Crime and Thriller and Other Interesting Events at the Hay Festival 2013

Crime and thriller events for Hay 2013 have a focus on the world of espionage plus there’s the return of favourite McCall Smith for another likely ‘giggle fest’.  Other events of interest:

• Rick Gekoski on books (always entertaining and informative)
• keeping up with the times we have a call on ‘social entrepreneurs’
• extending its reach further, Hay delivers a ‘Writing for Radio Masterclass’ from Sue Roberts
• a provocatively titled ‘The Necessity Of Poverty’ with John Bird, founder of The Big Issue
• in the year after E L James re-coloured it, four ladies – excluding James – in The Good Housekeeping Debate discuss ‘Is erotica changing the literary landscape?’

Click here for booking the programme and here for the programme in quick view.  Further detail (from the programme) of some events follows below.

Kate Manning and Kate Summerscale talk to Sarah Crompton
Notorious
Event 132 • Monday 27 May 2013, 10am • Venue: Llwyfan Cymru – Wales Stage
In Manning’s My Notorious Life By Madam X the headstrong daughter of Irish immigrants, forced to beg for pennies as a child on the brutal streets of New York City, grows up to become the most successful – and controversial – midwife of her time. The story chimes perfectly with Kate Summerscale’s tale of Victorian scandal and divorce Mrs Robinson’s Disgrace.
Price: £5.00
Stella Rimington talks to Gaby Wood
Fictions – Spooks
Event 144 • Monday 27 May 2013, 1pm • Venue: Llwyfan Cymru – Wales Stage
The former MI5 chief discusses The Geneva Trap, the latest of her Liz Carlyle spy novels, and the fictions and facts of espionage.
Price: £6.50
Andy McNab talks to Paul Blezard
Bravo Two Zero At Twenty
Event 184 • Tuesday 28 May 2013, 11.30am • Venue: Barclays Pavilion
On the 20th anniversary of publication of his iconic tale of disaster and endurance in the first Iraq War, the Special Forces veteran revisits the story with new material.
Price: £7.00
Maggie O’Farrell and Rupert Thomson talk to Stephanie Merritt
Fictions – Secrets And Lies
Event 224 • Wednesday 29 May 2013, 10am • Venue: Digital Stage
The stunning new book from Costa Novel Award-winning novelist O’Farrell Instructions For A Heatwave is a mystery portrait of an Irish family in crisis in the legendary heatwave of 1976. Thomson’s Secrecy is set in Florence in 1691. It is a love story, a murder mystery, a portrait of a famous city in an age of austerity, an exercise in concealment and revelation, but above all it is a trapdoor narrative, one story dropping unexpectedly into another.
Price: £5.50
Roger Hermiston and Sinclair McKay talk to Chris Morgan Jones
Secrets And Lies
Event 310 • Friday 31 May 2013, 10am • Venue: Google’s Big Tent
We kick off this day devoted to espionage with two revealed stories that changed the course of the C20th – The Greatest Traitor: The Secret Lives Of Agent George Blake and The Secret Listeners: How The Y Service Intercepted The German Codes For Bletchley Park.
Price: £7.00
Chris Morgan Jones talks to Marcel Berlins
Fictions – Spying And Thrilling
Event 321 • Friday 31 May 2013, 1pm • Venue: Digital Stage
The new thriller writer tipped as one of le Carré’s heirs discusses his Iranian industrial espionage story The Jackal’s Share.
Price: £6.00
John le Carré
Event 324 • Friday 31 May 2013, 2.30pm • Venue: Barclays Pavilion
In an unprecedented double-length interview, the creator of George Smiley and author of spy masterpieces such as The Constant Gardener, The Honourable Schoolboy, The Russia House and The Tailor of Panama makes his first visit to the festival and talks about his work to Philippe Sands. His new novel A Delicate Truth is launched on 25 April.
Sold Out
Alexander McCall Smith talks to Paul Blezard
Happy Birthday Precious Ramotswe
Event 334 • Friday 31 May 2013, 5.30pm • Venue: Llwyfan Cymru – Wales Stage
