The End of an Era

At its general meeting on Thursday, September 8, the members of Mystery Writers Ink Society voted to dissolve the Society, as we do not have enough volunteers for a new board.

The bylaws call for the distribution of net assets, after obligations are met, to other groups in Alberta with similar objectives.

Members decided to divide the net assets between the Alexandra Writers Centre Society and the When Words Collide Writers Conference.

The Alexandra Writers Centre offers courses and other resources on writing, including courses on writing mystery fiction. Several writers who are, or have been, members of Mystery Writers Ink have taught courses at AWCS.

We will offer the Ink library to the Alexandra Writers Centre Society.

The first annual When Words Collide conference was held in Calgary in August, 2011. Mystery Writers Ink sponsored the panel “Dead Men Do Talk” with Ink board member Ann Cooney and Det. Dave Sweet of the Homicide Unit, Calgary Police Service. This event was an outstanding success, with an SRO crowd. WWC has already invited Det. Sweet back for the 2012 conference. In addition, mystery writer Anthony Bidulka will be a featured speaker at WWC 2012.

As your outgoing board, we encourage all members of Mystery Writers Ink to consider taking advantage of the opportunities offered by the Alexandra Writers Centre and When Words Collide.

We want to thank all of our members over the years who have contributed to Mystery Writers Ink in every volunteer capacity.

Thanks to everyone who has come to speak to our group, sharing professional expertise and insights that have supported us as crime writers in creating our best work.

Thanks to the authors on the Mystery Writers Ink panel at Bloody Words in Victoria in June 2011: Susan Calder, Joan Donaldson-Yarmey, Garry Ryan,  Sharon Wildwind, and moderator Anthony Bidulka,

Thanks to Owl’s Nest Books for providing the venue for our meetings for the last few years. Owl’s Nest offered a warm, friendly, and bookish environment for our meetings.

It has been an honour to serve on the Board and to work and meet so many interesting writers and resource people. We look forward to seeing you at writing workshops and conferences.

Anne Jayne, Jayne Barnard, Ann Cooney
Board of Directors