Richard Bleiler has been named the winner of the 2023 Munsey Award. He was selected by a committee made up of all the living Lamont, Munsey, and Rusty Award recipients. The award was presented at PulpFest in Pittsburgh on August 5.

Here is the citation that explains why he was up for this honor:

The Collections Librarian at the University of Connecticut, Richard Bleiler is a bibliographer and researcher in the areas of science fiction, fantasy, horror, crime, and adventure fiction. In 2002, he was nominated for the Bram Stoker Award for Best Non-Fiction for the second edition of Supernatural Fiction Writers: Fantasy and Horror. With his father, Everett Bleiler, Richard compiled Science Fiction: The Early Years and Science Fiction: The Gernsback Years, both published by Kent State University Press. His other work includes The Index to Adventure Magazine, The Annotated Index to The Thrill Book, the second edition of Science Fiction Writers: Critical Studies of the Major Authors from the Early Nineteenth Century to the Present Day, and Reference and Research Guide to Mystery and Detective Fiction.  Richard’s essay, “Forgotten Giant: A Brief History of Adventure Magazine,” originally published in Extrapolation: A Journal of Science Fiction and Fantasy, is considered the finest overview of the classic pulp magazine. He has also written essays on early science fiction, fantasy, and mystery authors for The Dictionary of Literary Biography and other reference works, as well as articles on the writings of Frank Belknap Long and Clark Ashton Smith for Gary Hoppenstand’s Pulp Fiction of the 20s and 30s. 

Named for Frank A. Munsey, publisher of the first pulp magazine, the award recognizes someone who has contributed to the betterment of the pulp community through disseminating knowledge, publishing, or other efforts to preserve and to foster interest in pulp magazines.

[Thanks to Anne Marble for the story.]