Monday, August 5, 2024

Sisters in Crime Names P.M. Raymond as 2024 Eleanor Taylor Bland Award Winner

Sisters in Crime (SinC), an inclusive international community for all who write and love crime fiction, has announced the winner of the annual Eleanor Taylor Bland Crime Fiction Writers of Color. The award supports the advancement, recognition and professional development of emerging crime writers of color.

This year’s winner is P.M. Raymond of Apex, North Carolina. Raymond’s winning submission, "A Nasty Business,” is set on a Louisiana farm where a family tradition forces the heirs to compete in a series of grueling tasks. Pops, the patriarch, oversees the competition between his sons, Galen and Jeff, as they vie for control of the estate, and discover the farm's dark history — and the heavy burden of their inheritance.

As a New Orleans native, mystical undertones are, says Raymond, the roux in her crime noir and horror writing. She was named to the 160 Black Women in Horror and is a 2024 Finalist in the Killer Shorts Screenplay Competition. Her work has appeared in publications such as Flash Fiction Magazine, Kings River Life Magazine, Dark Fire Fiction, Pyre Magazine and The Furious Gazelle and Dark Yonder. 

Established in 2014, the Eleanor Taylor Bland Award supports the advancement, recognition and professional development of emerging crime writers of color. It is aligned with Sisters in Crime’s mission to promote diversity in crime fiction. The grantee may use the award to attend workshops, seminars, conferences, retreats, online courses and research activities that help them complete their work.

This year's runners up are:

Aftermath by Carleasa A. Coates of Catlett, Virginia

And Then It Clicked by Renee P. Stone of Las Vegas, Nevada

The Code by Grace Wynter of Decatur, Georgia

Gifted Grifter by Fritz Mason of Columbia, South Carolina

Man Eater by Elena Scialtiel of Gibraltar



 

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