Category: Events

CTG Reports: Bloody Scotland Crime Writing Festival Day 1

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wine and ticket

wine and ticket

Stirling in Scotland is a pretty long way from where I live, but this fabulous new crime writing festival was well worth taking the seven hour train journey from my home to the Stirling Highland Hotel and immersing myself in the activities of Bloody Scotland 2013 for a few days. This was the second year of this new but fabulously organised crime writing festival, and my first visit to both it and Stirling.

And what a treat I was in for.

The festival began on Friday 13th September with three wonderful sessions held in the magnificent Albert Halls. Firstly, Quintin Jardine opened the festival sharing tales from the dark side with festival co-founders Lin Anderson and Alex Gray.

The second event followed, with Val McDermid, interviewed by Christine Hamilton, in a session entitled ‘Can You Sleep at Night?’ and sponsored by The Open University in Scotland. During the interview Val McDermid shared how she still feels ambitious, that she still strives to write better books, and she enjoys reading books that make her think about her craft, mentioning Margaret Atwood and Kate Atkinson as two of those writers that she enjoys to read.

Mark Billingham and Chris Brookmyre closed the evening’s events with the most hilarious, sweary and laugh-till-you-cry session. Through their quick-paced banter and sparky anecdotes they gave the audience a glimpse into the world of a crime writer – their working habits, their (other) festival horror stories and the interesting reader emails they get, from the complements and the complaints through to the downright scary! The memory of Mark Billingham reading from his novel as Chris Brookmyre performed modern dance across the stage behind him will stay with me for a long time to come!

Then it was back up the hill to the gorgeous Stirling Highland Hotel, to catch up with friends in the bar and plan which sessions to attend the next day …

 

[hop on over to www.bloodyscotland.com to check out the early bird offers for Bloody Scotland 2014]

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Jo Nesbo touring the UK and Ireland: starts next week

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Jo Nesbo poster

Jo Nesbo poster

If you’re a fan of Norwegian crime writer Jo Nesbo it’s time to get very excited. He’ll be landing in the UK next week for the start of his first nationwide tour of the UK and Ireland.

The tour celebrates the publication of his new Harry Hole thriller – Police – which will be published by Harvill Secker on 12th September [watch this space for a review coming soon!].

Jo Nesbo will be appearing at events and signings in London, Manchester, Glasgow, Stirling, Belfast and Dublin from 12th to 16th September including the Coronet Cinema, Notting Hill, with Waterstones Piccadilly; headline events for both Bloody Scotland! Crime Writing Festival and the Manchester Literature Festival; No Alibis bookshop in Belfast; and The Pavillion Theatre in Dun Laoghaire for Eason.  There are also three lunchtime signing sessions with Waterstones in London.

On the 14th he’s also doing the country’s first ‘high-speed book signing’ on-board a Virgin Train with WH Smith, and signings  in support of the Books Are My Bag campaign.

If you’re in London, Manchester, Glasgow or Dublin watch out for the fly posters going up to promote the tour.

I’m heading off to the Bloody Scotland Crime Writing Festival next week and I’ll be sure to look out for the posters and the man himself!

To find out more about the tour hop across to www.jonesbo.co.uk for all the details.

Events Alert: So You Wanna Be A Crime Writer?

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Crime Author, Nick Quantrill

Crime Author, Nick Quantrill

As part of the Heads Up Festival in Hull, on Saturday 28th September crime author Nick Quantrill, published by Caffeine Nights and the creator of the Joe Geraghty series, will be joined by fellow crime writers David Mark and Nick Triplow to investigate what it takes to be a crime writer, in the session ‘So You Wanna Be A Crime Writer?’

It promises to be a lively event, with a combination of readings, conversation, panel debate and audience interaction. And what’s more, it’s FREE!

To find out more, pop over to the the festival website at http://ensemble52.com/news/show/61 

Event Alert: The Bookmarks Festival, Helmdon, on Sunday 25th August

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Crime Writer Adrian Magson who is speaking at the Festival

Crime Writer Adrian Magson who is speaking at the Festival

 

The Bookmarks Festival, a not-for-profit event held in the Northamptonshire village of Helmdon near Towcester, runs this year on Sunday 25th August.

The main feature of the afternoon will be readings from three fabulous authors: Adrian Magson, Alison McQueen, and Garry O’Connor. Not only will each author being doing a reading from their own work, they’ll also be taking part in a Q&A panel and signing copies of their books.

It sounds like a great event and what’s more it’s FREE!

There’ll also be books to buy, literary related stalls, competitions and refreshments.

