AWARD-winning author Laura Wilson is the programming chair of this year’s Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival. Here, she introduces us to the event.
NOW in its seventh year, the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival is the largest of its kind in the world, and it brings the very best crime writers from around the world right here to the splendid Crown Hotel at Harrogate.
This summer’s event has a marvellous line-up of special guests including Mark Billingham, Lee Child, Reginald Hill, George Pelecanos and David Simon, creator of the acclaimed TV series The Wire. We also have Benjamin Black, who has moved from a Booker-prize winning literary career (as John Banville) to the dark side…
There are plenty of panels, too, with impassioned discussions on topics ranging from Edgar Allan Poe and the use of music in crime novels to crime fiction adapted for the screen (chaired by Barry Norman) and why troubled masculinity is such a popular staple of the genre.
Our stellar line-up of featured authors, including MC Beaton, Gyles Brandreth, Christopher Brookmyre, Jasper Fforde, John Harvey, Peter James, Simon Kernick, Stuart MacBride, Val McDermid, are guaranteed to surprise, delight and entertain.
There’s a chance to find out how to pen your own novel on Creative Thursday (July 23), with a unique opportunity to enter ‘The Dragons’ Pen’ and pitch your masterpiece to four of the most influential and respected names in publishing – two agents and two commissioning editors. Thanks to the invaluable support of Leeds Metropolitan University, we also offer a school workshop programme, Kids, Spies and Private Eyes, with a chance for young people to investigate a crime scene, interpret clues and solve a mystery.
So, whether you are young or not so young, and whether you like your crime fiction hardcore or soft boiled, there’s something for everyone, as well as fantastically convivial company and plenty of good, clean (or, if you prefer it, down and dirty) fun. As well as our wide variety of panels – thought-provoking, exciting, and sometimes controversial – there’s a great party atmosphere.
I very much hope that you’ll come and give it a go, whether it is for a single event or the whole weekend, and I look forward to seeing you there.
