Florida Gulf Coast Chapter
Florida Gulf Coast Sisters in Crime will host a vendor booth as part of the
51st Annual Cedar Key Seafood Festival! This is a great opportunity to reach out to new readers in a relaxed atmosphere. Cedar Key is 2.5 hours from Tampa/3.5 hours from Sarasota, so this is a weekend trip.
To join as an author or volunteer, go to our Meetup event or sign up on our site here.
Bouchercon, one of the largest mystery conventions held, was canceled this year due to the ongoing COVID crisis. But there are silver linings hidden in the cloud of depression. This Time for Sure, the anthology for the canceled convention, is available on 8/25 with stories by several leading lights of mystery, including G. Miki Hayden, Charles Todd, Alex Segura, and our own Martha Reed! The book is a hardback, and 100% of the net profits benefit the New Orleans Public Library.
The Bouchercon folks have also announced that they will be broadcasting an author discussion one night, and the Anthony Awards the next:
On Friday, August 27:
7 pm ET / 6 pm CT / 5 pm MT / 4 pm PT / Midnight GMT Bouchercon 2021 presents Alafair Burke in conversation with James Lee Burke, hosted by Heather Graham and Introductions from Rachel Howzell Hall.
On Saturday, August 28:
7 pm ET / 6 pm CT / 5 pm MT / 4 pm PT / Midnight GMT Bouchercon 2021 presents the 52nd 2021 Anthony Awards Ceremony! Only previously registered attendees will receive an Anthony ballot.
Check the Bouchercon site for more information as the dates draw closer.
The Florida Gulf Coast SinC celebrated its first post-COVID-19 hybrid Zoom Room/In-person meeting with a breakfast brunch at the Oxford Exchange in Tampa, FL on June 5, 2021. Thirteen members attended in-person with another 14 participating online. James McGowan from BookEnds Literary Agency presented: “What Do Agents Do, and How Do I Find One?”
In July, we return to Zoom only with a meeting on Saturday, July 10, 2021 from 10:30 AM – 12:30 PM.
J.J. Hensley, a former police officer and former Special Agent with the U.S. Secret Service will present his program: The Secret Service – Fact and Fiction.
Be sure to RSVP through our MeetUp site to get the meeting’s Zoom link.
Missed seeing the play when we were performing it live at the Southwest Florida Reading Festival? It’s now on our YouTube channel! Check it out, and subscribe to see the future videos we have planned!
Tune in this Saturday for Dead End Jobs. Four Sisters in Crime authors will discuss how their day jobs affect their stories and their characters. The panel will air live at 2 PM, Saturday, March 6th, on the Sisters in Crime Virtual Booth for the Southwest Florida Reading Festival.
To see the entire schedule for the virtual booth, click here.
The Southwest Florida Reading Festival begins on Monday, March 1st. Our chapter is hosting daily activities. See the schedule here.
Two of our events will take place on the Festival’s main stage:
The fun begins at 9 PM on Monday, with Bedtime Stories. Come to our virtual booth to learn more.
SAVE THE DATE – NOIR AT THE BAR — FRIDAY, MARCH 12, 7:00 – 8:00 PM
Hosted by NY Times Bestselling Author Lisa Black, this VIRTUAL presentation of Noir at the Bar showcases ten Sisters in Crime authors offering reading from the darker side of crime fiction.
NOIR AT THE BAR is presented by the Florida Gulf Coast Sisters in Crime chapter as a Main Stage event of the Southwest Florida Reading Festival, hosted by the Lee County Library System
