2015 marks the 70th anniversary of Mystery Writers of America (MWA), and the 69th year for the Edgar Awards, the awards that honor the best in mystery fiction, nonfiction, play and television writing. The 2015 Edgar Awards will be presented in New York City on Wednesday, April 29th.
This year, Sara Paretsky is President, and Donna Andrews is Executive Vice-President. Donna took
the time to answer some questions about women in MWA. Thank you, Donna.
*****
Lesa – Donna, Mystery Writers of America is celebrating its 70thanniversary this year, and it’s the 69th year for the Edgar Awards. Sara
Paretsky is currently President of the organization, and you’re the Executive
Vice-President. Women currently are in three of the four positions leading MWA.
Do you see this as a reflection of the mystery genre as a whole?
Donna – I hope
it’s a reflection of the growing diversity of mystery genre as a whole. I worry
sometimes that it’s only a reflection of our male colleagues’ growing awareness
of the value of recruiting women to fill volunteer positions that require a lot
of work! But on a more serious note, as in so many areas of our culture, women are making
progress, but there’s a lot more to be done to honor the women writers of the
past who have shaped our genre, to support women writers currently working in
it, and to make things better for new women writers who will be entering our
genre in the future.
it’s a reflection of the growing diversity of mystery genre as a whole. I worry
sometimes that it’s only a reflection of our male colleagues’ growing awareness
of the value of recruiting women to fill volunteer positions that require a lot
of work! But on a more serious note, as in so many areas of our culture, women are making
progress, but there’s a lot more to be done to honor the women writers of the
past who have shaped our genre, to support women writers currently working in
it, and to make things better for new women writers who will be entering our
genre in the future.
Lesa – Have the demographics of MWA changed to reflect the times?
Donna – MWA
doesn’t keep detailed demographics—we are, after all, almost entirely a
volunteer organization, and doing demographics properly is hard work! Many of us
believe the organization has become more diverse over time, but since we don’t
formally collect data on race, religion, sexual orientation, or other areas
where we hope we are demonstrating our diversity, we can only give anecdotal
evidence. And even the percentage of women can be hard to calculate, since one
of the techniques women have traditionally used to overcome discrimination is
to use male or gender-neutral pen names.
doesn’t keep detailed demographics—we are, after all, almost entirely a
volunteer organization, and doing demographics properly is hard work! Many of us
believe the organization has become more diverse over time, but since we don’t
formally collect data on race, religion, sexual orientation, or other areas
where we hope we are demonstrating our diversity, we can only give anecdotal
evidence. And even the percentage of women can be hard to calculate, since one
of the techniques women have traditionally used to overcome discrimination is
to use male or gender-neutral pen names.
Lesa – What about the Edgar Awards themselves? I still see these
awards dominated by men. I may be wrong. What do you think?
awards dominated by men. I may be wrong. What do you think?
Donna – It’s a
question a lot of people ask. To start
with, ensuring the impartiality of the Edgar Awards is something we take very
seriously. Some of your readers probably already know this, but the Edgars are
what’s called a peer-judged award—the winners are selected by small committees
of working writers who take this responsibility very seriously. Each year the
Edgars Chair—this year it’s Daniel J. Hale—works to recruit committees whose
members are balanced by geography and gender and subgenre. Particularly in the
large categories, such as best novel, best paperback original, best first
novel, and even best short story, the judges are essentially giving up a year
of their life, maybe even giving up the time in which they could have written
another book. They will read hundreds of books or thousands of short stories
and must winnow that immense field down to a handful of works. I’ve done it
twice, first in the YA category and then in the juvenile, both with fewer books
than some of others, but still—those were the years when, more than ever, I
always had a book in my hand, wherever I went. It can be a rewarding
experience—my writer friend Dana Cameron, who served on a best novel committee,
considered it the equivalent of a master class on writing the novel. And it’s
an awesome responsibility. I bet I’m not the only Edgars judge who more than
once upon opening up one of the books I had to read for the award, was briefly
overcome by a feeling of “Holy cow, I’m reading for the Edgars! This is
SERIOUS!”
