Noir at the Bookstore Panel

with E.A. Aymar, Louis Bayard, James Grady, Cheryl Head, Angie Kim, and Sujata Massey

Anthony Award-nominated E.A. Aymar’s most recent thriller, They’re Gone, was published to rave reviews in Publishers Weekly, Kirkus (starred), and was named one of the best books of the year by the South Florida Sun Sentinel. His next novel, No Home for Killers, is coming out in 2023 from Thomas and Mercer. He is a former member of the national board of the International Thriller Writers and an active member of Crime Writers of Color, the Mystery Writers of America and Sisters in Crime. He also runs the Noir at the Bar series for Washington, DC, and has hosted and spoken at a variety of crime fiction, writing, and publishing events nationwide.

In the words of the New York Times, Louis Bayard “reinvigorates historical fiction,” rendering the past “as if he’d witnessed it firsthand.” His acclaimed novels include Jackie & Me, The Pale Blue Eye (soon to be a Netflix motion picture starring Christian Bale), the national bestseller Courting Mr. Lincoln, Roosevelt's Beast, The School of Night, The Black Tower, and Mr. Timothy, as well as the highly praised young-adult novel, Lucky Strikes. A New York Times Notable author, he has been nominated for both the Edgar and Dagger awards, and his story, “Banana Triangle Six,” was chosen for The Best American Mystery Stories. An instructor at George Washington University, he is the chair of the PEN/Faulkner Awards and was the author of the popular Downton Abbey recaps for the New York Times.

James Grady’s first novel Six Days Of The Condor became the Robert Redford movie Three Days Of The Condor and the Max Irons TV series Condor. Born and raised in Montana, Grady has received Italy’s Raymond Chandler Medal, France’s Grand Prix Du Roman Noir and Japan’s Baka-Misu literature award, two Regardies Magazine short story awards, and been a Mystery Writers of America Edgar finalist. He's published more than a dozen novels and three times that many short stories, been a muckraker journalist, and a scriptwriter for film and television. London’s Daily Telegraph named Grady as one of “50 crime writers to read before you die,” and The Washington Post compared his prose to George Orwell and Bob Dylan. James Grady's new noir novel is This Train.

Cheryl A. Head writes the Anthony Award nominated Charlie Mack Motown Mysteries. Head is a two-time Lambda Literary Award finalist, two-time Next Generation Indie Book Award finalist, and winner of the Golden Crown Literary Society’s Ann Bannon Popular Choice Award. In 2022 Cheryl was awarded the Alice B. Reader’s Appreciation Medal. Her books are included in the Special Collections of the Library of Michigan, and the Detroit Public Library’s African-American Books List. Time’s Undoing, a novel based on her family’s personal tragedy, will be published by Dutton in Spring 2023.

Angie Kim is a Korean immigrant, former trial lawyer, and debut author of the international bestseller and Edgar winner Miracle Creek, named a "Best Book of the Year" by Time, The Washington Post, Kirkus, and The Today Show, among others. Her novel also won the ITW Thriller Award, the Strand Critics’ Award, and the Pinckley Prize, and is being translated into 20 languages.

Sujata Massey is the author of 16 mystery novels set in India and Japan. Her latest series features Perveen Mistry, the first woman lawyer in 1920s Bombay, a character inspired by India’s original women lawyers working in the early 20th century. Sujata's books are published in 20 countries and have won the Agatha, Mary Higgins Clark, Lefty and Macavity mystery awards. Sujata lives in Baltimore with her family and often travels to India to research her series.

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Founded by Carla Cohen and Barbara Meade in 1984, Politics and Prose Bookstore is Washington, D.C.'s premier independent bookstore and cultural hub, a gathering place for people interested in reading and discussing books. Politics and Prose offers superior service, unusual book choices, and a haven for book lovers in the store and online.