One of my favorite authors, Vaseem Khan, has recently been elected the new chair of the British Crime Writers’ Association, replacing the venerable Maxim Jakubowski in that role. The Guardian writes, “Khan is the first person of colour to take the role in the organisation’s 70-year history.” It adds that “Jakubowski will formally hand over the Creasey Bell—named in honour of the CWA founder [John Creasey]—to Khan at the annual Dagger awards on 6 July. The bell has been passed on from chair to chair for 70 years.” Congratulations to Vaseem on this singular honor.

Vaseem Khan is the author of the Baby Ganesh Detective Agency crime novels and the award-winning historical Malabar House series. He and his buddy Abir Mukherjee host an entertaining podcast on crime fiction called The Red Hot Chilli Writers. I’ve never met Vaseem in person, but I feel that I know him pretty well from listening to this podcast and reading all of his excellent novels. I look forward to meeting him someday.