Photo: © 2008 Caroline Silverwood Taylor
Tuesday April 28: Andrew Taylor was today presented with the 2009 Cartier Diamond Dagger, at a ceremony held at the Gore Hotel in Kensington, London. The Diamond Dagger, awarded for sustained excellence in crime writing, was presented by Arnaud Bamberger, the Managing Director of Cartier UK.
In acceptinmg the award, Andrew Taylor said: “I am hugely honored to receive this award. It’s the sort of award that validates an entire career. What makes it particularly special is that I have been chosen by my fellow crime writers.” He concluded by thanking his wife, Caroline, for her support — and the fact that she had made it possible for him to write full time. His speech was greeted with a round of warm-hearted applause.
Earlier Lesley Horton, then chair of the CWA, explained: “The Cartier award acknowledges the work of an author who has made an outstanding contribution to the genre, and Andrew Taylor has consistently shown his ability to do just that. He is a worthy recipient. The recipient of the Cartier Diamond Dagger Award is chosen by the members and committee of the CWA and is very much an honour awarded by the author’s peers and thus makes it special.”
Andrew Taylor is the best-selling author of the Richard-and-Judy choice The American Boy and the highly-acclaimed Bleeding Heart Square, which was shortlisted for the 2008 Ellis Peters Historical Award.
Andrew Taylor's first novel Caroline Minuscule won the CWA's John Creasey Award in 1982. He is the only author to have won the Ellis Peters Historical Award twice, in 2001 for The Office of the Dead and in 2003 for The American Boy (about the English boyhood of Edgar Allan Poe), which also won the US Audie in the literary fiction category. He has been shortlisted for the Gold Dagger, the Edgar, and many other awards in the UK and abroad.
Among his other books are the Dougal series, whose central character is as liable to commit murders as solve them; the Lydmouth series, set in the 1950s; and the innovatory Roth Trilogy with its reverse narrative, filmed for ITV as Fallen Angel starring Charles Dance and Emilia Fox.
Andrew Taylor lives with his wife and two children in the Forest of Dean on the borders of England and Wales.
“The recipient of the Cartier Diamond Dagger Award is chosen by the members and committee of the CWA and is very much an honour awarded by the author’s peers and thus makes it special.”
The presentation will be made on Tuesday 28 April at a London hotel.
Andrew Taylor's website is at www.andrew-taylor.co.uk. His latest novel is Bleeding Heart Square (Penguin), set in 1930s London.
The Cartier Diamond Dagger
As the name suggests, this coveted award is sponsored by Cartier, who have done so since its inception in 1986. The CWA committee selects writers nominated by the membership. Nominees have to meet two essential criteria: first, their careers must be marked by sustained excellence, and second, they must have made a significant contribution to crime fiction published in the English language, whether originally or in translation. The award is made purely on merit without reference to age, gender or nationality.
The winner in 2008 was Sue Grafton. Previous winners include John Harvey, Elmore Leonard, Ian Rankin, Lawrence Block, Sara Paretsky, Colin Dexter, Ed McBain, Reginald Hill, Ellis Peters, Leslie Charteris, Ruth Rendell, Dick Francis, John Le Carré and PD James.