The Crime Lady: Arthur Ellis Awards, Concerts, and More
Dear TCL Readers,
May proved to be…quite something, much of it good. So much so that I’m splitting the news into two dispatches: this one with awards and appearances, the next one with what I’ve been working on these last few months.
Last week I flew up to Toronto for the Arthur Ellis Awards, Canada’s annual celebration of crime writing excellence, and ended up winning the Best Nonfiction Crime category. It was a lovely evening, spent in excellent company (my table included winners & nominees Linwood Barclay, Lisa Gabriele, and Tim Wynne-Jones.) Here I am with my beloved editor at Knopf Canada, Anne Collins, and the hangman-replica award — which I did take across the border, thankfully with little trouble:
The Real Lolita is also up for the Anthony Award for Nonfiction/Critical, with so many of my friends also nominated across all categories. I was planning on attending Bouchercon already, but I can’t say I’m displeased to have extra incentive (and that it promises to be *quite* the party...)
The paperback of The Real Lolita is out on September 10, and more on that very soon. There’s still some promotional life in the hardcover, as I’ll be reading at the Word on the Street Festival in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan on Sunday, June 9 at noon. It will be my first visit to the city (and to the province!) and look forward to meeting readers there.
Separately, as many of you know, I’ve long been a member of the Brooklyn Conservatory Chorale. Our spring concert will be held at Old First Reformed Church in Park Slope on Sunday, June 2 at 3 PM. It’s an extra-special occasion because it will be the last concert conducted by founding director Nelly Vuksic, who is retiring after 13 years. There will be a post-concert reception. I also have a small solo. Details below, should you be inclined to hear some great choral music from Britain, Spain, Argentina, Portugal, and more:
READ/WATCH/LISTEN
I’ve been on a pretty good reading run of late, but I wanted to single out two outstanding books: Life With Picasso, Francoise Gilot’s 1964 memoir (cowritten with Carlton Lake, and about to be reissued by NYRB Classics), is a revelatory document of what it is to be a young woman in thrall to a much-older artist, and how to love such a man, without ever losing one’s sense of self or illusions about his egocentrism and cruelty. It makes me wonder if Lisa Halliday read it before writing Asymmetry. But mostly it makes me want to press it into the hands of anyone struggling with how to reconcile great art with monstrous artists.
And Anakana Schofield’s new novel Bina zapped itself into my brain from the getgo and refuses to leave, or sit still, which is what you would expect from a book that chronicles a 74-year-old woman who has had enough, is unafraid to tell everyone, and is struggling with grief and guilt over the loss of her best friend. I thought Malarky (its prequel) and Martin John (in the same universe) were both very good, but Bina is in a separate league. I’ve been recommending it to anyone who loved and admired Anna Burns’ Booker Prize winner Milkman.
Longform features & essays that have resonated with me recently: Amy Chozick on the sad, messy story behind those Peter Max cruise ship art auctions; an account of the longest-incarcerated prisoner in North Carolina; Lyz Lenz chronicling a Mommy Blogger convention and what it means to brand and make a living off your domestic life; Kellye Garrett on crime fiction pioneer Barbara Neely; and Adelle Waldman on Herman Wouk.
I cannot recommend Running From Cops, the six-part podcast hosted and produced by Dan Taberski, more highly. It’s quality investigative journalism about entertainment, that asks the big questions about a show we’ve taken for granted for far too long, that’s probably had more lasting impact in the culture than we know.
Booksmart is a funny, life-affirming, feminist, glorious homage to teen films of the past while doing something entirely of its own volition. I loved it, and please see it while it’s still in theaters.
And in TV, I am, in fact, watching Fleabag (albeit slowly.) It’s fantastic.
The next dispatch arrives soon. Until then, I remain,
The Crime Lady