Bute Noir 2022 Programme Announced

 

BLOODY SCOTLAND HYBRID FESTIVAL EXCEEDS EXPECTATIONS AND EXTENDS RUN FOR 2022

 

Bloody Scotland hybrid festival which ran from 17-19 September 2021 and closed its virtual doors on 30 September outperformed targets and has prompted organisers to extend their run for next year. Bloody Scotland 2022 will now start in the historic city of Stirling on Thursday 15 September with the torchlight procession and awards presentation and run through to Sunday 18 September.

Online and in person attendance this year was 16,000 and included visitors from over 30 countries. While many audience members were delighted to return to Stirling in person, the digital offering (paid for this year) was also extremely popular. The festival also extended its reach with approximately 25% of physical and online visitors attending the festival for the first time.

All sponsors remained on board and publishers welcomed the digital programme as a means of advertising their authors beyond those who normally pick up a physical brochure.

As Bloody Scotland starts planning for the 10th Anniversary in 2022, founding chair, Jenny Brown is stepping down. She said

‘It’s been an honour to chair Bloody Scotland since the idea of a Scottish crime writing festival was just an ambitious twinkle in the eyes of co-founders Lin Anderson and Alex Gray, to the splendid internationally-renowned event we have today. The success of the festival is down to the creativity of its directors and whole team, the dedication and energy of the Board, the commitment from our partners, the enthusiasm of crime readers and, above all, the brilliant support from crime writers themselves. As we look forward to Bloody Scotland’s 10th Anniversary in 2022, it’s great to be handing over the chair to Jamie Crawford, with the festival in such good shape for its second decade'.

Incoming chair, publisher and TV presenter, James Crawford said:

‘Having been involved with Bloody Scotland as publisher of the Bloody Scotland book, and as judge for two years on the McIlvanney Prize, I am delighted to be joining as Chair. This is a festival that has a very strong identity and a clear and ambitious vision for the future, and I am very much looking forward to helping shape the plans for its 10th anniversary in 2022

Bob McDevitt will remain as Festival Director for 2022 supported by the marketing team Fiona Brownlee, Tim Donald and Jessica McGoff and the rest of the board, Abir Mukherjee, Lin Anderson, Craig Robertson, Gordon Brown, Catriona Reynolds and Muriel Robertson.

Bloody Scotland Book Club

 

Announcing: Bloody Scotland Book Club!

Bloody Scotland have launched a new initiative to keep crime fans entertained! Every month, They will be hosting an exclusive discussion with a variety of journalists, bloggers, podcasters and booksellers. Their guests will hand-pick a selection of crime novels, from exciting new works to old favourites.

We invite you to read along and join our Facebook Group for discussion, then tune in to Facebook Live as we broadcast the panel’s discussion on the last Wednesday of every month.

Head over to their new Facebook group:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/bloodyscotlandbookclub/

Craig Robertson will be hosting the first event and he says -

I'm delighted to be hosting our first live event at the end of March and really looking forward to getting stuck into our first three books.

So, this month we're reading Laidlaw by William McIlvanney; Worst Case Scenario by Helen FitzGerald; and Deborah Masson's Out For Blood. It took a lot of discussion to whittle all our thoughts down to three books but we got there, and I think It's a good mix to get us started.

If you want to read one, two or all three, then we can chat in here, spoiler free of course, then have our live discussion at the end of the month.

This is going to be your book club and I'm sure things will change along the way, so let us know what you think.

Bloody Scotland from Infinity to Beyond

Scottish Festival Goes Global

Sponsored by The Glencairn Glass with match funding from Culture & Business Fund Scotland

Bloody Scotland online concluded today with an audience far greater than we could have ever squeezed into the Albert Halls for a conversation between two of the biggest crime writers on the planet, Val McDermid in Scotland and Lee Child in the US.

The virtual Festival allowed us to break down borders and have authors and audience from across the world. Five Continents of Crime challenged time zones with J P Pomare, an award-winning Maori author nursing a midnight dram on one side of the world and Attica Locke having breakfast on the other. Throughout the weekend the chat forum was buzzing with crime fiction fans from as far afield as Australia, New Zealand, the US, Canada, Ireland, Italy, Austria, France, Spain, Netherlands, Poland and South Africa.

The new format didn’t mean we lost old favourites. The much loved cabaret, Crime at the Coo, normally sells out as soon as tickets go on sale with around 80 packed into the whisky bar but the virtual version, brilliantly chaired by Craig Robertson, brought in ten times that on Saturday night with a combination of archive footage, live performances and pre-recorded packages from various members of the Fun Lovin’ Crime Writers, some debut authors and a stellar performance from Festival Director, Bob McDevitt.

