Thanks to @UnBoundBlog: Un:Bound: Events, My latest latest entry covering the Out of this World event at Theakstons Crime Harrogate can be found over there on their excellent site at this link: bit.ly/paK0XM
More to follow back here soon.
Keith…
My Saturday morning was an early start, and I do mean early (particularly for Harrogate). I was set to interview C.J.Box in the Holiday Inn breakfast room at 8am before dashing back to the Old Swan for the 9am Special Guest talk by Tess Gerritsen.
Not wanting to chat over too much munching, I took my breakfast by 7am and then, at 7.30am texted his publisher to let them know where I was seated so he could find me at 8am (not all of us wear a great big cowboy hat for ease of identification, so I’d gone with a t-shirt with a great big fingerprint on the front).…
After a great cooked lunch in the dinner hall – again an opportunity to sit and chat with fellow bloggers, writers, agents and publishers – it was back to the main hall once again for a first this year.
Old Blood was the logical follow-up to the regular New Blood panels which have been a very popular part of the festival since it began, but this is the first time that writers who have appeared previously have been asked back to talk about how their work has developed since.
Chaired by Martyn Waites, the panel consisted of Nick Stone, Allan Guthrie, Cathi Unsworth and Mark Mills – all of whom have had considerable success since their first appearances at Harrogate in previous years.…
Friday morning came and I was out of bed on the first alarm – I always am at these things, as no wife or children to alert me if I oversleep.
A hearty breakfast at the Holiday Inn and a brisk walk back to the Old Swan Hotel for the first event of the day.
Martina Cole interviewed by Dreda Say Mitchell.
An illuminating and, at times, hilarious discussion between these two writers of tough gritty London and the South based crime kicked off with Martina, dressed all in black and with her microphone headset, bounding onto the stage to announce that she and Dreda were thinking of ‘doing a Britney’, but that they couldn’t as they’d both had a wash that morning!…
I’ll be posting full reports of Friday/Saturday & Sunday at the HCWF on this page as soon as possible but, in the meantime, have also posted a summary report which covers the bare bones of what went on each day over at The Culture Vultures blog.
You can read it by clicking the link below:
http://theculturevulture.co.uk/blog/behindscenes/theakstons-old-peculier-crime-writing-festival-harrogate/
Keith…
I have to admit I found the trip up to Harrogate very tough this year – but it had nothing to do with the festival itself, more to do with its timing.
All those months before when I’d leapt around (not a pretty sight I assure you) at the news that I’d been selected as one of two ‘bloggers in residence’ for this year’s event, the significance of the date of day one of the festival hadn’t really hit home.
Thursday 21st July was the first day of the festival, but it was also the last day that my daughter was at Primary School and about to depart for greater things.…
Well, that’s another Harrogate Crime Writing Festival over and it has to have been the BEST one to date.
Full run-downs on all the events will follows with photos as soon as I’ve settled after a full-on immersion to all the events and the long drive home.
In the meantime, here’s a really nice intro video from The Yorkshire Post – filmed during the set up of this year’s event and featuring some of the hard working team and some of the potential new names lining up to try their hands at a life of crime (writing).
Keith…
The first full day at the festival and, wow, what a day.
Based on comments made and the sheer volume of people here (in excess of 9000 tickets sold), this really is shaping up for an even bigger festival next year for the 10th Anniversary of the festival.
Once again, this is a late post, followed by an early start tomorrow for more great crime events, so a quick summary follows (full event write-ups will follow when the dust settles).
Kicking off with a superbly entertaining Special Guest appearance by the ‘contemporary Queen of the British Crime Novel’ Martina Cole – interviewed by Festival Chair Dreda Say Mitchell – this was just the tonic to wake us all from our Thursday night sore heads.…
What follows is short and sweet, due to the fact that it’s now 2am and I’m hoping to be up and back to see Martina Cole at 9am ! – That’s Harrogate for you 🙂
A fantastic evening’s launch tonight, which saw Geraint Jones win the Alibi Search for a New Crime Writer Award, PD James receive a special award for her contribution to crime writing and Lee Child scoop the Theakston’s Crime Novel of the Year for 61 Hours.
All that, plus a new, festival only, brew from Theakstons – Crime of Passion – what more could you ask for? …
As I still get asked from time to time, what’s Harrogate’s Crime Writing Festival actually like, I’ve flicked back through previous notes and reports and discovered this article I wrote for Ottakar’s then Crime Fiction fanzine ‘The Verdict’ in 2004.
This was only the second year of the festival, but it was already firmly established as a MUST in many peoples’ calendars for years to come:
Why every Crime Fiction reader and writer should attend the Harrogate Crime Writing Festival
On a Friday in July last year (2003) I set off from my home in Kent and made the long and lonely journey by car all the way to North Yorkshire.…