The Christy Award 2023 Events

“The need for quality fiction books written from a faith perspective has never been greater. We appreciate the support and involvement of the publishing community, as well as the authors who write these wonderful books."

“Writers of faith and those who support them should take heart that we live in a time of unprecedented opportunity for authentic connectedness with readers. We must continue to labor to create and support the kind of storytelling that our readers want and need; stories that explore what binds us together as human beings and that explore our relationship to our Creator.”

“I believe that fiction has the potential to be one of the greatest tools for beginning spiritual discussion in the marketplace. The path holds many challenges and opportunities but I believe that we are working with some of the most talented writers in the industry. I’ve said for years that what we ask authors to do in writing fiction for this market is much more challenging than what general market fiction writing requires. In that, I take great encouragement.”

“In the Christian life, everything, and I mean literally everything, must be relationally personal. The truth stated impersonally is a lie. Depersonalized language falsifies the Christian life. And stories are our primary verbal way to keep language local and personal, which are the only conditions in which we can follow Jesus—local and personal...So thank you, writers, readers, and publishers, for taking on this work, this holy work of writing stories that ground us in the world of God’s grace.”

“There are issues that everyone on the world of Christian fiction cares about, but for the most part, aspiring writers, established authors, editors, marketers, agents, and other professionals discuss these issues in their own small groups. What I love about the Art of Writing conference is that it enables all of us to gather together in person and have conversations about big picture issues in the industry. We can learn so much from others’ unique perspectives.”