Katy Munger, a Durham-based mystery fiction author, has been selected as the region’s 2016 Piedmont Laureate. During 2016, Ms. Munger will appear at workshops, reading programs and speaking engagements throughout Wake, Durham and Orange counties.
The Piedmont Laureate program is dedicated to building a literary bridge for residents to come together and celebrate the art of writing. Co-sponsored by the Orange County Arts Commission, City of Raleigh Arts Commission, Durham Arts Council, and United Arts Council of Raleigh & Wake County, the Piedmont Laureate program’s mission is to “promote awareness and heighten appreciation for excellence in the literary arts throughout the Piedmont region.”
The program focuses on a different literary form each year, including poetry, novels, creative non-fiction, drama/screenwriting, children’s literature, short fiction, speculative fiction, and mystery fiction.
As Piedmont Laureate, Katy Munger will receive an honorarium and serve until December 31, 2016. Her duties will include presenting public readings and workshops, participating at select public functions and creating at least one original activity to expand appreciation of mystery fiction.
A schedule of the Laureate’s 2016 activities will be posted on the Piedmont Laureate website at www.piedmontlaureate.com.
Katy Munger is a North Carolina-based author who has written 15 mystery novels since 1990 using several different pseudonyms. She is the author of the Dead Detective series, writing as Katy Munger and as Chaz McGee; the Casey Jones crime fiction series writing as Katy Munger; and the Hubbert & Lil mystery series, writing as Gallagher Gray. She is also a former book reviewer for The Washington Post and was a founding member of the mystery sub-genre known as Tart Noir. Most recently, she helped found the Thalia Press Author’s Co-op, whose members just released a group novel entitled “Beat, Slay, Love” under the pseudonym Thalia Filbert.
Her mystery novels span the gamut of crime fiction. The Dead Detective series has been described as thoughtful with comic overtones, featuring multi-layered books that take a deeper look at both life and death than most commercial mysteries. The Casey Jones series is a humorous, semi-hardboiled series set in the Triangle area of North Carolina featuring a female unlicensed private investigator and numerous recurring sidekicks. The Hubbert & Lil series takes place in New York City and has been characterized as using a “cozy with attitude” approach.
Katy Munger was raised in the Cameron Park neighborhood of Raleigh, NC and graduated from Broughton High School. She earned a BA with Honors in Creative Writing from The University of Chapel Hill, where she studied under Daphne Athas, Max Steele, Marianne Gingher and Bill Hardy, among others. Her late father, Guy E. Munger, was a book editor and columnist for The News & Observer for decades, while her late mother, Joan Taylor Munger, was an actress and journalist.
Although she spent 16 years in New York City after graduating from UNC-Chapel Hill, Katy Munger moved back to North Carolina in 1996 and made her home in Durham, where she still lives with her daughter, Zuzu Feller. In addition to her work as an author of mystery novels, she is the Director of External Relations and Communications for the Duke University Talent Identification Program (Duke TIP) for academically gifted students in grades 4-12.
For more information about the Piedmont Laureate program, visit www.piedmontlaureate.com or contact any of the sponsoring agencies. To book Katy Munger for your event in Orange County through the Piedmont Laureate Program, contact Martha Shannon, Orange County Arts Commission at mshannon@orangecountync.gov or 919/968-2011.