Please join us to celebrate fifteen years of The No.1 Ladies’ Detective Agency and catch up with favourite characters from Botswana, Scotland and beyond.
Price: £9.00
Irvine Welsh talks to Stephanie Merritt
Trainspotting at 20
Event 399 • Saturday 1 June 2013, 8.30pm • Venue: Barclays Pavilion
The Scottish novelist celebrates the 20th anniversary of his iconic book, and discusses his recently-published prequel Skagboys.
Price: £10.00
William McIlvanney talks to Irvine Welsh
Tartan Noir
Event 422 • Sunday 2 June 2013, 1pm • Venue: Digital Stage
An interview with the razor king of Scottish crime fiction as his modern classic Laidlaw books are republished by Canongate.
Price: £6.00
Other Events of Interest:
Rick Gekoski
Lost, Stolen or Shredded: Stories Of Missing Works Of Art And Literature
Event 204 • Tuesday 28 May 2013, 4pm • Venue: Sky Arts Studio
Gekoski tells the very human stories that lie behind some of the greatest losses to artistic culture and explores the greater questions these tremendous losses raise – the rights artists and authors have over their own work, the importance of the search for perfection in creativity, and what motivated people to queue to see the empty space where the Mona Lisa once hung in the Louvre. Chaired by Clemency Burton-Hill.
Price: £5.50
Thomas Keneally talks to Damian Barr
Fictions – The Great War
Event 150 • Monday 27 May 2013, 2.30pm • Venue: Llwyfan Cymru – Wales Stage
The Booker-winner’s The Daughters Of Mars vividly experiences the Dardanelles and the Western Front in the First World War through the eyes of two Australian nurses.
Price: £7.00
James Daunt, Rodric Braithwaite and guests
The Pushkin House Waterstones Russian Book Prize
Event 239 • Wednesday 29 May 2013, 2.30pm • Venue: Sky Arts Studio
The Waterstones chief and the chair of judges host a discussion on writing about Russia with shortlisted authors. The shortlist is announced on 25 April. Fuller details of the line-up for this event will be announced on 1 May.
Price: £5.00
Calling All Social Entrepreneurs
Event 240 • Wednesday 29 May 2013, 2.30pm • Venue: Landmarc 100 Stage
Want some guidance, mentoring or financial support? Whether you are just starting out or needing to grow, drop in to meet the people who can help you out and to network with other like-minded souls.
FREE – DROP IN
Sue Roberts
Writing For Radio Masterclass
Event 246 • Wednesday 29 May 2013, 5.15pm • Venue: The Cube
The BBC Radio Drama Executive leads this workshop seminar in writing for radio. Numbers are limited.
Price: £30.00
Nikki Gemmell, Brooke Magnanti, Jojo Moyes and Linda Kelsey
The Good Housekeeping Debate: Sex Changes Everything
Event 256 • Wednesday 29 May 2013, 7pm • Venue: Sky Arts Studio
Is erotica changing the literary landscape? Gemmell (The Bride Stripped Bare), Magnanti (Belle de Jour series, televised as Secret Diary of a Call Girl) and Moyes (Me Before You) talk to Kelsey, GH contributor and ex-editor of Cosmopolitan. We’ve been going to bed with them for years. Isn’t it time we were seen together in public?
Price: £8.00
John Bird in conversation with Marcel Berlins
The Necessity Of Poverty
Event 411 • Sunday 2 June 2013, 10am • Venue: Landmarc 100 Stage
The founder of The Big Issue mounts a blistering attack on orthodox thinking around the gap between rich and poor, sparing neither himself nor others in identifying what needs to be done to end poverty.
Price: £6.00
Sarah Dunant in conversation with S J Parris
Fictions – Blood And Beauty
Event 420 • Sunday 2 June 2013, 1pm • Venue: Google’s Big Tent
The acclaimed novelist of the Italian Renaissance takes on the era’s most infamous family – the Borgias.
Price: £6.00

Getting back to the point…

Yes, there has been the taking of some time off.  Yes, it was not really planned.  And yes, it was much needed.  Normality finally returns this weekend and the book reviews to be posted up will kick off with Robert Wilson’s fabulous Capital Punishment on Sunday.  Let’s get back to some focus on reading and discussion on it.