question a lot of people ask. To start
with, ensuring the impartiality of the Edgar Awards is something we take very
seriously. Some of your readers probably already know this, but the Edgars are
what’s called a peer-judged award—the winners are selected by small committees
of working writers who take this responsibility very seriously. Each year the
Edgars Chair—this year it’s Daniel J. Hale—works to recruit committees whose
members are balanced by geography and gender and subgenre. Particularly in the
large categories, such as best novel, best paperback original, best first
novel, and even best short story, the judges are essentially giving up a year
of their life, maybe even giving up the time in which they could have written
another book. They will read hundreds of books or thousands of short stories
and must winnow that immense field down to a handful of works. I’ve done it
twice, first in the YA category and then in the juvenile, both with fewer books
than some of others, but still—those were the years when, more than ever, I
always had a book in my hand, wherever I went. It can be a rewarding
experience—my writer friend Dana Cameron, who served on a best novel committee,
considered it the equivalent of a master class on writing the novel. And it’s
an awesome responsibility. I bet I’m not the only Edgars judge who more than
once upon opening up one of the books I had to read for the award, was briefly
overcome by a feeling of “Holy cow, I’m reading for the Edgars! This is
SERIOUS!”
Every year
when the Edgar shortlists come out, there’s a lot of second guessing in social
media. People ask why the Edgars “overlooked” one of their favorite books—odds
are it wasn’t overlooked, it just wasn’t in this year’s committee’s top five.
Maybe it was number six. Or maybe they all hated it. We’ll never know, because
all Edgar panel deliberation are confidential. Maybe another panel would have
chosen it not just for the shortlist but as the winner. Each Edgar win and nomination
represents that year’s committee’s best attempt to pick the year’s best book,
and consider how often you and your fellow mystery reader friends always agree
on what the best book of the year is. I think to me it’s more frustrating when
people complain about an Edgar committee picking a book they’ve never heard of.
To me, that’s a good thing, seeing a fine book plucked from relative obscurity
by the Edgars.
when the Edgar shortlists come out, there’s a lot of second guessing in social
media. People ask why the Edgars “overlooked” one of their favorite books—odds
are it wasn’t overlooked, it just wasn’t in this year’s committee’s top five.
Maybe it was number six. Or maybe they all hated it. We’ll never know, because
all Edgar panel deliberation are confidential. Maybe another panel would have
chosen it not just for the shortlist but as the winner. Each Edgar win and nomination
represents that year’s committee’s best attempt to pick the year’s best book,
and consider how often you and your fellow mystery reader friends always agree
on what the best book of the year is. I think to me it’s more frustrating when
people complain about an Edgar committee picking a book they’ve never heard of.
To me, that’s a good thing, seeing a fine book plucked from relative obscurity
by the Edgars.
As you can
see, the process is designed to keep the Edgars as impartial as possible—so why
aren’t there more women nominees and winners? There should be. And more
minorities. Just as there should be more diversity in every aspect of
society—more women and minorities running businesses and universities and
countries. We’re making progress, but there’s no quick fix. We will keep
looking for ways to help a more diverse population of writers find the time and
the space and the confidence to write, and the expertise to negotiate the
business of publishing. Under Sara’s leadership we’re hoping to find some ways
to help a more diverse range of writers get their voices heard—and not only
heard but appreciated. And meanwhile we’ll keep working to ensure that our
Edgar committees reflect the diversity we value in our community and our commitment
to honoring the best works, regardless of who wrote them.
see, the process is designed to keep the Edgars as impartial as possible—so why
aren’t there more women nominees and winners? There should be. And more
minorities. Just as there should be more diversity in every aspect of
society—more women and minorities running businesses and universities and
countries. We’re making progress, but there’s no quick fix. We will keep
looking for ways to help a more diverse population of writers find the time and
the space and the confidence to write, and the expertise to negotiate the
business of publishing. Under Sara’s leadership we’re hoping to find some ways
to help a more diverse range of writers get their voices heard—and not only
heard but appreciated. And meanwhile we’ll keep working to ensure that our
Edgar committees reflect the diversity we value in our community and our commitment
to honoring the best works, regardless of who wrote them.
Lesa – How is MWA recognizing their 70th anniversary this year?
Donna – We’re
working with Quirk Books to publish a special short story anthology edited by
Mary Higgins Clark. It’s called Manhattan Mayhem, and includes stories from Lee
Child, Thomas H. Cook, Jeffrey Deaver, Margaret Maron, T. Jefferson Parker, S.
