What SinC Can Do For You!

[Sisters In Crime]

At a Sisters in Crime library event a couple of weeks ago, a woman
approached me and asked: "But what does Sisters in Crime DO for you?"

Fair enough question, so here goes. Twenty years ago, a small group of
women, most famously led by Sara Paretsky, realized there was a problem with
equitable treatment of women crime fiction writers. They decided to shine a
light on the issue and the SinC organization has been dedicated to that ever
since.

With our twentieth anniversary celebration in full swing, this has a been a
banner year. We've had displays featuring SinC authors in Borders Bookstores
across the country, independent bookstores across the country, and in March,
2000 libraries across the country. The displays included lists of authors,
posters, crime scene tape, bumper stickers, and lots and lots of members'
books. These displays introduced new readers to our books and our mission.

SinC also maintains a presence at the major library conventions and many
book fairs and trade shows across the country. In these booths, authors have
an unusual opportunity to meet librarians and booksellers and talk about the
organization--and our books of course!

The backbone of our organization is the review monitoring project in which
reviews in major publications of male vs. female books are tallied and
reported. As we psychologists say, the first step in making a change is
shining a light on the problems. In other words, if reviewers aren't aware
of their biases, they can't fix them.

And finally, at a local level, our chapters provide wonderful opportunities
for education, networking, and speakers' bureaus.

On April 5, the Detective and Mystery Caucus of the Popular Culture
Association and American Culture Association presented a special Dove Award
to Sisters in Crime to honor its extensive activities in support of women
crime writers. It was very exciting to be there to receive the award for the
organization, in the presence of two of our founding mothers--Sara Paretsky
and Kate Mattes! There's a lot more in the works--the SinC mission is to
raise the awareness of and promote the advancement of women who write crime
fiction--and we take that to heart. Please come to our website
http://www.sistersincrime.org or a meeting and check us out!

Roberta Isleib
Vice President, SinC