And in other news, crimeficreader will be moderating the two Fresh Blood panels for debut authors at CrimeFest at the start of June.  You can see the full weekend programme here and make your booking here.  Will you be an early bird to catch those debut authors on the Saturday and Sunday mornings?  Hope to see you there!

Hay Festival Winter Weekend 2012 Open for Booking

The Hay Festival’s Winter Weekend 2012 is now open for booking and you can find the programme here.  The nearest thing to a crime fiction event comes in the form of a look at the TV series The Killing with Emma Kennedy, author of The Killing Handbook, on Sunday 2 December at 15:30.

Charles Cumming wins inaugural Scottish Crime Book of the Year

The announcement came earlier today in Stirling, Scotland.  More here from The Press Association.  Find out more about the author and his work here.  For information about the first Bloody Scotland festival, visit their home page.  Congratulations to Charles!

Charles Cumming receiving his award at Bloody Scotland.

Bloody Scotland

Last shout out for Bloody Scotland which starts today and runs to Sunday 16 September in Stirling.  Have fun all!  We expect pics.

Crime at the Chiswick Book Festival, 14-16 September

14-16 September sees the return of the Chiswick Book Festival for its fourth year and this year’s programme features a fantastic line up of crime writers who may interest your readers.

On Saturday, 15 September the critically acclaimed crime novelists Sophie Hannah, ‘Kind of Cruel’ (Headline), Michael Marshall, ‘Killer Move’ (Orion), and Stav Sherez, ‘A Dark Redemption’ (Faber,) will debate the thin line that separates good and evil, happiness and misery, luck and fate. All three authors have had books optioned or adapted for the big screen. The debate will be chaired by the Daily Telegraph crime critic Jake Kerridge.  (Saturday, 2.15pm)

Also on Saturday is 20 years of Agatha Raisin - the 20^th Anniversary of the feisty detective Agatha Raisin created by bestselling author M.C. Beaton who has captivated millions of readers worldwide. She will be discussing her writing with acclaimed writer Simon Brett. (Saturday, 3.30pm, St Michael and All Angels Parish Hall upstairs.)

Tickets and more information are available by clicking right here.

Cheltenham Literature Festival 5-14 October 2012 – The Crime and Thriller Angle

Copied from the catalogue for your delectation.  Cheltenham is pleasingly serving the crime and thriller community very well this year.  My comments in italics.  Booking for members went live on 13 August and is open to the public from 20 August.

Writers in Residence:

Thomas Enger and Gunnar Staalesen, two of Scandinavia’s leading crime writers for a taste of Nordic Noir.  (This, my dears, is fabulous news.  The two writers in residence being crime writers!)

Friday 5 October

FAMILY EVENT

Anthony Horowitz

> LB1 >SKY ARTS GARDEN THEATRE > AGE 12+ > 6.30-7.30PM > £7

Saturday 6 October

THE BIG READ

James Bond – Dr No

Natalie Haynes, Charlie Higson, Tom Rob Smith & Andrew Taylor

Ian Fleming’s dark and stylish Dr No grips the reader with a taut, suave and sensual stranglehold. We join Fleming fans Charlie Higson, author of the Young Bond series, the Agent 6 author Tom Rob Smith, high octane crime writer Andrew Taylor and the critic and comedian Natalie Haynes to explore Fleming’s writing and the Bond phenomenon.

> L048 > IMPERIAL SQUARE > 2-3PM > £8

THE BIG READ

James Bond – Dr No

The Big Reading

Join us for these free live readings from Ian Fleming’s gripping and atmospheric thriller Dr No. Each reading is narrated either by our suave hero, James Bond, or the eponymous sinister villain, hell-bent on world domination. Who will you encounter?

> CINEWORLD > SCREENING ROOMS > 3-3.30PM > FREE

Henley Literary Festival 2012 – The Crime and Thriller Angle

This year’s Henley Literary Festival runs from 24 to 30 September.  Here are the events with crime/thriller authors:

Wednesday 26 September

Crime and Wine – Sophie Hannah and Simon Kernick

LICENSED TO THRILL

7pm Bix Manor £8 including glass of Laithwaite’s wine

You’ve read their books, now meet two of the best writers at pulling the nerves taut.

