This year marks the 26th anniversary of the prestigious awards, named after the nom de travail of Canada’s official hangman. The awards are presented in six “published” crime-writing categories – novel, first novel, non-fiction/true crime, juvenile, short story, and book in the French language. In addition, the Crime Writers of Canada (CWC) has an award for yet-to-be-published crime writers – the Unhanged Arthur for the best unpublished first crime novel.
The finalists in the children’s category are:
Res Judicata
Written by Vicki Grant
Orca Book Publishers
Getting the Girl
Written by Susan Juby
HarperTrophyCanada
Royal Murder
Written by Elizabeth MacLeod
Annick Press
Dead Silence
Written by Norah McClintock
Scholastic Canada
War Brothers
Written by Sharon E. McKay
Penguin Group (Canada)
The winners will be announced at the Arthur Ellis Awards dinner on Thursday, June 4, in the Fountain Room of the National Arts Centre in Ottawa. Reception and cash bar at 6:30 p.m.; dinner at 7:30. Tickets for the dinner are $75 each and can be ordered by sending a cheque, made out to Crime Writers of Canada, for the number of tickets you want to:
Vicki Cameron
Crime Writers of Canada 2009 AE dinner
2117 Jochems Rd., R.R. #1
Oxford Station, Ontario K0G 1T0
Please include your mailing address, email address, and phone number with your cheque. Tickets ordered and paid for by May 20 will be mailed out; all other tickets will be held for pick up at the door. The deadline for ordering and paying for tickets is Friday, May 29.
Dinner choices are Rock Cornish hen stuffed with wild rice with a wild cranberry glaze (meat) or a crepe tulip with wild mushrooms and spinach egg custard (vegetarian). Please indicate which entrée you prefer. Seating is open, although, as usual, we will have publisher tables. Tables are for 8 or 10 people. If you are not a publisher and want to sit with someone in particular, let us know and we’ll do our best to accommodate you.
Crime Writers of Canada was founded in 1982 as a professional organization designed to raise the profile of Canadian crime writers from coast to coast. Our members include authors, publishers, editors, booksellers, librarians, reviewers, and literary agents as well as many developing authors.
For more information about the awards dinner, contact Arthur Ellis Dinner Chair Sue Pike, deadlock@sympatico.ca. For more info about the shortlists, contact Arthur Ellis Chair James Napier, jnapier@videotron.ca.