The Durham Book Festival have announced their programme. The festival is due to take place between 9th and 17thOctober 2021. The full programme can be read here. They are combining a return to live in-person events at the Gala Theatre with a full digital programme of over 50 literary events, films, podcasts, essays and more.
Tickets are now availble.
The crime fiction events are -
Catriona Ward and Abigail Dean: Thrillers With a Twist - (9th October 2021- 11:00am)
Join Abigail Dean and Catriona Ward, two thriller writers who are turning the genre on its head as they explore trauma and survival in these gripping and intelligent novels.
In Girl A by Abigail Dean, Lexie Grace is the girl who escaped. Following the news that their abusive mother has died in prison, Lex is forced to return to the House of Horrors that she grew up in. Together with her sister, Evie, Lex intends to turn the house into a force for good. But first she must come to terms with her six siblings – and with the childhood they shared. An ordinary house on an ordinary street becomes a pit of unimaginable darkness in The Last House on Needless Street, a truly nerve-shattering psychological thriller by Catriona Ward. This is the story of a serial killer. A stolen child. Revenge. Death. You think you know what’s inside the last house on Needless Street. You think you’ve read this story before. That’s where you’re wrong.
Chaired by Grace Keane, New Writing North
Richard Osman: Books That Made Me - (9th October 2021 – 7:00pm)
We are delighted to welcome Richard Osman back to Durham Book Festival for a special pre-recorded digital event. Richard will be talking about his new crime novel The Man Who Died Twice as well as some of the books that have inspired him throughout his life. The Man Who Died Twice is the second novel in the record-breaking, bestselling Thursday Murder Club series. Elizabeth has received a letter from an old colleague, a man with whom she has a long history. He’s made a big mistake, and he needs her help. His story involves stolen diamonds, a violent mobster, and a very real threat to his life. As bodies start piling up, Elizabeth enlists Joyce, Ibrahim and Ron in the hunt for a ruthless murderer. And if they find the diamonds too? Well, wouldn’t that be a bonus? Richard Osman is an author, producer and television presenter and the creator and co-presenter of the BBC One television quiz show Pointless. His first novel, The Thursday Murder Club, was a million-copy bestseller.
Chaired by Professor Katy Shaw, Northumbria University.
Murder, Mystery and Mayhem: Durham City Guided Walk - (15th October 2021 – 10:30am)
(Meet outside Gala Theatre entrance) It could be said that Durham City exists because of crime. Pillaging by raiding Vikings led to the city’s formation as we know it today. Take a walk around Durham and hear how crimes gone by have been recorded through the written word. Discover how the city and its hinterland have provided a backdrop and been incorporated into crime fiction and writing.
Denise Mina and Lucy Jago: Women Who Dare - (15th October 2021 – 5:30pm)
Denise Mina and Lucy Jago discuss their new novels, which tell the stories of transgressive women in history and the secrets and scandals of the royal courts. It’s Saturday evening, 9 March 1566 and Mary Queen of Scots is six months pregnant. She’s hosting a supper party. Mary doesn’t know that her Palace is surrounded – that an army of men is creeping upstairs to her chamber. They’re coming to murder David Rizzio, her friend and secretary. Mary’s husband wants it done in front of her and he wants her to watch it done. Rizzio by Denise Mina looks at history through a modern lens and explores the lengths that men – and women – will go to in the search for love and power. Frances Howard has beauty and a powerful family. Anne Turner has wit and talent – but no stage on which to display them. When these two very different women meet a powerful friendship is sparked. Frankie sweeps Anne into a world of splendour that exceeds all she imagined: a Court whose foreign king is a stranger to his own subjects and where ancient families fight for power. Based on the true scandal that rocked the court of James I, A Net for Small Fishes is an exhilarating dive into the pitch-dark waters of the Jacobean court.
Chaired by Dr Natalie Mears, Durham University.
Val McDermid: 1979 - (16th October 2021 – 7:30pm)
Join us for an evening with bestselling crime writer Val McDermid as she talks about 1979, the heart-pounding first novel in a gripping new series by the Queen of Crime. Set in Glasgow and following crime reporter Allie Burns, 1979 draws upon McDermid’s own experiences as a journalist, where she witnessed life in the newsroom at first-hand. It is the winter of discontent, and reporter Allie Burns is chasing her first big scoop. There are few women in the newsroom and she needs something explosive for the boys’ club to take her seriously. Soon Allie and fellow journalist Danny Sullivan are exposing the criminal underbelly of respectable Scotland. They risk making powerful enemies – and Allie won’t stop there. When she discovers a home-grown terrorist threat, Allie comes up with a plan to infiltrate the group and make her name. But she’s a woman in a man’s world… and putting a foot wrong could be fatal.
Chaired by Doug Johnstone, author of The Jump.
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