In what should be a fascinating meeting of minds, it’s a chance to learn about the skill of creating tension in words. Sophie’s psychological crime novels feature Simon Waterhouse and Charlie Zailler and her seventh is Kind of Cruel. There is mystery, there is suspense and there is Amber Hewerdine who has lost her best friend in an arson attack and then is arrested for the murder of a woman she has never heard of.

Simon’s latest is bound to be a bestseller. It is another step in a career that has seen him gain a legion of followers around the world. Siege is set in a hotel in London’s Park where a normal afternoon turns into a nightmare when gunmen burst into the Stanhope Hotel begging the question …who will survive? Brace yourself to hear the secrets of suspense from two surprisingly charming writers. Kind of Cruel – Hodder and Stoughton. Siege – Arrow

Friday 28 September

Writing Workshop

2-4pm Town Hall Chamber £7

John Murray, the leading publisher returns with its successful workshop. Three top writers of historical novels share their knowledge and skill. The workshop is led by John Murrary fiction editor Kate Parkin.

Marina Fiorato – Marina Fiorato is half-Venetian. Born in Manchester and raised in the Yorkshire Dales she is a history graduate of Oxford University and the University of Venice. After university she studied art and has since worked as an illustrator, actress and film reviewer. The Venetian Contract – Hodder

Rory Clements – Author Rory Clements has had a long and successful newspaper career including being features editor and associate editor of Today, editor of The Daily Mail`s Good Health pages and, most recently, editor of the health section at The Evening Standard. He is now writing full-time in an idyllic corner of Norfolk.  Traitor – Hodder

Anthony Riches – Following a childhood which featured a deep interest in the military, rooted in his father and grandfather’s service in the two World Wars Anthony took a degree in Military Studies at Manchester University. After years working as a freelance project manager around the world, Anthony’s determination to be a writer bore fruit and he is and has now had the fourth in the Empire series published. The Leopard Sword: Empire IV – Hodder

Saturday 29 September

Gyles Brandreth

WILDE TALES

11.30 am – 1pm Christchurch £14

A man of many talents – best-selling writer, actor, former MP and government whip – Gyles returns to Henley to delight us with his 90 minute one-man show covering all aspects of his life. Currently a reporter on The One Show on BBC1 and a regular on Radio 4’s Just a Minute, you have a chance to see why he is so sought-after. Prepare yourself to be amused and thoroughly entertained by Gyles’ unique brand of humour and observation. The splendid raconteur will also reveal how he turned Oscar Wilde into a detective with his best-selling series of books, the latest of which is set in Reading.  Oscar Wilde and the Murders at Reading Gaol – John Murray

Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival, Harrogate, 2012

From the Yorkshire Post.

Theakstons Crime Writing Festival 2012 – Wanted For Murder: The ebook #TOPcrime2012

Chair: Mark Lawson, BBC Radio 4 Front Row
Panel members: writers Steve Mosby & Stephen Leather; literary agent Philip Patterson; bookseller Patrick Neale; President of The Publishers Association and CEO and Publisher of Little, Brown Book Group Ursula Mackenzie.

During the opening discussions we heard that Steve Mosby sells predominantly in print format and does well on overseas sales.  Phil Patterson noted that ebooks are ‘here’ but he prefers the physical and believes that children need the physical format.  He said that on a physical device the bookshelf becomes almost invisible. Whatever the format, Patterson sees the encouragement of reading as the driving force and believes ‘too many are obsessed with formats’. He reminded the audience that for every book on a device (or on a shelf) there is an author behind it.

Bookseller Patrick Neale stated his belief that we are underselling the value of physical books.  He is looking for ‘beautiful things, beautifully made’ and he reminded the audience that it was not so long ago that the hardback was thought to be a dying breed.  The ebook has changed that, with resurgence in the sales of hardbacks – the collectible end of the market – hence his views taking consideration of the beauty of the product.  Neale emphasised that the ebook is not everything, so we should not undersell the physical.  He considers the ebook to be the ‘new toy here’ and that we will have to wait and see how the market settles.