Tag: Harrogate

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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Swag from Harrogate TOP Crime Writing Festival

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Harrogate swag

Harrogate swag

 

 

Okay, so last weekend I went to the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival in Harrogate.

It was a fabulous event, and I’ll be telling you more in my blog post tomorrow, but for today I thought I’d post a photo of all the fabulous goodies I got at the event – a whole bunch of brilliant books (many of which I managed to have signed), an awesome festival goodie bag, and an amazing ‘Reacher said Nothing’ t-shirt.

Tomorrow I’ll tell you all about the event …

 

Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award – longlist announced

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Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year logo

Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year logo

The Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award celebrates the very best in crime writing. Run in partnership between Harrogate International Festivals and WHSmith, the award is open to British and Irish authors. The 2013 award is open to novels which have been published in paperback between 1 May 2012 – 30 April 2013.

And the 2013 long-list is …

  • The Guilty One – Lisa Ballantyne (Piatkus)
  • Finders Keepers – Belinda Bauer (Transworld)
  • Rush Of Blood – Mark Billingham (Little Brown)
  • Dead Scared – S J Bolton (Corgi, Transworld)
  • The Affair – Lee Child (Transworld)
  • A Foreign Country – Charles Cumming (Harpercollins)
  • Safe House –  Chris Ewan (Faber and Faber)
  • Not Dead Yet – Peter James (Macmillan)
  • Siege – Simon Kernick (Bantam Press)
  • Prague Fatale – Philip Kerr (Quercus)
  • The Rage – Gene Kerrigan (Vintage)
  • Birthdays for the Dead – Stuart MacBride (Harper)
  • The Dark Winter – David Mark (Quercus)
  • The Lewis Man – Peter May (Quercus)
  • Gods And Beasts – Denise Mina (Orion)
  • Stolen Souls – Stuart Neville (Vintage)
  • Sacrilege – S. J. Parris (Harper)
  • A Dark Redemption – Stav Sherez (Faber and Faber)

For the next stage, a shortlist of six will be announced on 1st July 2013.

Then, to decide the winner, a public online vote will open on 4th July 2013 at www.theakstons.co.uk along with the deliberation of an expert judging panel.

The winner will be announced at the 2013 award ceremony on 18th July at the opening night of the fabulous Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival, Harrogate, England.

Many congratulations to all of the long listed authors, and best of luck for the next round.

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Looking forward to summer: Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival

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 With the snow around us, one thing that’s keeping me going is planning how I’ll be spending the summer (hopefully warmer) months.

Something I’m really looking forward to is the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival, Harrogate. This festival of all things crime fiction is my idea of a perfect weekend getaway. So from 18 – 21 July 2013 I’ll be staking out the festival hotel and making optimum use of my weekend rover ticket.

It promises to be a fabulous weekend with special guests including Lee Child, Kate Atkinson, Charlaine Harris, Susan Hill, Ruth Rendell interviewed by Jeanette Winterson and Programming Chair, Val McDermid.

Weekend Break packages can be booked now, and individual event tickets go on sale in the Spring when the full programme is announced.

If you’re a fan of the genre, avid reader and/or budding writer, the festival website is well worth checking out http://harrogateinternationalfestivals.com/crime/ 

I’m really looking forward to it.

Perhaps I’ll see you there?