Lou Berney (born 1964) is an American

crime fiction Crime fiction, detective story, murder mystery, mystery novel, and police novel are terms used to describe narratives that centre on criminal acts and especially on the investigation, either by an amateur or a professional detective, of a crime, ...

author who has published four books since 2010. For his works, Berney has won multiple awards including an

Anthony Anthony or Antony is a masculine given name, derived from the '' Antonii'', a ''gens'' ( Roman family name) to which Mark Antony (''Marcus Antonius'') belonged. According to Plutarch, the Antonii gens were Heracleidae, being descendants of Anton, ...

Barry Barry may refer to: People and fictional characters * Barry (name), including lists of people with the given name, nickname or surname, as well as fictional characters with the given name * Dancing Barry, stage name of Barry Richards (born c. 19 ...

and Edgar for '' The Long and Faraway Gone''. With ''November Road'', Berney won the

CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger The CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger is an annual award given by the British Crime Writers' Association for best thriller of the year. The award is sponsored by the estate of Ian Fleming. It is given to a title that fits the broadest definition of th ...

while also winning additional Barry and Edgar awards. Apart from writing, Berney was a screenwriter whose written film, '' Angels Sing'', was released in 2012. Berney has also taught at the

University of Oklahoma , mottoeng = "For the benefit of the Citizen and the State" , type = Public research university , established = , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $2.7billion (2021) , pr ...

and

Oklahoma City University Oklahoma City University (OCU) is a private university historically affiliated with the United Methodist Church and located in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The university offers undergraduate bachelor's degrees, graduate master's degrees and docto ...

during the 2010s.

Early life and education

Berney was born in

Oklahoma City Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat of Oklahoma County, it ranks 20th among United States cities in population, a ...

, Oklahoma in 1964. He was dismissed from several jobs as a teenager, which included positions in

photography Photography is the art, application, and practice of creating durable images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is employe ...

and

property maintenance Property maintenance relates to the upkeep of a home, apartment, rental property or building and may be a commercial venture through a property maintenance company, an employee of the company which owns a home, apartment or a self-storage pastime ...

. For his post-secondary education, Berney went to Loyola University New Orleans for a journalism program before he graduated with a Master of Fine Arts from the

University of Massachusetts Amherst The University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass Amherst, UMass) is a public research university in Amherst, Massachusetts and the sole public land-grant university in Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Founded in 1863 as an agricultural college, ...

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 screenwriter. 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, '' Angels Sing'', 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 Lawrence Edward Kasdan (born January 14, 1949) is an American filmmaker. He is the co-writer of the '' Star Wars'' films ''The Empire Strikes Back'' (1980), ''Return of the Jedi'' (1983), ''The Force Awakens'' (2015), and '' Solo: A Star Wars St ...

bought the book's

film rights A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...

. Apart from his works, Berney was a writing teacher throughout the 2000s. In 2011, Berney began teaching

creative writing Creative writing is any writing that goes outside the bounds of normal professional, journalistic, academic, or technical forms of literature, typically identified by an emphasis on narrative craft, character development, and the use of literary ...

for

. He continued to teach at Oklahoma City during the 2010s while also teaching with the

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 Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Co ...

and

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...

as locations. For ''The Long and Faraway Gone'', Berney thought about using the

Oklahoma City bombing The Oklahoma City bombing was a domestic terrorism in the United States, domestic terrorist truck bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States, on April 19, 1995. Perpetrated by two anti-federal go ...

before choosing different events that occurred in Oklahoma City. Berney based his book on murders that occurred at a

Sirloin Stockade Sirloin Stockade is an American family-style all-you-can-eat buffet steakhouse, restaurant chain and franchisor that was founded in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma in 1966. In June 2016, the parent company, Stockade Companies, operated over 80 restaurants ...

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 that the

New Orleans crime family The New Orleans crime family or New Orlean Mafia was an Italian-American Mafia crime family based in the city of New Orleans. The family had a history of criminal activity dating back to the late nineteenth century. The family reached its height ...

were behind the

assassination of John F. Kennedy John F. Kennedy, the 35th president of the United States, was assassinated on Friday, November 22, 1963, at 12:30 p.m. CST in Dallas, Texas, while riding in a presidential motorcade through Dealey Plaza. Kennedy was in the vehicle with ...

. 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 awarded Berney a

fellowship A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context. In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements. Within the context of higher education ...

. 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 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 Mystery W ...

and

Edgar Awards The Edgar Allan Poe Awards, popularly called the Edgars, are presented every year by the Mystery Writers of America, based in New York City. Named after American writer Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849), a pioneer in the genre, the awards honor the bes ...

. With ''The Long and Faraway Gone'', Berney was nominated for the

Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Mystery/Thriller The ''Los Angeles Times'' Book Prize for Mystery/Thriller, established in 2000, is a category of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize Since 1980, the ''Los Angeles Times'' has awarded a set of annual book prizes. The Prizes currently have nine c ...

in 2016. That year, Berney received the 2016

Macavity Award The Macavity Awards are a literary award for mystery writers. Nominated and voted upon annually by the members of the Mystery Readers International, the award is named for the " mystery cat" of T. S. Eliot's ''Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats'' ...

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 for the Dublin Literary Award in 2017. For ''November Road'', Berney received the Hammett Award 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 The Crime Writers' Association (CWA) is a specialist authors’ organisation in the United Kingdom, most notable for its Dagger awards for the best crime writing of the year, and the Diamond Dagger awarded to an author for lifetime achievement. T ...

during 2020, ''November Road'' was a

Gold Dagger The Gold Dagger is an award given annually by the Crime Writers' Association of the United Kingdom since 1960 for the best crime novel of the year. From 1955 to 1959, the organization named their top honor as the Crossed Red Herring Award. From ...

nominee and won the

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