Launching in 2026 and unveiled at this year’s festival, Desert Noir is a joint initiative between the Twentynine Palms Book Festival and Palm Springs’ annual NoirCon, designed to connect desert-set crime fiction and nonfiction with the entertainment industry. Timed just two weeks apart, the two events form a natural bridge between the High and Low Desert, offering writers, filmmakers, screenwriters, and producers a unique platform for collaboration and cross-promotion.

The program will introduce a single annual award for the best desert noir adaptation, alternating each year between Twentynine Palms and Palm Springs. It will also feature a mentorship lab for emerging screenwriters, matchmaking opportunities to connect authors with international producers, distributors, and platforms, and an annual spotlight on a major noir publisher—beginning in 2026 with Gallimard’s legendary Série Noire.

For more information, contact pz@ideasforfilms.us.