Lou Berney (born 1964) is an American crime fiction author who has published four books since 2010. For his works, Berney has won multiple awards including an Anthony, Barry and

Edgar Edgar is a commonly used English given name, from an Anglo-Saxon name ''Eadgar'' (composed of '' ead'' "rich, prosperous" and ''gar'' "spear"). Like most Anglo-Saxon names, it fell out of use by the later medieval period; it was, however, rev ...

for ''

The Long and Faraway Gone ''The Long and Faraway Gone'' () is a novel written by Lou Berney and published by William Morrow (''later acquired by HarperCollins'') on 10 February 2015 which later went on to win 3 literary awards. Awards * Macavity Award for Best Myste ...

''. With ''November Road'', Berney won the CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger while also winning additional Barry and Edgar awards. Apart from writing, Berney was a

screenwriter A screenplay writer (also called screenwriter, scriptwriter, scribe or scenarist) is a writer who practices the craft of screenwriting, writing screenplays on which mass media, such as films, television programs and video games, are based. ...

whose written film, ''

Angels Sing ''Angels Sing'' is a 2012 Christmas family drama film directed by Tim McCanlies and starring Harry Connick Jr., Connie Britton, Chandler Canterbury, Fionnula Flanagan, Lyle Lovett, Willie Nelson and Kris Kristofferson. It is an adaptation of Turk ...

'', was released in 2012. Berney has also taught at the University of Oklahoma and Oklahoma City University during the 2010s.

Early life and education

Berney was born in Oklahoma City,

Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...

in 1964. He was dismissed from several jobs as a teenager, which included positions in photography and property maintenance. For his post-secondary education, Berney went to

Loyola University New Orleans Loyola University New Orleans is a Private university, private Jesuit university in New Orleans, New Orleans, Louisiana. Originally established as Loyola College in 1904, the institution was chartered as a university in 1912. It bears the name o ...

for a journalism program before he graduated with a

Master of Fine Arts A Master of Fine Arts (MFA or M.F.A.) is a terminal degree in fine arts, including visual arts, creative writing, graphic design, photography, filmmaking, dance, theatre, other performing arts and in some cases, theatre management or arts admini ...

from the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Career

In 1991, Berney released ''The Road to Bobby Joe and Other Stories''. During the 1990s, Berney completed two unpublished books before he became a

. During the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike, Berney took three months to write a screenplay called ''Gutshot Straight''. Berney planned to turn ''Gutshot Straight'' into a movie before publishing his work as a book in 2010. His written film, ''

'', was released to theaters in 2013. Following ''Gutshot Straight'', Berney released ''Whiplash River'' in 2012 as a followup book for his Shake Bouchon series. His last Bouchon book, ''Double Barrel Bluff'', was not released during the scheduled 2020 release. Outside of series, additional books published by Berney were ''The Long and Faraway Gone'' in 2015 and ''November Road'' in 2018. That year, ''November Road'' was planned for a movie adaptation when Lawrence Kasdan bought the book's film rights. Apart from his works, Berney was a writing teacher throughout the 2000s. In 2011, Berney began teaching creative writing for Oklahoma City University. He continued to teach at Oklahoma City during the 2010s while also teaching with the University of Oklahoma.

Writing process and themes

At the beginning of his writing process, Berney focuses on creating on the backgrounds of the people he plans to write about. He then moves on toward the book's events. To create his books, Berney uses a laptop and types them out at a coffeehouse in Oklahoma City. For his two Shake Bouchon books, Berney chose Panama and Egypt as locations. For ''The Long and Faraway Gone'', Berney thought about using the Oklahoma City bombing before choosing different events that occurred in Oklahoma City. Berney based his book on murders that occurred at a Sirloin Stockade during the late 1970s and the disappearances of two children at the Oklahoma State Fair during the early 1980s. With ''November Road'', Berney based his book on the

conspiracy theory A conspiracy theory is an explanation for an event or situation that invokes a conspiracy by sinister and powerful groups, often political in motivation, when other explanations are more probable.Additional sources: * * * * The term has a nega ...

that the New Orleans crime family were behind the assassination of John F. Kennedy. Berney intended to have the main characters meet each other in a town before he decided to have them meet during their individual travels.

Nominations and awards

Before working in screenwriting,

Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film and television production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the main namesake division of Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS). It is the fifth-oldes ...

awarded Berney a fellowship. With ''Gutshot Straight'', Berney was nominated for the 2011 Barry Award in the Best First Mystery/Crime Novel category. In 2013, ''Whiplash River'' received a nomination for the Best Paperback Original category as part of the Anthony Awards and Edgar Awards. With ''The Long and Faraway Gone'', Berney was nominated for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Mystery/Thriller in 2016. That year, Berney received the 2016 Macavity Award in the Best Mystery Novel category. In the Best Paperback Original categories for 2016, Berney also won the Anthony, Barry, and Edgar awards. ''The Long and Faraway Gone'' was on the

longlist A short list or shortlist is a list of candidates for a job, prize, award, political position, etc., that has been reduced from a longer list of candidates (sometimes via intermediate lists known as "long lists"). The length of short lists varie ...

for the

Dublin Literary Award The International Dublin Literary Award ( ga, Duais Liteartha Idirnáisiúnta Bhaile Átha Chliath), established as the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award in 1996, is presented each year for a novel written or translated into English. ...

in 2017. For ''November Road'', Berney received the

Hammett Award The Hammett Prize is awarded annually by the International Association of Crime Writers, North American Branch (IACW/NA) to a Canadian or US citizen or permanent resident for a book in English in the field of crime writing. It is named after crim ...

in 2019. In the Best Novel category, Berney received the Macavity and Anthony Awards in 2019. At the Barry Awards, Berney won the 2019 Best Mystery/Crime Novel category and was nominated for the Best Mystery/Crime Novel of the Decade award in 2020. In awards held by the Crime Writer's Association during 2020, ''November Road'' was a Gold Dagger nominee and won the CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger.

References

{{reflist 1964 births American crime fiction writers Screenwriters from Oklahoma Anthony Award winners Barry Award winners Edgar Award winners Macavity Award winners Living people