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| Denise Mina © Ayo Onatade |
The Sunday at St Hilda’s is always tinged with sadness as one realises that the wonderful weekend is about to end. However, one of the best things about the weekend is always the Sunday Lecture by the Guest of Honour. This year prize-winning author Denise Mina gave the Sunday lecture entitled ‘Narrative: How it Shapes The World’. She spoke about storytelling (which is a single act performed by two brains), crime fiction, (crime writing is the new social novel) neural pathways, and feminism and reader expectations. Along with Christianity, Lenin and Andy Warhol. Quite eclectic! Talking about the narrative it is seen as being very good for small groups but not so good for large ones. Furthermore, one has to remember that there is crime fiction and the marketing of crime fiction. Denise Mina also expressed the view that crime writers not only write to make a living but also due to the fact that they have the need to write. Crime fiction is vital, it is about social structure. Our culture is saturated with crime fiction and it is changing the world. There is however certain things that you have to do if you want to break the genre. UK readers do not appear to be happy with meta fiction stories as compared to US readers. True crime is also the outlier child of crime fiction. What do we talk about when we talk about genre fiction - crime fiction in this case?
A bit of information – Denise Mina is fascinated by Podcasts. One of the Podcasts that she is particularly keen on is called ‘Stuff to Blow Your Mind’.
You certainly had to be there to appreciate the lecture and the nuances of everything that was said by Denise. Totally enthralling.
Nicci French and Mary Paulson-Ellis gave the final papers of the day. Nicci French talked
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| Nicci French (Nicci Gerrard & Sean French) |
about The Rise of the Suspense Thriller. Amongst the things they spoke about was the view that there was a need for crime fiction. There are of course books that were not originally thought to be crime novels and a good example is Jane Eyre, which now reads as a gothic thriller. Another example is Wuthering Heights, which is also a thriller. Agatha Christie is seen as a modernist writer specifically with the novel The Murder of Roger Ackroyd. With this years theme firmly in mind Nicci French expressed the view that Freud’s writing is a ‘gamechanger”.
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| Mary Paulson-Ellis © Ayo Onatade |
Mary Paulson-Ellis in a wide ranging paper spoke about her love of Kate Atkinson with a paper entitled Kate Atkinson, a love story’: the literary, the detective and the journey of the self towards the light’. One of the things that was stated was the fact meta fiction is one of Kate Atkinson’s hallmarks in her work. Brilliantly illustrated with power point presentation including some small terrier illustrations.
Both Andrew Taylor and Val McDermid who step down from the Committee were named Emeritus Fellows over the weekend for services rendered.
Thinking about all the brilliant papers that were given over the weekend it is sometimes hard to put into words how relaxing, refreshing and enjoyable the weekend was. It has constantly been this way in my opinion and will continued to be. It was sad to say goodbye but already we know the dates for next year which are from the 14 to 16 August 2020. The theme will be historical though the exact Crime Fiction Weekend title is yet to be confirmed. Put the dates in your diary! They are already in mine.
A big huge thanks to all who were involved in organising the weekend and a special thank you to Natasha Cooper for once again chairing the event with such aplomb and charm.
I am sure that I am not the only one that will be looking forward to next year!
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