writers both new and established. Gyles Brandreth gave a great speech that we still reference today (ask him about the 90-90 rule). Louise Penny and her lovely husband made us welcome. THIS MAN kissed my hand.

What is this award?

Not a Dagger Award either.

From the Crime Writers Association:

"The Debut Dagger is a competition for the opening of a crime novel by a writer who isn’t represented by an agent by the time the competition closes, and who has never had a traditional contract for any novel of any length, or who has never self-published any novel of any length in the last 5 years. Writers submit their opening 3,000 words and a 1,500 word synopsis. The deadline is 6pm GMT of the last working day in February.

Entries from shortlisted writers are sent to UK literary agents and publishers. Every year, authors find representation this way.

 For full rules and how to enter the Debut Dagger, please click on the Entry Process below. For info about how the CWA supports our community of debut writers visit the Debuts section."

Still not a Dagger Award

This year's Dagger Awards will be presented at the CWA Daggers Gala coming up on June 29th at Leonardo City Hotel on Cooper’s Row in London.

In the lead-up to the Big Day for the 2022 finalists, I'll be interviewing one long-listed and 3 short-listed authors on their manuscripts, their inspirations, and their life outside of writing crime.

First up, on June 21: Longlister Katherine Futurs with her entry, Lufkin, Texas.

2nd interview, on June 23: shortlister Laura Ashton Hill with Holloway Castle

3rd Interview, on June 25: Canadian shortlister Kevin Bartlett with Henry's Bomb

4th Interview, on June 27: another Canadian shortlister, Liz Rachel Walker with The Dieppe Letters.

See the full list of 2022 Debut Dagger longlisters and finalists

And how did I and my finalist manuscript do back in 2013? 

Alas, I didn't win. My opening chapter for the manuscript, 'When the Bow Breaks,' a prequel to 'When the Flood Falls,' was that year's Highly Recommended, but it wasn't picked up by any of the agents who approached me after the banquet. 'When the Flood Falls,' though, went on to win Canada's Crime Writing Award of Excellence for Best Unpublished Manuscript (the award then called the 'Unhanged Arthur') and kicked off a 3-book (so far) series set in the mountains and foothills of Western Canada: The Falls Mysteries.

STILL not a Dagger Award!

If you're an aspiring crime writer with the opening chapter of a manuscript you hope will take you far, here's a page you'll want to bookmark for when the Debut Dagger annual submission season opens again in the fall of 2022.

For the most current news about The Falls Mysteries, see 

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AND THE WINNER(S) ARE....

 

CRIME WRITERS OF CANADA ANNOUNCES THE WINNERS OF THE 2022 AWARDS OF EXCELLENCE 

 

 

May 26, 2022

Crime Writers of Canada (CWC) is pleased to announce the winners for the 2022 Crime Writers of Canada Awards of Excellence in Canadian Crime Writing. Started in 1984, the annual Crime Writers of Canada Awards of Excellence, then known as the Arthur Ellis Awards, recognizes the best in mystery, crime, and suspense fiction, and crime nonfiction by Canadian authors.

On behalf of CWC, Judy Penz Sheluk, Board Chair, wishes to congratulate all the winners. The presentation of the winners can be viewed on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjSQew_DnnA

Best Crime Novel sponsored by Rakuten Kobo, with a $1000 prize
Dietrich Kalteis, Under an Outlaw Moon, ECW Press

Best Crime First Novel sponsored by Writers First, with a $500 prize
Ashley Audrain, The Push, Viking Canada

The Whodunit Award for Best Traditional Mystery sponsored by Jane Doe, with a $500 prize
Candas Jane Dorsey, What’s the Matter with Mary Jane?, ECW Press

The Howard Engel Award for Best Crime Novel Set in Canada sponsored by The Engel Family, with a $500 prize
C. S. Porter, Beneath Her Skin, Vagrant Press / Nimbus Publishing Inc.

Best Crime Novella sponsored by Mystery Magazine, with a $200 prize
Wayne Ng, Letters From Johnny, Guernica Editions

Best Crime Short Story sponsored by Mystery Magazine, with a $300 prize
Elizabeth Elwood, Number 10 Marlborough Place, Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine

Best French Crime Book (Fiction and Nonfiction)
Patrick Senécal, Flots, Editions Alire

Best Juvenile or YA Crime Book (Fiction and Nonfiction) sponsored by Shaftesbury, with a $500 prize
Kevin Sands, The Traitor's Blade, Aladdin (Simon & Schuster)

The Brass Knuckles Award for Best Nonfiction Crime Book sponsored by Simpson & Wellenreiter LLP, Hamilton, with a $300 prize
Nate Hendley, The Beatle Bandit, Dundurn Press
 
The Award for Best Unpublished Manuscript sponsored by ECW Press, with a $500 prize
Renee Lehnen, Elmington

CWC Unpublished Award of Excellence Interview: Renee Lehnen

AND THE WINNER IS...

RENEE!

Congratulations to all the finalists!