One of the most exciting new additions was the Never-Ending Panel, a rolling event which went on for four hours with authors and chairs coming in and out every 20 minutes. Chaos, entertaining and fun which pretty much sums up what Bloody Scotland is all about.

The transition to online proves that although Covid-19 may have temporarily floored us it couldn’t take away the spirit of the Festival.

Bob McDevitt, Festival Director, said: 'Bloody Scotland 2020 was quite unlike any other year but rather than being the poor relation of previous years, I think it will stand proud as one of the most enjoyable festivals yet with a truly dazzling array of international talent, a sizeable and engaged (often emotional) audience and just as many memorable moments as any other year. We may not have been able to visit Stirling in person, but we were definitely still able to go to Bloody Scotland!'

Bloody Scotland 2021 will be back 17-19 September 2021 hopefully in Stirling, possibly on-line or a combination of the two. Thanks to everyone who has supported us this weekend.

Most of the panels will be available on YouTube for a month after the Festival.

Bloody Scotland Debut Shortlist and McIlvanney Long List announced.

SHORTLIST FOR THE BLOODY SCOTLAND DEBUT SCOTTISH CRIME BOOK OF THE YEAR 2020 & LONGLIST ANNOUNCED FOR THE McILVANNEY PRIZE 2020

Winners to be presented on Friday 18 September 2020
 

Four years ago the Scottish Crime Book of the Year Award was renamed the McIlvanney Prize in memory of William McIlvanney who is often described as the Godfather of Tartan Noir. Last year Bloody Scotland also introduced a prize for The Bloody Scotland Debut Scottish Crime Book of the Year. This year both are sponsored by the Glencairn Glass. At a time when debut writers have suffered more than anyone else due to bookshop closures the debut prize is more important than ever:

Shortlisted authors are:

Hold Your Tongue by Deborah Masson (Transworld)

The Crown Agent by Stephen O’Rourke (Sandstone),

See Them Run by Marion Todd (Canelo)
Pine by Francine Toon (Doubleday)

One, Francine Toon, is also longlisted for the McIlvanney Prize which includes:
Time for the Dead by Lin Anderson (Macmillan)
Bad Memory by Lisa Gray (Thomas & Mercer)
Whirligig by Andrew James Greig (Fledgling)
A Dark Matter by Doug Johnstone (Orenda)
How the Dead Speak by Val McDermid (Little, Brown)
The Island by Ben McPherson (HarperCollins)
Bury Them Deep by James Oswald (Headline)
The Art of Dying by Ambrose Parry (Canongate) aka Chris Broomyre and Marisa Haetzman
The Inheritance of Solomon Farthing by Mary Paulson-Ellis (Mantle)
The Red, Red Snow by  Caro Ramsay (Severn House)
Watch Him Die by Craig Robertson (Simon & Schuster)
Pine by Francine Toon (Doubleday)

Finalists for the McIlvanney Prize will be revealed at the beginning of September and the winner of both prizes will be revealed on Friday 18 September.

The Bloody Scotland Debut Prize will be judged by a panel including crime writer and founding director of Bloody Scotland Lin Anderson and representatives from Waterstones and the Glencairn Glass.

The McIlvanney Prize will be judged by Stuart Cosgrove, writer and broadcaster, James Crawford, chair of Publishing Scotland and presenter of BBC series Scotland from the Sky and Karen Robinson, Editor of The Times Crime Club.

The McIlvanney award recognises excellence in Scottish crime writing, includes a prize of £1000 and nationwide promotion in Waterstones. The 2020 longlist features established crime writers and debuts, corporates and indies. Previous winners are Manda Scott with A Treachery of Spies in 2019 (who chose to share her prize with all the finalists), Liam McIlvanney with The Quaker in 2018, Denise Mina with The Long Drop in 2017, Chris Brookmyre with Black Widow in 2016, Craig Russell with The Ghosts of Altona in 2015, Peter May with Entry Island in 2014, Malcolm Mackay with How A Gunman Says Goodbye in 2013 and Charles Cumming with A Foreign Country in 2012. The inaugural Bloody Scotland Debut Prize 2019 was won by Claire Askew with All The Hidden Truths.

