I miss conventions. The last one I attended was Left Coast Crime in San Diego when we were all sent home because of COVID. So I’m super excited to be going to LCC this year and seeing my friends!
With the entire year yawning out before us, I decided to cruise through the net and see what mystery conventions are scheduled.
Left Coast Crime 2023. March 16-19. Tucson, Arizona.
https://www.leftcoastcrime.org/2023/. Guests of Honor include J.A. Jance, Glen Erik Hamilton, Sujata Massey, Dru Ann Love, Winn Bundy. And Ellen Byron is Toastmaster! Can’t wait. Hope to see you there!
Edgar Awards. April or May. New York City.
Nominees are listed at: https://mysterywriters.org/edgars/currentsubmissions/
Malice Domestic 31. April 28-30. Bethesda, Maryland.
https://malicedomestic.org/. Guests of Honor include Hank Phillippi Ryan, Vaseem Khan, Abir Mukherjee, Ann Cleeves, Tonya Scott-Williams, Luci Zahray. And Barb Goffman is the Toastmaster!
ThrillerFest XVII. May 3-June 3. New York City.
https://thrillerfest.com/. Guests include Charlaine Harris, Walter Mosley, Jack Carr, and Oyinkan Braithwaite.
Sleuthfest 2023. July 6-9. Boca Raton, Florida.
https://sleuthfest.com/. Guest of Honor is Melinda Leigh.
Killer Nashville. August 17-20. Nashville, Tennessee.
Bouchercon 2023. August 30 – September 3. San Diego.
Bouchercon 2023: San Diego – Murder at the Marina: August 30 to September 3. Guests include David Baldacci, Ann Cleeves, Jacqueline Winspear, Dru Ann Love, C.J. Box, KateCarlisle. And Naomi Hirahara is Toastmaster!
New England Crimebake.
https://crimebake.org/. As of this writing, the dates weren’t announced on the site. Check back.
Are there any conventions I missed? Which ones are you planning to attend?
Keenan Powell
Author
While still in high school, she was one of the illustrators of the original Dungeons and Dragons. Art seemed an impractical pursuit – not an heiress, wouldn’t marry well, hated teaching – so she went to law school instead. When not writing or practicing law, Keenan can be found oil painting, studying the Irish language, or hanging out with her friends at mystery conventions.
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Thanks for the list–and the dates. Writers’ Conferences are so important, especially for rising stars–a place to learn, meet readers, and connect with other authors. On the downside, they can be expensive. Airfare is in literally in the stratosphere these days. Is it worth the investment? I think it is, but I’m trying to be more selective, attending conferences that include readers and not just other writers. As much as I love these events, I need more time writing.
Right you are. I’m only going to Left Coast Crime this year. For new authors, they can make friends at conferences, meet social media friends face-to-face, and then continue the relationships on social media.
I’d like to attend each of those, but not in one year! I’m pretty sure I’ll be at Thrillerfest this year, but we’ll see. I do really like reconnecting with people and meeting authors IRL.
Do give us a report if you go. I always wondered if Thrillerfest was worth the time/hassle.
Please report back if you go. I’ve wondered whether it’s worth the time and hassle to go.
Yay! I’m going to Malice for sure and Crime Bake (which is almost always over the Veterans Day weekend in November….we haven’t officially put the dates down yet, but you can at least have a tentative date. I love meeting so many other authors and readers at these things!
Blasts me when you have a date and I’ll update the roundup!
I miss conferences. I haven’t been since 2019. I’m still avoiding crowds but I think there were relatively few cases at the 2022 conferences so I’m considering whether to attend this year.
The only ones I’ve never attended are Killer Nashville and Thrillerfest.
This is the first year I’ve attended since 2020 for that very reason.
Malice was the first conference I ever went to, and that’s where I met fellow Miss Demeanor, Michele, so I always have a warm feeling about it. Same with Crime Bake. I also go to the NY Pitch Conference, which is not actually a mystery conference, though there are editors there looking for mysteries. That’s where I sold my first book and I’m on the faculty there, so I have warm feelings for that too.
My first conference was Malice 2015 when I won the William F. Deeck grant along with Cynthia Kuhn. I’d dreamed about going to that conference for years. Some of my fondest memories are from Malice.
I’m going to LCC, Malice, and Bouchercon.
Awesome! See you soon!
I hope to go to Killer Nashville this year although I just received the announcement for another cruise/conference/convention. It’s not mystery, it’s fantasy, and young people, which I definitely am not, but I like it anyway. And I got covid there last year, but luckily it was a mild case.
Thanks a lot for the list. The truth is I’d love to go to every single one!
Candace
Sorry to hear about your COVID. I’d love to go to all of them. They’re one big party!
I’m looking forward to Malice and seeing a bunch of friends there!
Also heading to the Suffolk Mystery Authors Festival in March, always a fun day, and one I can drive to. I have two online conferences, one in June in NY and one in the UK in Feb.
I’m on the fence about others later in the year as Doc and I are still tossing around a trip to the UK, which affects things. I wish I could afford the expense and time to go to them all!
Sorry to hear about your COVID. I’d love to go to all of them. They’re one big party!
Give us a report on Suffolk! I’d love to hear what happens there.
Does anyone know of any cozy mystery events near Arkansas , Oklahoma or Texas?