Mystery Writers' Fest Plays - Sweep Edgar Nods

Owensboro's International Mystery Writers' Festival plays sweep all best play nominations for nation's Edgar Awards

All three nominees for the 2008 Edgar Allan Poe Awards in the best play category premiered at the International Mystery Writers Festival last June in Owensboro.

"If/Then" by David Foley, "Panic" by Joseph Goodrich and "Books" by Stuart M. Kaminsky are the three nominees for best play.

"The Edgar Awards are the Tony, Emmy and Oscar awards for mystery work," said Zev Buffman, president & CEO of RiverPark Center and co-chair of the festival. "For the International Mystery Writers' Festival to sweep that category in its first year is unprecedented."

The awards, which are given by the Mystery Writers of America, honor the best in mystery fiction, non-fiction, television and film published or produced in 2007. The Edgar® Awards will be presented to the winners at its 62nd Gala Banquet on May 1 at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in New York City.

"This is the first time in the 62-year history of the Edgars that an entire category was swept by one entity" said Festival Co-Chair Stuart Kaminsky, a past Edgar winner and Grand Master of Mystery Writers of America.

In its inaugural year, the 2007 festival sold out 43 out of its 48 performances, with half of the advance sales coming from out of state -- as far away as Florida, Maine, Texas, California and Canada. Mystery giants such Grafton, Kaminsky and William Link, one of the creators of "Columbo" and "Murder, She Wrote," attended the entire festival, participated in multiple book signings and taught master classes for aspiring authors.

"Recently departed Ira Levin, of "Deathtrap" and "Rosemary's Baby" was also an active member of the executive committee," Buffman said. "He shall be sorely missed."

The 2008 festival has been chosen for the U.S. premiere of Agatha Christie's lost thriller "Chimneys." The play was missing for more than 70 years until the original handwritten manuscript was discovered in Calgary in 2003 and authenticated recently by the Christie estate.

A world premiere of "The Final Toast" a Sherlock Holmes Thriller by Kaminsky, will co-open the festival on June 12-13, 2008. The festival runs through June 22 and will culminate with the Angie Award Gala on June 22.

For more information about the festival or to reserve tickets, log on to www.newmysteries.org.

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