Giving away Sisters in Crime money

On Wednesday, May 12th, I had the HUGE pleasure of handing over a $1,000 check from Sisters in Crime to the Kraemer Family Library of the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs. Why and how did this come about? The Kraemer Family Library was the February winner in the Sisters in Crime “We Love Libraries” program. Under this program, monthly grants of $1,000 will be awarded to libraries from January through December 2010. Grants must be used to purchase books. The book purchases are not restricted to the mystery genre, but the hope is that winning libraries will use some of the funds to purchase books written by Sisters in Crime members (like me! ;) ). Libraries enter by sending in a photo of staff holding books written by Sisters in Crime authors. The library staff told me they had a fun time gathering and posing for the photo.

I was very excited when the national office contacted me and asked me to organize an event to present the grant. I invited local Sisters in Crime members, and mystery author Laura DiSilverio (aka Lila Dare) was able to join me in the ceremony followed by lunch with the staff. We talked about our own work and the writing of Sisters in Crime’s many other talented authors, and I gave them a list of Colorado Sisters in Crime authors. Teri Switzer, the Professor and Dean of the Library, said the group had so much fun with us that they asked if they could institute a monthly author lunch presentation. I told her that if they do start such a program, I'd be glad to suggest some local authors to invite. The photos below are from the event. Don't we look like we're having fun?