Margaret Maron to get Lifetime Achievement Award at Bouchercon World Mystery Convention

BOUCHERCON, the World Mystery Convention, will be held in Raleigh, NC October 8-11, 2015. Yes, that’s six months away but registration is open and approximately 1500 people from all over the world are expected to attend. So, you’d best sign up now (details at bouchercon.info and bouchercon2015.org).

Margaret Maron will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award. Maron is the author of the nineteen books in the Deborah Knott of which 2014’s DESIGNATED DAUGHTERS is the most recent. She is also the author of the eight books in the Sigrid Harald series, two non-series novels and two collections of short stories.

Guests of Honor at the Convention will be Kathy Reichs, Tom Franklin, Zoë Sharp and Allan Guthrie. Special Local Guests are Sarah Shaber and Ron Rash.

Bouchercon World Mystery Convention bills itself as “a celebration of the mystery genre. It is the largest annual meeting in the world for mystery lovers. The convention program includes panel discussions,
lectures and other presentations by mystery writers and experts on the genre, covering all aspects of mystery fiction, thrillers, detective stories, suspense novels and more.” It is held in cities across the U.S. and Canada and was twice held in England. (2016 will be in New Orleans; 2017 in Toronto; and 2018 in St. Petersburg.)

Attendees at the convention nominate and vote for the Anthony Awards which are given in several categories (Best Novel, Best First Novel, etc.).

The Convention also sponsors a competition for inclusion in an annual anthology. The 2015 Bouchercon Anthology, MURDER UNDER THE OAKS, edited by Art Taylor (winner of Agatha, Macavity and Derringer awards), is, however, closed for submissions. Profits from sales will go to Wake County (NC) libraries.

There are hourly sessions each day of the convention – often three to six at a time so choices are required – including panel discussions on specific aspects of the genre, lectures, classes, demonstrations, book discussion groups and interviews. In the evening there are special events. One of the most popular is an auction that benefits “a group or groups in the host city that represent reading, literacy, libraries, etc.” One of the “items” auctioned is naming characters in upcoming books by bestselling authors.

Bouchercon, which has been held every year since 1970, is named for Anthony Boucher, a co-founder of the Mystery Writers of America, The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction. He wrote scripts for the radio shows The Adventures of Ellery Queen and The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes as well as mystery novels and short stories.