Mystery Writers of America Announce 2013 Grand Masters

The Mystery Writers of America have chosen Ken Follett and Margaret Maron as this year's Grand Masters.

MWA's Grand Master Award represents the pinnacle of achievement in mystery writing and was established to acknowledge important contributions to this genre, as well as a body of work that is both significant and of consistent high quality. Mr. Follett and Ms. Maron will be presented with their awards at the Edgar Awards Banquet, which will be held at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in New York City on Thursday, May 2, 2013.

Follett is the author of twenty novels, and has sold more than 100 million books since he began writing in the 1970s. His career has been wide reaching and after mastering the mystery genre, he expanded into literary epic fiction, TV, movies and children's books.

"I am delighted and honored," said Follett. "My first successful book, Eye of the Needle, won the Edgar for Best Novel more than thirty years ago. I'm thrilled to know that my fellow writers still hold me in such high regard."

Maron is the author of twenty-six novels and two short story collections. Her first mystery, One Coffee With, was published in 1981 and was the beginning of her Sigrid Harald series featuring a New York City police officer. But it wasn't until 1992, and a fictional return to her North Carolina roots with Bootlegger's Daughter (the first of the Deborah Knott series), that Maron was awarded an Edgar, Agatha, Anthony and Macavity award.

"It still hasn't fully sunk in," said Maron. "I keep remembering my first MWA dinner when I was half-afraid that I would be asked to leave because I only had a few short stories and a half-published book to my name, so how could I possibly belong there with those luminaries? Grand Master? Wow!"

Other awards announced today by the MWA include the recipients of the 2013 Raven Award, which recognizes outstanding achievement in the mystery field outside the realm of creative writing: the specialty bookstore The Mysterious Galaxy in San Diego and journalist Oline Cogdill.

Finally, the 2013 Ellery Queen Award will be given to Johnny Temple, founder and editor of Akashic Books. The Ellery Queen award is given to editors or publishers who have distinguished themselves by their generous and wide-ranging support of the genre.