Mystery Writers of America

American organization of mystery and crime writers

This article relies excessively on references to primary sources. Please improve this article by adding secondary or tertiary sources.
Find sources: "Mystery Writers of America" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (January 2015) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

|

Edgar Allan Poe, MWA logo

Mystery Writers of America (MWA) is a professional organization of mystery and crime writers, based in New York City.[1][2]

The organization was founded in 1945 by Clayton Rawson, Anthony Boucher, Lawrence Treat, and Brett Halliday.

It presents the Edgar Award, a small bust of Edgar Allan Poe, to mystery or crime writers every year. It presents the Raven Award to non-writers who contribute to the mystery genre. The category of Best Juvenile Mystery is also part of the Edgar Award, with such notable recipients as Barbara Brooks Wallace having won the honor twice for The Twin in the Tavern in 1994 and Sparrows in the Scullery in 1998, and Tony Abbott for his novel The Postcard in 2009.

John Dickson Carr, who also served as president of the MWA, won a Grand Master Award in 1949 and 1962.[3]

## Grand Master Award

[edit]

The Grand Master Award is the highest honor bestowed by the Mystery Writers of America. It recognizes lifetime achievement and consistent quality. (The award was presented irregularly up to 1978; from 1979 to 2008, it was given to one writer each year. Since 2009, as many as three authors have been honored annually.)

In 2018, the Mystery Writers of America announced that it would honor best-selling author and former prosecutor Linda Fairstein with one of its Grand Master Awards for literary achievement. But two days after controversy erupted in connection with her alleged role in the Central Park jogger case, the organization withdrew the honor.[4]

Year | Recipient(s)

|

1955 | Agatha Christie
1958 | Vincent Starrett
1959 | Rex Stout
1961 | Ellery Queen
1962 | Erle Stanley Gardner
1963 | John Dickson Carr
1964 | George Harmon Coxe
1966 | Georges Simenon
1967 | Baynard Kendrick
1969 | John Creasey
1970 | James M. Cain
1971 | Mignon G. Eberhart
1972 | John D. MacDonald
1973 | Judson Philips
Alfred Hitchcock
1974 | Ross Macdonald
1975 | Eric Ambler
1976 | Graham Greene
1978 | Daphne du Maurier
Dorothy B. Hughes
Ngaio Marsh
1979 | Aaron Marc Stein
1980 | W. R. Burnett
1981 | Stanley Ellin
1982 | Julian Symons
1983 | Margaret Millar
1984 | John le Carré
1985 | Dorothy Salisbury Davis
1986 | Ed McBain
1987 | Michael Gilbert
1988 | Phyllis A. Whitney
1989 | Hillary Waugh
1990 | Helen McCloy
1991 | Tony Hillerman
1992 | Elmore Leonard
1993 | Donald E. Westlake
1994 | Lawrence Block
1995 | Mickey Spillane
1996 | Dick Francis
1997 | Ruth Rendell
1998 | Elizabeth Peters
1999 | P. D. James
2000 | Mary Higgins Clark
2001 | Edward D. Hoch
2002 | Robert B. Parker
2003 | Ira Levin
2004 | Joseph Wambaugh
2005 | Marcia Muller
2006 | Stuart M. Kaminsky
2007 | Stephen King
2008 | Bill Pronzini
2009 | James Lee Burke
Sue Grafton
2010 | Dorothy Gilman
2011 | Sara Paretsky
2012 | Martha Grimes[5]
2013 | Ken Follett
Margaret Maron
2014 | Carolyn Hart
Robert Crais
2015 | Lois Duncan
James Ellroy
2016 | Walter Mosley
2017 | Max Allan Collins
Ellen Hart
2018 | Jane Langton
William Link
Peter Lovesey
2019 | Martin Cruz Smith
2020 | Barbara Neely
2021 | Charlaine Harris
Jeffrey Deaver
2022 | Laurie R. King
2023 | Michael Connelly
Joanne Fluke
2024 | Katherine Hall Page
R. L. Stine
2025 | Laura Lippman
John Sandford

## Raven Award

[edit]

Main article: Raven Award

The Raven Awards are recorded in the Edgars Database of the Mystery Writers of America.[6]

## See also

[edit]

* The Top 100 Mystery Novels of All Time, selected by active MWA members in 1995
* Crime Writers' Association
* Crime Writers of Canada
* Mystery Writers of Japan
* Swedish Crime Writers' Academy

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "Contact the National Office of Mystery Writers of America". Retrieved 2013-04-21.
2. ^ "Mystery Writers of America | literary organization | Britannica". www.britannica.com. Retrieved 2023-06-22.
3. ^ Mitgang, Herbert (1977-03-01). "John Dickson Carr Is Dead at 70; A Master of the Mystery Novel". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2024-08-23.
4. ^ Piccoli, Sean; Gold, Michael (November 28, 2018). "After Furor, Literary Group Withdraws Honor for 'Central Park Five' Prosecutor". The New York Times. Retrieved 28 December 2018.
5. ^ Tucker, Neely (2012-05-04). "Martha Grimes named 'Grand Master" of mystery writers". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2024-08-23.
6. ^ "The Raven Awards". Edgars Database. Mystery Writers of America. Retrieved 2015-07-11.

## External links

[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Mystery writers from the United States.

* Official website

Authority control databases

International|

* ISNI
* VIAF

National|

* Germany
* United States
* Czech Republic
* Israel