The Michigan True Crime Symposium was held on April 6th, 2024 at Art 634 in Jackson, Michigan. It was an event that I organized in coordination with the venue. Originally, I was looking for a place to do a book signing event, and with a little creative discussion with the one of the directors at Art 634, I came up with the idea of inviting other authors I knew to join me. I have been hosting the podcast ‘Tales of Southwest Michigan’s Past’ for 3 years, and in that time I have interviewed several authors on the program.
Among that list of guests were several True Crime Authors. Thus I decided to hold an event just for that genre to go along with my new book, Victorian Southwest Michigan True Crime. I came up with the idea to call the event the ‘Michigan True Crime Symposium’ and the event soon took on a life of its own.
I sent word out to all the true crime authors I had on my list, and four others were able to work the date into their schedule. Among those that joined me at the event in Jackson were Judy Gail Krasnow, Tom Carr, Tobin Buhk and Greg Stejskal. All have written true crime books on Michigan history, and together we formed the group of authors who presented at this event.
The event was two hours long, with the first hour being short presentations on true crime stories from our books, and the second hour was a social gathering with book sales and signing. The event was promoted primarily on social media, and ultimately about 40 people attended. The feedback was tremendous from the public, and all of the authors, including myself, considered the event a great success.
I am now in the process of organizing two more Michigan Author Symposiums for 2024, so look forward to news on that soon. I am also working with Art 634 to host the Michigan True Crime Symposium again in 2025. I will make the announcement on that later this year.
