The Edgars were this week, and I want to give a shout-out to the winner of the Best Paperback Original Edgar Award, Naomi Hirahara! Her book, SNAKESKIN SHAMISEN, is the third in her Mas Arai series, and darn good to boot. I was particularly delighted for her because I had the good fortune to acquire Naomi's first Mas novel, SUMMER OF THE BIG BACHI, when I was at Bantam Dell.
Literary awards are a strange beast. In many cases they don't make a big difference in the life of a book, with a few exceptions for the really big ones. But like any accolade, they sure are nice. The author gets acknowledgment for all her hard work...and the editor gets to feel like a proud parent.
So to all the editors who worked with this year's talented Edgar nominees and winners...congratulations, Mom and Dad.
Yes, Abby: congrats are surely due to my (and Deni's) ex-blogmate Naomi, for winning such a prestigious and well-deserved award. And since I'm a big fan of book editors (especially my very own Shannon Jamieson Vazquez), I'll join in your cudos for the proud parents.
Posted by: Jeff Cohen | April 29, 2007 at 05:41 PM