Poet and book editor Robin Robertson has won the £10,000 Forward Prize (worth about $18,800) for his collection Swithering. The judges called his work "as close as it is possible to come to a perfect poem," according to the BBC. Robertson's first volume of poetry, A Painted Field, won the Forward Prize for best first collection in 1997.
Tishani Doshi won the £5,000 best first collection prize for Countries of the Body.
Sean O'Brien won the £1,000 best single poem prize for Fantasia on a Theme of James Wright.
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At Bouchercon, one of the mystery and suspense genre's biggest
conventions, held last weekend in Madison Wis., award winners included:
Anthony Awards
- Best Mystery Novel: Mercy Falls by William Kent Krueger (Atria)
- Best Paperback Original: The James Deans by Reed Farrel Coleman (Plume)
- Best First Mystery: Tilt-a-Whirl by Chris Grabenstein (Carroll & Graf)
- Best Critical/Non-Fiction: The Heirs of Anthony Boucher: A History of Mystery Fandom edited by Marv Lachman (Poisoned Pen Press)
- Best Short Story: "Misdirection" by Barbara Seranella (in Greatest Hits edited by Robert J. Randisi; Carroll & Graf)
- Best Fan Publication: CrimeSpree Magazine edited by Jon and Ruth Jordan
- Special Service to the Field: Janet Rudolph, Mystery Readers International
The Macavity Awards
- Best Novel: The Lincoln Lawyer by Michael Connelly (Little, Brown)
- Best First Novel: Immoral by Brian Freeman (St. Martin's Minotaur)
- Best Non-fiction: Girl Sleuth: Nancy Drew and the Woman Who Created Her by Melanie Rehak (Harcourt)
- Best Short Story: "There Is No Crime on Easter Island" by Nancy Pickard (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, September-October 2005)
- Sue Feder Historical Mystery Award: Pardonable Lies by Jacqueline Winspear (Holt)
- Best Hardcover: The Lincoln Lawyer by Michael Connelly (Little, Brown)
- Best Paperback Original: The James Deans by Reed Farrel Coleman (Plume)
- Best First Novel: Forcing Amaryllis by Louise Ure (Mysterious Press)
- Lifetime Achievement Award: Max Allan Collins
- Best Novel: Red Leaves by Thomas H. Cook (Harcourt)
- Best First Novel Published in the U.S. in 2005: Cold Granite by Stuart MacBride (St. Martin's Minotaur)
- Best British Novel Published in the U.K. in 2005: The Field of Blood by Denise Mina (Bantam Press)
- Best Thriller: Company Man by Joseph Finder (St. Martin's Minotaur)
- Best Paperback Novel: The James Deans by Reed Farrel Coleman (Plume)
- Best Short Story: "There is No Crime on Easter Island" by Nancy Pickard (Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, September-October 2005)
- Don Sandstrom Memorial Award for Lifetime Achievement in Mystery Fandom: Janet A. Rudolph
The American Crime Writers League Ellen Nehr Award for mystery reviewing was won by Chicago Tribune critic Dick Adler.