Just when you thought it was safe to switch off your TV set and go out and engage in social interaction with other humans, well… it isn’t. Aside from all the amazing stuff that’s on at the moment – Spiral, Craith, Kiri et al – two new Swedish series start up this week. I think…
Category: Festivals
The Killing Times Dispatches: Twin Peaks UK Festival
Twin Peaks: The Return has been one of the television events of the year, no question. Its dizzying, surreal, visceral, infuriating, terrifying, stunning brilliance not only confirmed that David Lynch is still one of the most creative and notable auteurs of both the 20th and 21st centuries but also… there’s still nothing out there like…
Harrogate Dispatches #4: Julia Crouch and Endearing Monsters
I know I’m doing this all out of whack, but yesterday I managed to sneak into a panel with a seriously fantastic panel – not only was the brilliant Julia Crouch (she could be my favourite moderator) holding things down (and telling us about her strange fascination with ‘squeezing spot porn’) but there was also…
Harrogate Dispatches #3: New Blood Panel With Val McDermid
I say it every year, but the New Blood panel, hosted by Val McDermid, is one of the highlights of the festival. Why? Well, as a fan of crime fiction it’s always interesting to hear panellists talk about their work – and not least debut writers – who present a raw, often unvarnished and unrehearsed…
Harrogate Dispatches #2: Ian Rankin
Chair Elly Griffiths and the Harrogate team really have put together a terrific line-up for this year’s Theakstons Old Peculiar Crime Writing Festival, and the fun continued this morning when one of the UK best-loved and best-selling crime writers, Ian Rankin, took to the stage of the Royal Hall concert hall here in Harrogate.
Harrogate Dispatches #1: Lee Child
And so it begins. After an opening ceremony/party where Lee Child was awarded the Oustanding Contribution To Crime Fiction award (and Chris Brookmyre win the Crime Novel Of The Year award for Black Widow), the 15th Theakston’s Old Peculiar Crime Writing Festival snapped into gear. Elly Griffiths is this year’s chair, and she and the…
Val McDermid announces New Blood panel for this years Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Writing festival
Regular readers will know that I like to get out and about and go to a few crime literature festivals across the year, and then report back here on some of the panels and some of the words spoken within them. Arguably the biggest is the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival in Harrogate, held at…
Krimfestivalen Dispatches #6: Juan Pablo Escobar
Three words I never thought I’d be typing on this blog: Juan Pablo Escobar. In among all the crime fiction authors here in Oslo for Krimfestivalen, there has been one exception to the rule: the son of one of the most notorious criminals the world has ever seen. Juan Pablo is here in Norway to…
Krimfestivalen Dispatches #5: Peter Swanson
I got my first taste of US author Peter Swanson, who appeared on a panel alongside fellow American John Hart, yesterday. I was then talking to Abby Endler – who runs the excellent Crime By The Book blog and Instagram account (go here to have a look) – who raved to me about him, saying that he was…
Krimfestivalen Dispatches #4: Joseph Knox
Day two of the Krimfestivalen in Oslo saw more English-language panels, which was obviously good for me. Hidden away in a breathless schedule was the appearance of rising star of British crime fiction Joseph Knox, whose debut novel, Sirens, has won heaps of critical acclaim. I was excited so to see Joseph talk, appearing as…
Krimfestivalen Dispatches #3: Árni Þórarinsson, Yrsa Sigurðardóttir
There was another English-language panel here at Krimfestivalen, but the subject was Icelandic crime fiction – that ever-growing outpost of Nordic Noir that has really begun to come into its own recently, thanks to an increase of translated fiction that has made it to our shores (and I’m talking about the UK here), and TV…
Krimfestivalen Dispatches #1: Margie Orford, Peter Swanson, John Hart
So I’ve made it to Norway for another crime literature festival. Another three-day affair in the warm confines of the Cappellen Damm publishing house, there’s panel after panel featuring Norwegian writers, and writers from other countries, too. A lot of the panels are spoken in Norwegian (it is Oslo, after all) but one that I…
