Fava beans, Chianti, and liver aren't on the menu, but the writer who suggested that horrific
meal is being honoured at a special dinner.
Thomas Harris, who created iconic serial killer Hannibal Lecter, has been awarded the 2006
Lifetime Achievement Award by the Horror Writers Association (HWA). Harris is credited with popularizing
the serial killer genre with his novel THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS, and also scored major successes
with his psychological horror novels RED DRAGON and HANNIBAL.
Stephen King has called the series "One very long and scary ride through the haunted palace of abnormal psychiatry."
A former crime reporter, Harris began writing fiction in the 1960s and was a journalist for
the Associated Press in New York from 1968 to 1974.
His first novel, the prescient BLACK SUNDAY, was published in 1975 and features terrorists attempting
a mass attack at the Super Bowl. His first four books were adapted into blockbuster motion pictures. Harris'
latest novel featuring Lecter, HANNIBAL RISING, was published in December 2006, with the
film version scheduled for February 2007 release.
The Lifetime Achievement Award is the most prestigious of the Bram Stoker Awards, given by the HWA
in acknowledgment of superior achievement not just in a single work but over an entire career. Past
Lifetime Achievement Award winners include such noted authors as Stephen King, Anne Rice, Joyce Carole
Oates, Ray Bradbury and Peter Straub. Winners must have exhibited a profound, positive impact on the
fields of horror and dark fantasy, and be at least sixty years of age or have been published for a
minimum of thirty-five years.
THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS won the Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in a Novel in
1988 and HANNIBAL was a 1999 finalist. His latest novel has been recommended for this year's award.
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St. Martin's
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Deleacorte
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The HWA Annual Conference and Bram Stoker Awards banquet will be held on March 31 in conjunction with
the 2007 World Horror Convention. The convention runs from March 29th through April 1st in Toronto,
Canada. The Horror Writers Association is a worldwide organization promoting dark literature and its
creators. Started in 1985, it has over 500 members who are writing professionally in fiction,
non-fiction, videogames, films, comics and other media.
To learn more about Thomas Harris, visit his official website at
www.thomasharris.com.
To find out more about his latest book, visit
HANNIBAL RISING.
More information on the Horror Writers Association is at www.horror.org.
