Mysterious Women
Posted by: Barbara Bibel
Many of our most popular mystery writes are women. Think about your favorites. Chances are they include Sara Paretsky, Marcia Muller, Sue Grafton, and P.D. James. Despite this, women have a harder time getting published. That is why a group headed by Sara Paretsky formed Sisters in Crime in 1986. This organization, an ALA Library Champion, has 3600 members in 48 chapters all over the world.
Members include both published and non-published authors, agents, publishers, booksellers, librarians, and mystery lovers. The organization promotes the professional development and advancement of women mystery writers. Their website, www.sistersincrime.org has many useful tools for writers and mystery lovers: news, links to author and bookstore websites, a calendar of events,and a resource list. The members-only portion of the site offers web links, information about promoting books, reports on the publishing industry and the monitoring project, which tracks the number of reviews of mysteries published by women in comparison to those published by men.
Booklist is one of the publications tracked by this project! The organization also publishes books on promoting mysteries. It is a great supporter of libraries, offering grants in their "We Love Libraries" Lottery. Details for entering are on the site. Local chapters are happy to have authors appear at library programs. My library recently hosted Cara Black and Rhys Bowen in a delightful program that was very well attended. Get a clue about the Sisters in Crime and have them do some sleuthing at your library.