So hop over to the festival’s website to find out more about what’s going on and the authors themselves at http://www.bookmarksfestival.co.uk

 

Notes from Harrogate: Part 2

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Lee Child interviewed by Sarah Millican

Lee Child interviewed by Sarah Millican

Saturday at Harrogate was again gorgeously sunny. After a fabulous breakfast, I went along (with minimal hangover) to Forensics: Val McDermid in conversation with Sue Black. It was a great session, and especially useful for any budding crime writers. Sue Black demystified the world of forensics with a special focus on identity including DNA sampling and facial reconstruction.

After a quick coffee (my fifth of the day) I went back into the hall for the New Book panel. Expertly chaired by Val McDermid, debut authors Derek B. Miller (Norwegian by Night), Anya Lipska (Where The Devil Can’t Go), Malcolm Mackay (The Necessary Death of Lewis Winter) and Colette McBeth (Precious Thing), discussed their novels, their journey to publication, and what was next for them. From this panel I heard one of my favourite quotes of the festival. It was from Derek B. Miller, who said, “crime writers don’t love crime, they love justice.” Brilliant.

After a quick lunch (sandwiches and crisps on the lawn – no alcohol) I headed to the Library for the C&R Crime party (and a glass of wine!). It was great to catch up with the team from C&R Crime, hear about all the exciting releases they’ve got coming up, and talk to their authors.

By this point it was almost five o’clock, and that meant it was time to get my seat for the Lee Child interview. The hall was packed to bursting, but with my trusty Festival Friend card (which gave the equivalent of ‘speedy boarding’ into the hall) I was able to get a seat three rows from the front. Comedienne Sarah Millican did a superb job with the interview – it was witty, insightful and all round entertaining. The hour-long session went past far too fast, but I was thrilled that I managed to meet Lee Child afterwards (he is my literary hero) and get a photo with him. I was grinning for the rest of the evening.

Anyway, from there it was a mad dash to the License to Thrill dinner. Author David Mark had written a bond themed murder mystery puzzle for the tables to solve during dinner. It was great fun and although the table I was on didn’t win, we had a lot of fun trying.

After a brief rest in the bar (!) it was on to the Late Night Quiz with quizmasters Mark Billingham and Val McDermid. Although the rules clearly stated teams should have six members, we flexed the rules a little and went with seven. It didn’t matter, we reasoned, we were going to lose anyway. But, with plenty of wine (plus the Theakstons beers that we ‘had to’ drink as part of the Name That Beer Round) we discovered that we were not quite as rubbish at the questions as we had thought that we would be. We didn’t win a prize, but we weren’t too far off. So to celebrate we returned to the bar until the early hours.

And then it was Sunday. After a ridiculously late night/early morning I needed a bit of a lie in, so I only made it to one session. But what a great one it was. Charlaine Harris, author of the Sookie Stackhouse series (which became HBO’s True Blood) and a whole bunch of stand-alone novels and other mystery series’, was interviewed by Paul Blezard. An inspiring and highly entertaining hour.

And then it was over.

As I packed up my bags, loaded the car, and said goodbye to all the fabulous people I’d met over the weekend I knew one thing for sure. I’ll definitely be back next year.

Notes from Harrogate: Part 1

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Social Media: Who Are You? panel

Social Media: Who Are You? panel

This was my first time at the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival, Harrogate, and to say I was excited doesn’t cover the half of it. I arrived on Thursday evening and had already spotted half a dozen crime writers chilling outside on the lawn before I parked the car.

Anyway, the evening kicked off with the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award presentation, won this year by Denise Mina (who also won the accolade in 2012) for her wonderful novel Gods and Beasts. After the awards ceremony had finished the Festival Opening Party got everyone into the party mood, which continued well into the early hours back in the bar.

I woke on Friday to glorious sunshine and a (mild) hangover. The first panel I attended was ‘Dead In Deutschland’. Barry Forshaw expertly chaired the session with Jan Costin Wagner, Sebastian Fitzek, Nele Neuhaus, and Dane Jussi Adler-Olsen talking about German crime novels or ‘Krimis’. After that, as I felt like I was melting in the heat, I headed outside to the lawn (and the shade of the trees) to cool down before the ‘Social Media: Who are You?’ panel. Mark Billingham chaired with Ruth Dudley-Edwards, Erin Kelly, Steve Mosby and Sarah Pinborough discussing the merits and pitfalls of authors using social media. This was by far the most fabulously sweary and high-spirited session that I attended. I admired the panel’s honesty about the good (and the bad) that they’d experienced through interactions online, and their ability to keep their cool when a member of the audience started firing questions at them. In essence, the panel concluded that social media can be a good thing – letting readers and writers connect in a way that wasn’t possible ten years ago – just so long as it’s used in a respectful and decent way. I immediately wanted to follow each of the panellists on Twitter, and so I did!

