Bouchercon

Bouchercon
Genre	Mystery
Location(s)	Most recent held virtually, hosted from Sacramento, California, October 16-17, 2020
Country	United States
Inaugurated	1970
Website	www.bouchercon.com

Bouchercon, the Anthony Boucher Memorial World Mystery Convention, is an annual convention of creators and devotees of mystery and detective fiction. ^[1] It is named in honour of writer, reviewer, and editor Anthony Boucher, ^[2] and pronounced the way he pronounced his name, rhyming with "voucher". ^[3]

It is held annually in Autumn, each year being hosted in a different city by a different group of volunteers. ^[4] The convention typically starts on Thursday and finishes on Sunday.

Each year, Bouchercon nominates and votes the Anthony Awards for excellence in crime fiction, including: Best Novel, Best First Novel, Best Short Story, Best Critical Non-Fiction, and Best Paperback Original.

People who attend are fans, authors, agents, booksellers, publishers and other people who read and enjoy mystery and crime fiction. The first one was held in Santa Monica, California in 1970. The guest of honor was Robert Bloch of Psycho fame.

Registered attendees of each Bouchercon are designated as 'members', and vote at the annual business meeting (held during the convention) on necessary business items. Bouchercon's governing body is its standing committee, which changes year to year, being made up of people who have hosted and will host the convention, and three at large members who are elected by the membership.

Awards

Main article: Anthony Awards

The Anthony Awards are literary awards for mystery writers presented at the Bouchercon World Mystery Convention since 1986. The awards are named for Anthony Boucher (1911–1968), one of the founders of the Mystery Writers of America.

List of Bouchercons

Number	Year	Location	Lifetime Achievement Award	Guest(s) of Honor
I	1970	Santa Monica, California	no award issued
II	1971	Los Angeles, California	no award issued
III	1972	Los Angeles, California	no award issued
IV	1973	Boston, Massachusetts	no award issued
V	1974	Oakland, California	no award issued
VI	1975	Chicago, Illinois	no award issued
VII	1976	Culver City, California	no award issued
VIII	1977	New York, New York	no award issued
IX	1978	Chicago, Illinois	no award issued
X	1979	Los Angeles, California	no award issued
XI	1980	Washington, D.C.	no award issued
XII	1981	Milwaukee, Wisconsin	no award issued
XIII	1982	San Francisco, California	no award issued
XIV	1983	New York, New York	no award issued
XV	1984	Chicago, Illinois	no award issued
XVI	1985	San Francisco, California	no award issued
XVII	1986	Baltimore, Maryland	no award issued
XVIII	1987	Minneapolis, Minnesota	no award issued
XIX	1988	San Diego, California	no award issued
XX	1989	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	Dorothy Salisbury Davis
XXI	1990	London, England	Michael Gilbert
XXII	1991	Pasadena, California	William Campbell Gault
XXIII	1992	Toronto, Ontario, Canada	Charlotte MacLeod
XXIV	1993	Omaha, Nebraska	Hammond Innes and Ralph McInerny
XXV	1994	Seattle, Washington	Tony Hillerman
XXVI	1995	Nottingham, England	no award issued
XXVII	1996	St. Paul, Minnesota	no award issued
XXVIII	1997	Monterey, California	Donald E. Westlake
XXIX	1998	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	no award issued
XXX	1999	Milwaukee, Wisconsin	Len Moffatt and June Moffatt
XXXI	2000	Denver, Colorado	Jane Langton
XXXII	2001	Washington, D.C.	Edward D. Hoch
XXXIII	2002	Austin, Texas	no award issued
XXXIV	2003	Las Vegas, Nevada	no award issued
XXXV	2004	Toronto, Ontario, Canada	Bernard Cornwell
XXXVI	2005	Chicago, Illinois	Bill Pronzini and Marcia Muller
XXXVII	2006	Madison, Wisconsin	Robert B. Parker
XXXVIII	2007	Anchorage, Alaska	James Sallis
XXXIX	2008	Baltimore, Maryland	Lawrence Block
XL	2009	Indianapolis, Indiana	Allen J. Hubin
XLI	2010	San Francisco, California	Lee Child
XLII	2011	St. Louis, Missouri	Sara Paretsky
XLIII	2012	Cleveland, Ohio	Mary Higgins Clark
XLIV	2013	Albany, New York	Sue Grafton
XLV	2014	Long Beach, California	Jeffery Deaver
XLVI	2015	Raleigh, North Carolina	Margaret Maron
XLVII	2016	New Orleans, Louisiana	David Morrell
XLVIII	2017	Toronto, Ontario, Canada	no award issued
XLIX	2018	St. Petersburg, Florida	Ian Rankin
L	2019	Dallas, Texas	Peter Lovesey	Hank Phillippi Ryan James Patterson Deborah Crombie Felix Francis Harry Hunsicker McKenna Jordan
LI	2020	Sacramento, California	TBA	Scott Turow Walter Mosley Anne Perry Cara Black Janet A Rudolph Catroina McPherson

References

1. "Bouchercon World Mystery Convention : Home". Bouchercon.info. Archived from the original on 2013-01-12. Retrieved 2012-01-30.
2. "Bouchercon 2010 by the Bay: The World Series of Mystery". Libraryjournal.com. Archived from the original on 2012-09-05. Retrieved 2012-01-30.
3. Marvin Lachman, The Heirs of Anthony Boucher Poisoned Pen Press (2005), p. 83.
4. "Happy Birthday, Mr. Holmes - The New York Sun". Nysun.com. 2005-01-05. Retrieved 2012-01-30.