by Catriona McPherson
When Laura DiSilverio asked me to serve as SinC president, I was mystified as to her reasoning. I didn’t feel knowledgeable, connected or talented enough to make a go of it. It was a conversation with Frankie Bailey, Sinc’s first ever African American president, that showed me what I could maybe do. Frankie spoke of “the Obama effect”: the fact that being president made it hard to be listened to on the topic of inequality.
I realised my “superpower” aka extreme privilege. I am straight. I am able-bodied. I am as white as a startled ghost. (And I’m always more comfortable agitating for other people than for myself.)
So, knowing that Sisters in Crime’s remit for women writers was in good hands with the work up and running, I turned my attention to writers of colour, LGBTQ+ writers and writers with disability.
My past-presidential special project, Report for Change, took a survey of diversity within SinC’s membership and asked representative SinC sibs what changes and improvements were needed. Suggestions were frank and fair and oh-so helpful. We immediately put in place new commitments to diversifying mentoring practices, the board and SinC events and published a resources list, a guide to allyship, and Frankie’s List of diverse authors.
I’m proud of the report and eternally grateful to the crack team that made it happen. It was timely then. Now? It’s “of its time”. I’m glad it feels so dated, ten+ years on. That’s progress!
About Catriona McPherson:
2014-2015 President Catriona McPherson (she/her) was born in Scotland and lived there until 2010, then immigrated to California where she lives on Patwin lands. A former academic linguist, she now writes full-time. Her multi-award-winning and national best-selling work includes: the DANDY GILVER and the HELEN CROWTHER historical detective stories, the LAST DITCH mysteries, set in California, and a strand of contemporary standalone novels including Edgar-finalist THE DAY SHE DIED and Mary Higgins Clark finalist STRANGERS AT THE GATE. She is a member of Mystery Writers of America, The Crimewriters’ Association, The Society of Authors and Sisters in Crime.
Website: https://catrionamcpherson.com/
For More on the History of SinC: https://www.sistersincrime.org/page/history
