The highs, lows, and institutional racism at Bouchercon

In which someone tried to 'all lives matter' the convention...

Another Bouchercon is in the books! As per usual I ate too much food, drank too much whiskey, didn’t see enough of the host city (Nashville this year), and I came away with a lot of big feelings, many of which I will express here!

(For those of you unfamiliar, Bouchercon is an annual convention for crime/mystery/thriller writers and readers…)

I’m going to start with the good stuff:

It was, as usual, lovely to see my convention friends—some of whom I only see once or twice a year, but I still feel strongly connected to; bonded over this ridiculous profession.

The Anthony Award ceremony was a blast. It was great to see pals like Jordan Harper and Ed Aymar get nominated, and then watch other pals like Holly West and Tracy Clark and Nina Simon win. I’m especially proud of guys like Bobby Matthews and James DF Hannah and Curtis Ippolito racking up nominations: they’re the next generation.

Most of all it was a pleasure to see Shawn Cosby win Best Novel for All The Sinners Bleed, and despite his continued meteoric rise, remains the humblest and kindness dude in the business. I’m proud of call him a friend.

The less good stuff:

Despite submitting my headshot and bio, I was not in the program. And my books were not available for sale in the book room. Which sucks for me, sure, but I wasn’t the only one affected.

A number of authors were left out of the program, and almost none of us had books available, because apparently, the bookseller Bouchercon partnered with wasn’t up to the task, nor was Level Best Books, which stepped in at the last minute to take over.

Bouchercon is supposed to be a convention for readers, but it wouldn’t exist without the authors, who are investing their time and money to make this party happen. Unless you’re local to the host city, between hotel, airfare, entry, meals, etc… you’re at least a grand in the hole, at least.

No one really seems to know where the breakdown occurred (it was the subject of a lot of discussion), but authors deserve the bare minimum of being listed in the program and having their books available for sale.

Yes I understand running Bouchercon is a thankless gig, and yes I understand a lot of things went wrong at the last minute—but this could have been handled better.

For example, as soon as Level Best got a whiff that things might not be going to plan, authors should have been notified; we could have brought our own books, either to sell or give away. I was lucky, at least, that my publisher sent some free books out, so there were a few copies of Assassins Anonymous floating around.

A lot of authors didn’t even have that.

Now, on to the bigger issue:

Bouchercon, like many conventions—and like pretty much all of publishing—has historically not been very friendly to writers of color, LGBT authors, etc.

Progress is happening. Slower than it should, but it’s happening. And I think the Anthony Awards themselves were a great example of that: watching Rachel Howzell Hall handing awards to Tracy Clark and Shawn Cosby was beautiful—and no doubt pissed off some of the older guard in the audience.

A few years ago, Bouchercon amended their code of conduct to be more inclusive. This is how it currently reads:

Bouchercon, Inc. is a national organization which for over fifty years has organized and conducted Bouchercon®, an international event bringing together all aspects of the mystery and crime fiction community. We welcome people from all backgrounds, regardless of religion, race, ethnicity, age, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, disability, national origin, citizenship, marital status, family/parental status, military/veterans status, political beliefs and/or medical condition.

But shortly before the general meeting of the Bouchercon board, where basic housekeeping stuff happens (voting on future host cities, etc.), we were informed that a last-minute motion was being made to strip out the bolded language.

The man making the amendment gave a mealy-mouthed explanation that it was too wordy and it should just say that “everyone” is welcome.

Effectively, he wanted to “all lives matter” the organization.

First off, the whole “all lives matter” thing is just the dumbest bullshit ever. It’s like going into a neighborhood where a house is on fire and spraying down the houses that aren’t on fire first, because all houses matter. Protecting the houses that aren’t on fire is not as important as putting out the one that is on fire.

Again, a great many spaces have been very unfriendly to a great many people for a very long time—and it is paramount, in a fair and just society, that we take the steps necessary to ensure those spaces are clearly designated as safe and welcoming. I say again, clearly. Righting historic wrongs needs to be done with your whole damn chest.

Bouchercon can grow or Bouchercon can die. If it kowtows to people whose delicate feelings are ruffled by a few additional words in a code of conduct statement, it will die. I won’t attend any convention where my friends are made to feel like they aren’t safe and welcome. I know plenty of other people who feel the same.

To the board’s credit, they did not vote on the motion, because it was submitted at the last minute, and they didn’t seem to be taking it seriously.

To humanity’s credit, after Kellye Garrett rallied us in the book room, a number of author pals marched straight to the meeting in case we needed to make a public comment (or, as I offered, to flip a table).

I’m glad to see it doesn’t have any kind of actual momentum, but it’s shameful and disappointing to see someone—especially someone linked to the organization itself—bring this up as an issue.

Yes, everyone should be welcome.

Except for one kind of person: the kind of person who thinks the continued growth and progress of the crime fiction community is a bad thing, and feels compelled to bar people from entry because it scares them or makes them uncomfortable.

Those kinds of people can fuck all the way off.