Happy New Year! Is your library hosting an event that would be interesting to both librarians and SinC members, such as the wonderful, free, virtual event hosted by the New England Sisters in Crime Chapter that is described below? Did you put together a fabulous display of new thrillers or start a popular mystery book club at your library? Please drop me a line (Susan Hammerman librarian@sistersincrime.org) if you have a great idea for an article to include in We Love Libraries News.
A new Doris Ann Norris We Love Libraries winner will be selected in February. Please find a link to apply for the WLL $500 grant below. The application process is short and simple!
An Invitation to Attend a New England Chapter’s Virtual Event:
Untold Tales from the Stacks
by Kim Herdman Shapiro
Date: January 20, 2022
Time: 7PM ET
Free and open to the public
Link to register is below
Ever wonder what happens to the personal papers of famous authors? How biographers unearth those juicy secrets about their private lives? Is it family connections? Or perhaps private investigators?
Well, you can find the answers to all of these questions on January 20th at 7 pm when Sisters in Crime New England presents: Untold Tales from the Stacks: A behind-the-scenes look at acquiring authors' papers. Sara "Sue" Hodson, a retired curator of literary manuscripts, will be speaking about her 38 years of experience working at the Huntington Library. The Huntington is one of the world’s foremost private research libraries, located in San Marino, California.
Sue will tell the behind-the-scenes stories of how the personal papers of five authors–Charles Bukowski, Octavia E. Butler, Christopher Isherwood, Hilary Mantel, and Paul Theroux–were acquired for the library.
This event is just one facet of the New England chapter’s efforts at forging connections with libraries throughout their region. Judith MacIntosh (author of the Meredith, Massachusetts mystery series) is Library Liaison for Sisters in Crime New England, and a member of both the Massachusetts and New England Library Associations. She regularly reaches out to libraries, big and small, to make sure they are aware of the different programs Sisters in Crime offers. Sometimes that even extends to stopping on a road trip to walk into a new library and introduce herself.
Her main message is that libraries offer a connection point between authors and their readers: a free space in which one can find out about the other, bringing quality writing to people and new readers to authors. As Judith says, "Libraries are where the readers are. I can think of no other place to go where most of the people you meet read and want to talk about books."
“Untold Tales from the Stacks” is a virtual event. If you are interested, please register
here on the Sisters in Crime New England site. Registration is required before January 18, 2022 at 5:00 PM.
A Zoom link will be provided closer to the date.
How Can Your Library Win a
We Love Libraries Grant?
Does your library need materials? Do you have a great idea for a library program? Apply for the We Love Libraries award! Find grant details and the brief grant application on our website. A WLL winner of $500 is selected every other month.
Do you have a great idea for an article in We Love Libraries News? Did your library put together an excellent display of mysteries that you would like to share? Submit your ideas and suggestions to Susan Hammerman, Library Liaison at
To find out more about all SinC offers, including live webinars, please visit our website.
Thank you for all you do for your communities. Sisters in Crime loves libraries.
Best wishes for a happy and healthy 2022!
Susan Hammerman Library Liaison
Susan Hammerman, a former rare book librarian, is the Library Liaison and coordinator of the We Love Libraries program. Susan writes crime and neo-noir short stories. Her stories have been published by Mystery Magazine, Dark City Mystery Magazine, Blood and Bourbon, Mondays are Murder, and Retreats From Oblivion.
Gail Lukasik’s latest book, White Like Her: My Family’s Story of Race and Racial Passing, was named one of the most inspiring stories of the year by The Washington Post. She is also the author of the Leigh Girard Mystery series and the stand-alone mystery, The Lost Artist. Her writing has appeared in numerous publications, such as The Washington Post, The Daily Beast, and The Georgia Review. Gail appeared in the documentary, History of Memory, which is available on Amazon Prime.
Sisters in Crime hosts LIVE webinars each month. Webinars last 60-90 minutes depending on the topic and the audience questions! These webinars are open to all.
Here's a spreadsheet with our members' 2021 books. This month's releases are in a separate worksheet. Sort the spreadsheet by author name, location, title, or release date.
Looking for diverse books? For many years, SINC has curated Frankie’s List, an extensive list of crime novels by people of color and other marginalized groups. Frankie Y. Bailey, building on work by the late Eleanor Taylor Bland, began to compile a list of published Black crime writers over a decade ago. Frankie has expanded the list to include other WOC and LGBTQ+ authors. Here’s a link: https://www.sistersincrime.org/page/FrankiesList
Sisters in Crime is the premier crime writing association focused on equity and inclusion in our community and in publishing. Our 4,500+ members enjoy access to tools to help them learn, grow, improve, thrive, and reinvent if necessary. They also gain a community of supportive fellow writers and readers, both peers to share the peaks and valleys of writing, and mentors to model the way forward.
