For immediate release 24 May 2021

In a New Zealand first, Tauranga author, Lee Murray, has won two prestigious Bram Stoker Awards® at an awards event hosted by the Horror Writers Association over the weekend. 

Named for the author of the seminal horror novel Dracula, the international Bram Stoker Awards® are presented annually for superior achievement in dark fiction. 

Murray’s book Grotesque: Monster Stories, which Sublime Horror calls a “compelling collection of diverse, thought-provoking worlds” won the fiction collection category. Murray took her second award of the night for her work on Black Cranes: Tales of Unquiet Women, an anthology of Southeast Asian horror tales co-edited with her Australian colleague, author Geneve Flynn.

“We have so much undiscovered literary talent here,” she says, “and our authors offer a unique perspective.” 

HWA president, John Palisano, said, “This year’s winners reflect a deep range of works from a competitive field.” 

Other category winners include Bird Box author, Josh Malerman, and Stephen Graham Jones, author of Only Good Indians. Previous winners of the Bram Stoker Awards® include Stephen King, J.K. Rowling, George R.R. Martin, Joyce Carol Oates, and Neil Gaiman. 

This year, due to the pandemic, the awards were presented at a virtual literary event which included attendees from seventeen countries.

For full results: https://horror.org/2021/05/2020-bram-stoker-awards-winners/

To watch the event stream: https://youtu.be/035TKPBN_LQ (starting at 51:50)