 (see her video interview here )

 

Today we welcome first-time finalist  

AND NOW WINNER of the 

2022 Crime Writers of Canada Award of Excellence

 for Best Unpublished Crime Novel:   

Renee Lehnen

with her novel manuscript, Elmington

 

We interviewed Renee before the winners were announced, and after she won we asked for a winner's statement, which is below, and followed by her original interview.

Renee writes:     On the afternoon of May 26^th, I received the news via the Crime Writers of Canada (CWC) YouTube presentation that I had won an award in the category of “Best Unpublished Manuscript” for my novel, Elmington. As I was due for my afternoon shift at Spruce Lodge Home for the Aged, I only had time to text the news to my husband, daughter, and son before I set off for work on my bicycle. All evening, my heart was bursting with joy and gratitude to the CWC, contest organizers and judges, and ECW Press, the award’s sponsor. Since Thursday, I’ve had time to celebrate with my family and friends and I have a small hoard of empty wine bottles and a dull headache to show for it.

     Writing Elmington was my Everest. Although crafting the story was its own reward, winning the award feels like standing on a mountain peak with a sunrise for company. And I’m intensely curious about the work of the other writers who were shortlisted. I hope I’ll have the good fortune to read their stories in print.

     I write to try to make sense of a confusing world, to translate my frustrations into humour, and to save money on psychotherapy, but most of all, I write to be read. If any agents and publishers have found themselves in the grayest rut in Dullsville and long to take a risk on a new novelist, please contact me. A simple text will do – 226-880-1064. I promise to do my utmost to avoid ending your career!

 

Original Interview Below

Me: Tell us something about yourself. What is your life like when you’re not writing?

Renee I’m a registered nurse and I work in a long-term care home. My husband is also a nurse. When we’re not working, we like to be outdoors – hiking, canoeing, snowshoeing, etc.

 

Me:   What previous writing experience do you have? What got you started writing crime?

Renee Most of my writing has been academically oriented. For many years, I wrote to make sense of the world – not in a therapeutic journal but in essays in which I laid out my thoughts and ideas on things I struggled to understand. I still do this.

When my kids were teenagers, I found I had enough time to take a creative writing course at my local community college. Since then, I’ve written poetry, short stories, and three unpublished novels.

 

Me:  Is this your first entry into the Awards of Excellence? Where did you hear about this contest for unpublished crime novels, and what decided you to enter?

2022 CWC Awards: Unpublished Interview with Delee Fromm

Congratulate Delee Fromm for her finalist manuscript

 The Strength To Rise

 

Tell us something about yourself. What is your life like when you’re not writing?

DF: I would love to say I spend my spare time skydiving but my real life is more mundane. As a lawyer and former psychologist, I consult with law firms and corporations on the topics of in women’s advancement and implicit bias. I also guest lecture at various universities on the topic of negotiation, something I have taught since the late 1980’s when dinosaurs roamed the land.

 What previous writing experience do you have? What got you started writing crime?

DF: I have always written. As a psychologist I published research, while as a commercial real estate lawyer I wrote articles on land title and tax issues. More recently, as a consultant, I authored two books on career skills – one for lawyers and one for women: Advance Your Legal Career: Essential Skills for Success (LexisNexis Canada) and Understanding Gender at Work.

Unpublished Award Interview with Mark Thomas

Mark Thomas's manuscript, Part Time Crazy, is a finalist for the Crime Writers of Canada Best Unpublished Crime Novel 

I’m 62, a retired English and Philosophy teacher. When I’m not writing I’m curling with a bunch of

other old guys (in the winter) or canoeing and fishing on the French River (in the summer). I play the banjo and guitar, and do weird paintings with mis-tinted house paint. (I’ll attach a couple of images if I can figure it out). A long time ago I was a member of Canada’s national rowing team. I coached rowing and wrestling for almost thirty years.

The first pieces of writing I had published were two personal essays in the Globe and mail. I’ve had a bunch of sci fi and horror stories published in cheesy anthologies and magazines but haven’t fooled a major market yet. I like all types of crime and mystery writing, but my absolute favorite style is the mock-noir, like Richard Brautigan’s Dreaming of Babylon, Paul Tremblay’s The Little Sleep or Kinky Friedman’s Elvis, Jesus and Coca Cola.

Unpublished AE Shortlist Interview: Pamela Isfeld

 Canadian Crime Writing Awards of Excellence

 Best Unpublished finalist interview: Pamela Isfeld  

 

My guest today is Pamela Isfeld, two-time UAE shortlister. Is this going to be her year? Read on and decide for yourself if her manuscript would get your vote!

 Tell us something about yourself. What is your life like when you’re not writing?

 PI: I’m a career Foreign Service officer currently serving as President of the Professional Association of Foreign Service Officers (PAFSO). I’ve had assignments in Moscow, Nairobi, Sarajevo, Kabul, Kandahar, and Warsaw. When I’m not writing, I’m working to protect the interests of my membership in areas like salaries and working conditions, and to promote the value of Canada’s foreign service to the government, media, and the public. I’ m also the devoted servant of two fourteen-year old pugs, Lenny and Squiggy.

What previous writing experience do you have? What got you started writing crime?