Stirling will be knee-deep in gore this September for Bloody Scotland – now in its fourth year, and fast becoming a major fixture in the league table of international crime writing festivals. It certainly has a setting to rival any of them: famous for its medieval castle squatting atop a hunk of volcanic rock, and its forbidding nineteenth century town jail, Stirling is an atmospheric spot.
This year’s line-up is spearheaded by Scottish crime fiction luminaries, including Val McDermid who’ll be talking forensics in the wake of her fascinating book on the subject, and Ian Rankin who’s sharing a stage with Philip Kerr – a double thrill for me as Rebus and Bernie Gunther are probably my two top crime fiction heroes.
Among the big international visitors are Martina Cole, queen of gangland crime (fiction…), and the mega bestselling Linwood Barclay – flying in from Canada for his first visit to Scotland – who are promising sneak previews of new books. Also on stage will be the latest stars of Nordic Noir, a poisoning expert, a bunch of upcoming Scottish talent, and a few non-Scots (like me) tiptoeing over Hadrian’s Wall to get in on the act.
Other treats include a Crime Writing Master Class led by Denise Mina, no less, and ‘Deadlier then the Male?’ which promises to be a fascinating discussion by writers from the Killer Women collective on the portrayal of women in crime fiction. But the event that tops my unmissable list has to be the late night pub ‘lock-in’ where crime writers will strut their stuff performing readings, poems and songs til the early hours. That nineteenth century jail might just come in handy…
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| Author image: Martyna Przybysz |
A Devil Under the Skin, Anya’s third book in her series featuring Polish private eye Janusz Kiszka and Met detective Natalie Kershaw has just been published.
The following authors who participated in the BritCrime Festival will be appearing at Bloody Scotland in September:
Mason Cross ♠ Julia Crouch ♠ Eva Dolan ♠ Helen Giltrow ♠ MJ McGrath ♠ Michael J Malone ♠ Craig Robertson ♠ Alexandra Sokoloff
I'm just praying I get to see Rankin and Kerr - two of my favourites too! I'll look out for you too Anya!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Crimeworm. The line-up looks great, doesn't it!
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