SISTERS IN CRIME MARKS 35 YEAR MILESTONE WITH WORLD-WIDE CELEBRATION
SISTERS IN CRIME MARKS 35 YEAR MILESTONE WITH WORLD-WIDE CELEBRATION
The organization’s special online event to include a full day of panels, conversation, and socialization in the spirit of the diverse, crime-writing community
2022 marks 35 years for Sisters in Crime, an organization to promote the ongoing advancement, recognition and professional development of women crime writers. On Saturday, September 24th, the organization is marking the major milestone with a special event: Celebrate SinC 35! The worldwide event will be hosted online and includes a conversation with first-ever SinC President Sara Paretsky and former SinC president Lori Rader-Day and a full day of discussions with fellow writer advocate organizations, SinC grant winners and spotlights on “siblings” in the community.
“It’s incredible that SinC has thrived for 35 years,” said author and Immediate Past President Sandra SG Wong. “The publishing and cultural landscape has changed in so many ways since 1987. I’m proud to be a member of an organization that recognizes the need to expand its advocacy from women crime writers to include writers from other historically marginalized groups.”
In 1986, 26 women crime writers frustrated with the obstacles they faced in publishing met at Bouchercon World Mystery Convention to plot a path dedicated to equity and advancement in their professional writing field. One year later, those same women gathered at the Edgar Awards in New York to formally establish Sisters in Crime (SinC). By 2017, the organization had expanded into 52 chapters across the map and several “Support and Information Groups (SIGS) designed to serve members sharing a common interest, but not a common geography.
This year, the organization boasts more than 4,400 members, and their mission has expanded greatly since inception. In 1997, SinC joined the Authors’ Coalition of America, which allowed the organization to expand programming targeted to writers. In 2010, SinC initiated The Doris Ann Norris We Love Libraries Prize and by the end of 2017, had granted American libraries nearly $100,000 to buy books. “We Love Bookstores”, established in 2015, has given over $30,000 in grants to indie bookstores across the country, and “We Love Short Stories” arranges special discounts to publications offering short crime fiction to encourage SinC members to submit their work.
With continual changes in the publishing world, SinC has also re-focused their mission on advocacy and education for the crime writing community. Along with a number of Academic Research Grants to expand understanding on the role of women in underrepresented groups in the crime fiction genre, they also offer two $2,000 annual grants to emerging writers in their respective communities: Their Pride Award for Emerging LGBTQIA+ Crime Writers and Eleanor Taylor Bland Crime Fiction Writers of Color Award. SinC also provides free webinars on craft and business every month, ongoing resources to anyone looking to broaden their knowledge of crime writers who identify as being from marginalized communities, and annual reports on the state of mystery fiction and the crime writing business.
For those interested in learning more and attending the Celebrate SinC 35! event, registration is available online, but is open to SinC members only. Membership is open to both published and unpublished writers interested in joining. Find more at SistersinCrime.org.
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Sisters in Crime (SinC) was founded in 1987 to promote the ongoing advancement, recognition, and professional development of women crime writers. Today, the organization boasts more than 4,400 members and more than 60 chapters worldwide and its initiatives also include other scholarships; grants for academic research into the roles of women and underserved voices in crime fiction; cash awards to libraries and bookstores; and surveys and monitoring projects which determine visibility and representation of women and diverse voices in the genre and across the marketplace. For more information on its programs and author members, visit the organization’s website at www.sistersincrime.org.
Category: On Writing
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