'Live' storytelling at the Random House - Dead Good Books party

‘Live’ storytelling at the Random House – Dead Good Books party

After more time chatting on the lawn, I attended the Random House – Dead Good Books party in the fabulous PapaKata Tent. Here I broke my promise to myself of not drinking, and started on the wine. It was great to meet up with lots of fantastic writers and bloggers and I even had my photo taken in the ‘crime scene’ area of the tent – lying ‘dead’ on the carpet with a blood stain by my head! A highlight of the event was a story being written ‘live’ by the Random House authors – with Lee Child starting it off with the first couple of sentences (see photo).

After the party I had meant to head out into Harrogate for dinner, however the bar proved too much of a distraction and I found myself chatting with a bunch of fabulous people until the early hours. I’ll say one thing about crime writers – they certainly know how to party!

The festival was halfway through, and as I went to bed that night I resolved that on Saturday I would attend more panels …

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CWA announces first 2013 Dagger Winners

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At the Crime Writers’ Association Dinner held at Kings Place, London, last night the CWA announced the first batch of winners for the 2013 Dagger Awards and the longlists for the remaining three Daggers.

Awarded last night were:

The CWA International Dagger: which went to two French writers – Fred Vargas and Pierre Lemaitre.

The CWA Ellis Peters Historical Dagger: awarded to Andrew Taylor for an unprecedented third time.

The 2013 CWA Non-fiction Dagger: to Paul French for Midnight in Peking.

The Dagger in the Library: awarded to Belinda Bauer.

The Short Story Dagger: won by Stella Duffy.

The Debut Dagger, for previously unpublished crime writers, won by Finn Clarke.

And the CWA Diamond Dagger: presented to Lee Child by last year’s winner, Frederick Forsyth.

 

The longlists for the CWA Gold, Steel and John Creasey Daggers were announced last night, and the winners will be announced at the Specsavers Crime Thriller Awards in the autumn. To see those nominated pop on over to the CWA website at http://www.thecwa.co.uk/daggers/2013/index.html

 

Congratulations to all the winners and the nominees.

Shortlist Announced for Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year: Vote, vote, vote!

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Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year logo

Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year logo

The shortlist has now been announced for the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award. This is the ninth year of the coveted award that is open to British and Irish authors whose novels were published in paperback over the previous twelve months.

The shortlist is:

 

Rush of Blood by Mark Billingham

Safe House by Chris Ewan

The Lewis Man by Peter May

Gods and Beasts by Denise Mina

Stolen Souls by Stuart Neville

A Dark Redemption by Stav Sherez

 

Huge congratulations to all the shortlisted authors.

Now it’s time for readers to do their part. Voting is open at www.theakstons.co.uk where you can vote for your favorite. The online vote is counted alongside votes from the expert panel. This year the judging panel are Val McDermid (2013 Festival Programming Chair), David Swillman (WHSmith’s Head of Fiction), Simon Theakston (Executive Director of title sponsor T&R Theakston, and Kate Mosse (award-winning author and broadcaster).

The winner will be announced on Thursday 18th July at the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival.

PS. If you’d like to read the shortlisted books, pop into WHSmith between 4th July and 1st August and look out for the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year stickers.

 

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Event Alert: CSI Portsmouth 2013

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English: HMS Warrior One of the many exhibits ...

English: HMS Warrior One of the many exhibits at the historic dockyard. Looking across Portsmouth Harbour to the flats of Gosport. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

CSI Portsmouth is an event for all crime fiction lovers (and fans of CSI shows). It’s organised by author Pauline Rowson with Portsmouth City Council Library Service and Hayling Island Bookshop. This year it takes place on Saturday 2nd November at The National Museum of the Royal Navy in the Historic Dockyard, Portsmouth.

Featuring crime authors along with police and forensic experts on a morning and an afternoon panel, attendees get to hear how writers go about writing their crime novels and police/forensic experts do their jobs. There’ll be the chance to ask the panel questions, and a book signing.

In addition, the Crime Readers Association is running at competition to win two tickets to the CSI Portsmouth 2013 event. All you need to do is answer a question (there’s even a helpful hint on their webpage) and you’re in with a chance, but hurry – entries close on the 14th July.

To find out more about the Crime Readers Association competition and how to enter, pop over to their website at http://www.thecra.co.uk/giveaway-csi-portsmouth/

And, to get all the details on CSI Portsmouth, and to register for their newsletter, jump this link to their website http://www.rowmark.co.uk/csi-portsmouth/

CRIMEFEST is here!

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CRIMEFEST logo

CRIMEFEST logo

Hurray, today is the start of CrimeFest – a wonderful crime writing convention held in Bristol, England.

I’m heading there today and will be soon be enjoying the great panels, interviews, and other writerly goings on from Thursday to Sunday this week.

If you spot me be sure to come and say hi.

Oh and watch this space for updates …

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