J. Rozan, and a dozen others. It comes out June 2, and while they haven’t let
me read the stories yet, I’m already in love with the cover. Quirk is also
publishing the Mystery Writers of America Cookbook this year—it was edited by
Kate White and came out on March 24. I do NOT have a recipe in—because I am not
much of a cook—but the one recipe from it that I’ve made (Sheila Connolly’s
Apple Goodie) was excellent, and I’m looking forward to trying others.
working with Quirk Books to publish a special short story anthology edited by
Mary Higgins Clark. It’s called Manhattan Mayhem, and includes stories from Lee
Child, Thomas H. Cook, Jeffrey Deaver, Margaret Maron, T. Jefferson Parker, S.
J. Rozan, and a dozen others. It comes out June 2, and while they haven’t let
me read the stories yet, I’m already in love with the cover. Quirk is also
publishing the Mystery Writers of America Cookbook this year—it was edited by
Kate White and came out on March 24. I do NOT have a recipe in—because I am not
much of a cook—but the one recipe from it that I’ve made (Sheila Connolly’s
Apple Goodie) was excellent, and I’m looking forward to trying others.
We’re also
surveying our membership to update our list of the 100 best mysteries of all
time—we first compiled this in 1995, and it will be interesting to see how our
members’ favorites have changed in the last twenty years.
surveying our membership to update our list of the 100 best mysteries of all
time—we first compiled this in 1995, and it will be interesting to see how our
members’ favorites have changed in the last twenty years.
Lesa – And, one final question. Most of my readers are just that,
readers. Most
readers. Most
of us are not authors, publishers, or in the mystery field. What
is the role
is the role
for the much-in-demand reader in Mystery Writers of America?
Donna – At MWA we’re pretty up-front about our goals—MWA’s
motto is “crime doesn’t pay—enough!” We want to ensure that mystery writers are
compensated fairly for their work and treated in a professional manner by the
publishing industry. We want to provide education and tools to help both
published and aspiring writers improve their craft and reach their career
goals. We want to promote
literacy—we consider it job security not just for our members but for all of us
who practice the writing craft. And we want to promote the genre—to encourage
respect for the genre, which essayist Philip Guedalla has called “the normal
recreation of noble minds,” and to help connect readers with more of the books
they love.
We do see
a lot of readers who join MWA because they are passionate about the genre and
want to become more involved in it. In my local chapter, for example—and I
think we’re pretty typical–we have monthly meetings featuring either a writer
talking about his or her work or a subject matter expert who can tell us more
about some topic of interest to anyone who loves crime fiction—our speakers
have included crime scene investigators, FBI agents, police beat reporters who
have covered notorious local crimes, the founder of the Witness Protection
Program, and the CIA’s equivalent of James Bond’s Q. And since writers are also
readers—in fact, all of us were readers first—there’s nothing more exciting
than the table talk at an MWA gathering, where you can not only meet one of
your favorite writers but learn about what he’s working on now or what she’s
currently reading.
a lot of readers who join MWA because they are passionate about the genre and
want to become more involved in it. In my local chapter, for example—and I
think we’re pretty typical–we have monthly meetings featuring either a writer
talking about his or her work or a subject matter expert who can tell us more
about some topic of interest to anyone who loves crime fiction—our speakers
have included crime scene investigators, FBI agents, police beat reporters who
have covered notorious local crimes, the founder of the Witness Protection
Program, and the CIA’s equivalent of James Bond’s Q. And since writers are also
readers—in fact, all of us were readers first—there’s nothing more exciting
than the table talk at an MWA gathering, where you can not only meet one of
your favorite writers but learn about what he’s working on now or what she’s
currently reading.
But yeah,
our focus is on writers—because that’s the best thing we can do for readers.
We’re all about helping our members write more books and better books, and
making it easier for readers to find them—which means the readers benefit even they’re
not MWA members. What’s not to like about seeing your favorite writer able to
quit her day job to spend more time writing? Seeing an aspiring writer friend
learn his craft and succeed in getting published? Reading a review of a new
book and rushing to add it to your TBR list?
our focus is on writers—because that’s the best thing we can do for readers.
We’re all about helping our members write more books and better books, and
making it easier for readers to find them—which means the readers benefit even they’re
not MWA members. What’s not to like about seeing your favorite writer able to
quit her day job to spend more time writing? Seeing an aspiring writer friend
learn his craft and succeed in getting published? Reading a review of a new
book and rushing to add it to your TBR list?
