My latest book, Blood in the Streets: Histories of Violence in Italian Crime Cinema, has won the British Association of Film, Television and Screen Studies (BAFTSS) 2020 "Best Monograph" Award.
This is a huge honour, so I must give credit to those who helped me during the writing of the volume. Here is the text from the book's "acknowledgements" page:
No book is the result of one person’s solo effort, and ‘Acknowledgements’ sections are always revealing for how they register an author’s understanding of this fact. This volume would certainly not have seen the light of day had it not been for many people’s input, support, feedback and assistance over the course of several years. I am sure that I have accidentally missed some of these people out here, and for that I apologise in advance.
I am eternally indebted to Gillian Leslie and all at Edinburgh University Press for their endless patience, good humour and support while I crawled to the finish line. Equally, the long process of researching and writing this book has only been possible due to the intervention of many friends and scholars at various points along the way. Alan O’Leary has invited me to several workshops and symposia at which I have been able to air my ideas in a welcoming and supportive environment. These ideas have also developed through the presentation of many conference papers, and the resultant kind words, effusive encouragement and valuable feedback from Robert Burgoyne, Peter Alilunas, Karen Randell, Mark Kermode, Emma Pett, Kate Egan, Peter Stanfield and Áine O'Healy have stuck in my memory as invaluable reassurances that I would be able to complete this project. Giulio Olesen will be very relieved that I have indeed finished this book, since I will now stop hassling him for linguistic advice, archival assistance and feedback on draft chapters. Phyll Smith, Johnny Walker and Neil Jackson also stepped in at crucial points in the research process to point me in the right direction.
I am also very grateful to Stefano Baschiera, Russ Hunter, Flavia Laviosa and Frank Burke for inviting me to write articles and chapters that sparked the whole idea for this volume many moons ago. Accordingly, parts of Chapters Two and Four have previously appeared in different forms in the Journal of Italian Cinema and Media Studies (2:2), Italian Horror Cinema (Edinburgh University Press) and A Companion to Italian Cinema (Blackwell).
Finally, this short space is a wholly inadequate one properly to thank my partner Kirsty, and my parents Joyce and John, for their remarkable forbearance as I have self-indulgently allowed this volume to consume my time and attention. Their good humour and endless support have constantly reminded me that there is a life outside academia.
