The Horror Writers Association (HWA) is pleased to announce that the 20th Annual Presentation of the Bram Stoker Awards for excellence in horror and fantasy fiction will be presented in conjunction with the World Horror Convention 2007 (WHC) in Toronto, Canada. The World Horror Convention will run from March 29 to April 1, 2007, and the Bram Stoker Awards ceremony will take place on the evening Saturday, March 31. Popular Canadian horror author Sèphera Girón will serve as Mistress of Ceremonies for the event.

Nominees for the 2007 HWA Bram Stoker Awards will be announced early in the new year. The Horror Writers Association also bestows a yearly Lifetime Achievement Award in acknowledgment of superior achievement over a career. Previous winners of the Lifetime Achievement Award include Stephen King and Anne Rice. Most recent Lifetime Achievement Award winner Peter Straub attended the 2006 Awards presentation in New York City, and is set to be one of the many horror celebrities also attending the 2007 event.

The Bram Stoker Awards presentation is expected to be one of the highlights of the convention, and will include past Stoker Award winners as award presenters. Tickets for the Awards Banquet are limited to just 240 places and will be sold on a first-come, first-served basis. They will be available to both HWA members and anyone with a registered membership for World Horror Convention 2007. Any HWA member who only wants to attend the Banquet can do so, although they will not be allowed into any other convention events without a full membership. Information about how tickets may be purchased will soon be appearing on both the HWA (www.horror.org) and WHC (www.whc2007.org) websites.

2007 also marks an important turning point for the World Horror Convention, which is taking place outside of the United States for the first time. The Convention's guests of honour include international best-selling British writer Michael Marshall Smith (The Straw Men); Canadian novelist Nancy Kilpatrick (The Power of the Blood series); American artist John Picacio; British publisher, editor and author Peter Crowther, and Canadian editor and pulp magazine authority Don Hutchison, with more to be announced.

Other professionals already attending the convention include P.D. Cacek, Mort Castle, Ellen Datlow, Gemma Files, Jo Fletcher, Tina Jens, Stephen Jones, Kelly Laymon, Tim Lebbon, Brian Lumley, L.H. Maynard & M.P.N. Sims, Paul Miller, David Morrell, Mark Morris, Lisa Morton, Sarah Pinborough, Tony Richards and F. Paul Wilson, amongst many others. The annual WHC Grand Master Award will also be presented at the Award Banquet of the Saturday evening.

THE HORROR WRITERS ASSOCIATION (HWA) is a worldwide organization of writers and publishing professionals dedicated to promoting dark literature and the interests of those who write it. HWA was formed in the late 1980s with the help of many of the field's greats, including Dean Koontz, Robert McCammon, and Joe R. Lansdale. Today, with over 600 members around the globe, it is the oldest and most respected professional organization devoted to the genre.

For more information, please contact Lisa Morton at lisa@lisamorton.com or Amanda Foubister at amanda@whc2007.org.

(October 2006)