Women Writing Mystery, a panel discussion featuring local women mystery authors will be held on Tuesday, March 30, from 2 to 3:30 p.m. hosted by UA library special collections, in recognition of Women’s “Herstory” Month (March). The UA Main library is at 1510 E. University Blvd., west of Cherry Avenue.

Featured authors are: Rebecca Cramer, Susan Cummins Miller, Margaret Falk (aka J. Carson Black) and Elizabeth Gunn.

This program will “highlight the valuable contributions women mystery authors have made to literature through their portrayal of strong female protagonists and their insights into contemporary society.”

I heard Susan Cummins Miller and Elizabeth Gunn speak on a mystery writers’ panel at the 2nd Annual Tucson Festival of Books on March 14. Susan and I reconnected after several years, as our sons went to middle school together.

Special Collections houses the Women Mystery Writers’ Collection, which has an emphasis on Southwestern women mystery authors, including papers and manuscripts of best-selling author J. A. Jance of Tucson.

For more information contact Associate librarian Veronica Reyes-Escudero at 520-307-2774, reyesv@u.library.arizona.edu, website: www.library.arizona.edu/speccoll.

For Women’s “Herstory” Month of March, I’ve blogged about a women’s self portraits art talk, a domestic violence center (Hands of a Friend) in Green Valley, an Every Woman event at Old Town Artisans, women politicians, and now about women mystery authors.

It’s been a great month for community events about women!

Celebrate Women’s Herstory Month during the month of March!

Here’s a Food for Thought lecture at the Joel D. Valdez Main Library:
“Seeing Themselves: Women’s Self Portraits” presented by Tucson Museum of Art docent Vida Thomas.

“Learn more about the skills and lives of women artists from the Middle Ages to the present. Vida Thomas has been a docent at the Tucson Museum of Art for 25 years.”

Thursday March 11, 2010, 12 noon to 1 p.m.

Frida Kahlo self-portrait, 1940

I recently created a collage self-portrait for a Drawing Studio art class. It was illuminating as to how a self portrait can tell a woman’s story about how she views herself. This will be a very interesting talk for adults and teens.

The Joel D. Valdez Main library is at 101 N. Stone, between Alameda and Pennington Streets, downtown. Phone: 520-791-4010.

For those attending the program in the lower level meeting room, a two-hour free parking validation is available for the garage directly below the library. Otherwise bike or walk over, or take the Sun Tran bus. All are invited to bring their lunches for these free programs.

For future Food for Thought lectures, click here.

And Happy International Women’s Day (March 8th) as well.