South Carolina author Yasmin McClinton has been named the winner of the 2020 Eleanor Taylor Bland Crime Fiction Writers of Colour Award, which provides a $2,000 grant to an emerging crime fiction writer of colour at the beginning of their career.

The award is made by the US-based organisation Sisters in Crime, in memory of Eleanor Taylor Bland, who died in 2010. Her series of novels introduced African-American police detective Marti MacAlister, a character who overturned stereotypes that had been perpetuated in much of American popular culture.

“Authors like Ms Bland show me that women of colour – writers of colour –can be authors in any genre they want and really bridge gaps,” said McClinton. “I shared with my daughters that I won this award. My daughters have been with me through the hardest times of my life and I wanted to show them that their overly protective, annoying mom has dreams from her childhood coming true, even today.”

For 2020, Sisters in Crime expanded the Award to also provide funded memberships to the organisation for five runners-up, so congratulations also go to Christina Dotson, Tony Hernandez, Robert Justice, Raquel V Reyes and Manju Soni.

The judges included Rachel Howzell Hall, Alex Segura and the 2019 winner, Jessica Martinez.