John Hersey Memorial Address: Sara Paretsky (First Session) & Elizabeth George (Second Session)
Presenters: Megan Abbott, John Banville, Alafair Burke, Stephen L. Carter, Lee Child, Billy Collins, Michael Connelly, Thomas H. Cook, Percival Everett, Lyndsay Faye, Gillian Flynn, Elizabeth George, Tess Gerritsen, William Gibson, James Gleick, Sara Gran, James W. Hall, Carl Hiaasen, Joseph Kanon, John Katzenbach, Michael Koryta, William Kent Krueger, Laura Lippman, Attica Locke, Mary Morris, Malla Nunn, Joyce Carol Oates, Sara Paretsky, Otto Penzler, John Sandford, Jonathan Santlofer, Alexander McCall Smith, Les Standiford, Scott Turow, and Lisa Unger. Writers’ Workshop Faculty: Paulette Alden, Madeleine Blais, Billy Collins, James W. Hall, E.J. Miller Laino, Beverly Lowry, Daniel Menaker, Mary Morris, Porter Shreve, Susan Richards Shreve, and Dara Wier.
Alafair Burke, Michael Connelly, Tess Gerritsen, and Michael Koryta came together yesterday afternoon to share behind-the-scenes revelations and anecdotes in “Real Life: What did you make out of yours?” Even the self-proclaimed introverts onstage opened up bravely to let curious KWLS attendees in on the magic and the mundane in their …Read More
Friday evening’s John Malcolm Brinnin Memorial Event, entitled “Two Hats,” was coyly presented in the KWLS program as a “conversation” between John Banville and Benjamin Black, moderated by James Gleick. As Gleick noted after taking the stage, the audience would be forgiven for expecting three chairs where there were only …Read More
On Friday afternoon John Banville, Thomas H. Cook, Elizabeth George, Sara Gran, and Mary Morris had a wide-ranging conversation entitled “The Beauty and Grace of Language and Plot in Crime Fiction.” Morris, who moderated the panel, opened with a quote from W.H. Auden, in which the poet describes the work …Read More
When Lee Child’s daughter was a small child, she loved the appearance of danger, he told a packed house this morning at the San Carlos Institute during his address on the “Prehistoric Roots of Storytelling.” When he threw her up in the air, she would shriek in delight and terror. …Read More
Three standout presentations from Chapter One of the 32nd annual Key West Literary Seminar are now available in our audio archives. In the laugh-out-loud “Florida Freak Show,” bestselling novelist and journalist Carl Hiaasen recounts his favorite Florida news items, including the suspicious disappearance of legendary Key West Fire Chief Joseph …Read More
Despite heavy action this week as we turned from Chapter One to the Final Chapter of The Dark Side: Mystery, Crime, and the Literary Thriller, we found a few quiet moments to troll our favorite fishing hole for highlights of Key West crimes and punishments past. All images courtesy Monroe …Read More
On Saturday afternoon, James W. Hall, Les Standiford, and Jonathan Santlofer had a conversation entitled “Crime Fiction and the Literary Canon: Why everyone has forgotten that Crime & Punishment, An American Tragedy, and Lolita are crime fiction.” The three novelists, all professors of creative writing as well, sought to challenge …Read More
Any reporter worth his or her salt knows the value of a strong quote. The flavor of a source’s voice, expressed accurately and with nuance, can be the key that makes a story come alive. In the colorful KWLS conversation “Once We Were Journalists: Truth & Fiction,” John Katzenbach, Laura Lippman, and …Read More
Long before the Internet had Florida Man to catalog the misdeeds of men and women in the Sunshine State, there was Carl Hiaasen. At last night’s John Malcolm Brinnin Memorial Event, entitled “The Florida Freak Show,” Hiaasen gave us a hilarious retelling of some of the news stories that serve …Read More
People often ask writer Sara Paretsky if V. I. Warshawski, the female detective at the center of her #1 New York Times bestselling mystery series, is her alter ego. Despite clear similarities between the two (both like to run and drink a good whiskey, live in Chicago, and work stubbornly …Read More
Key West, which sells itself as a sunny resort, is taking a detour into the Dark Side. Over the next two weekends, the Key West Literary Seminar will examine mystery, crime, and the literary thriller with a line-up that includes Gillian Flynn, Lee Child, Carl Hiaasen, Scott Turow, Alexander McCall …Read More
Last-minute preparations are underway for Chapter One of The Dark Side: Mystery, Crime, and the Literary Thriller. It all kicks off at the historic San Carlos Institute on Thursday night with Sara Paretsky’s keynote address, “My Quest for Heroes: Voice and Voicelessness.” The full schedule of events is here. All …Read More
Only two weeks remain to apply for our awards for emerging writers. Presented annually, the Joyce Horton Johnson Fiction Award, Scotti Merrill Memorial Award, and Marianne Russo Award recognize emerging writers of exceptional merit. Past winners include fiction writers Patricia Engel, Nami Mun, and Kristen-Paige Madonia; and poets George Green …Read More
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