Quizknobs and Zoomsticks - Friday 1st May 2020

Bloody Scotland International Crime Writing Festival

 18-20 September 2020

 BESTSELLING CRIME WRITERS JOIN FORCES TO RECREATE THE BLOODY SCOTLAND QUIZ FROM THE COMFORT AND SAFETY OF THEIR OWN HOMES

Val McDermid, Chris Brookmyre and Mark Billingham have teamed up with two major crime writing festivals – Bloody Scotland and Bute Noir – to hold a version of their popular quiz live online.

Along with fellow authors Susi Holliday, Luca Veste and Mason Cross they will appear live on YouTube to bring some festival fun to lockdown.

Hosted by quiz master and crime writer Craig Robertson, the teams will play it for laughs as they try to outdo each other in a battle of wits and knowledge, with music rounds, charades and quickfire questions all likely to be on the menu.

Like so much of the country, authors have taken to Zoom in the last month to interact with friends and family and like so many others they’ve been doing quizzes to escape lockdown boredom. Now they’ve decided to go public and go live so that everyone else can join in the fun.

Val McDermid said: 'Quizzes are always a highlight of crime writing festivals, and now that there's no more University Challenge to divide the nation, we're virtually stepping up to the plate. Readers will be able to hurl abuse at our stupidity or marvel at our knowledge. Something for everyone, really.' 

Chis Brookmyre said: 'Festivals are probably the thing I am missing most about lockdown, as that is

not only the chance to speak to readers, but to catch up with my fellow writers. Given the issues with online synchronisation, I’m just hoping there isn’t a buzzer round.'

Quizknobs and Zoomsticks – the title dreamed up by Mark Billingham – will go live on Friday May 1st at 8.15pm. It will be hosted on the Crime Waves YouTube channel. Author Craig Robertson who is on the board of both Bute Noir and Bloody Scotland explained the thinking behind the quiz show and the idea to put it free on YouTube.

‘The quiz has proven very popular on Saturday nights at both Bloody Scotland and Bute Noir. Sadly, so many book festivals have had to be cancelled this year so we decided to get together and do the quiz live and free so that people would have something to be entertained by.

‘For those that haven’t been, it’s not taken seriously at all – think more like Never Mind the Buzzcocks or Mock the Week. The authors are very quick-witted and funny, and occasionally a bit sweary, so we hope we can give people a laugh and take their minds off lockdown for an hour or so.

‘There’s already been a lot of international interest in the event and we know there will be people watching from the US, Canada and the Nordic countries. We’ve been shocked by the interest in it.’

Books to Look Forward to from Simon & Schuster,

January 2020

When a man is found on a Norfolk beach, drifting in and out of consciousness, with no identification and unable to speak, interest in him is sparked immediately. From the hospital staff who find themselves inexplicably drawn to him; to international medical experts who are baffled by him; to the national press who call him Mr Nobody; everyone wants answers. Who is this man? And what happened to him? Neuropsychiatrist Dr Emma Lewis is asked to assess the patient. This is her field of expertise, this is the chance she's been waiting for and this case could make her name known across the world. But therein lies the danger. Emma left this same small town in Norfolk fourteen years ago and has taken great pains to cover all traces of her past since then.  But now something - or someone - is calling her back. And the more time she spends with her patient, the more alarmed she becomes.  Has she walked into danger?  Mr Nobody is by Catherine Steadman

Deep State is by Chris Hauty.  Hayley Chill isn't your typical West Wing intern. Ex-military and as patriotic as she is principled, she is largely vilified by her peers and lauded by her superiors - it's a quick way of making enemies.  It is Hayley who finds the body of the White House chief of staff, Peter Hall, on his kitchen floor having died from an apparent heart attack. It is also Hayley who notices a single clue which suggests his death was deliberate, targeted. That he was assassinated.  Unsure who to trust, Hayley works alone to uncover a wide-ranging conspiracy that controls the furthest reaches of the government. And Hall is just the beginning - the president is the next target.  Hayley must now do the impossible: stop an assassination, when she has no idea who the enemy is, all while staying hidden, with Peter's final words to her ringing in her ears: Trust no one. Because the Deep State will kill to silence her. And they are. It is entrenched. It is hidden. It is deadly.  Who can you trust?

February 2020

Firewatching is by Russ Thomas.  One wrong move. A body is found bricked into the walls of a house. From the state of the hands, it's clear they were buried alive and had tried to claw their way out before they died. Soon, the victim is linked to a missing person's case and DS Adam Tyler is called. Will ignite. As the sole representative of South Yorkshire's Cold Case Review Unit, Tyler recognises his role for what it is - a means of keeping him out of the way following an 'incident'. When this case falls in his lap, he grabs the opportunity to fix his stagnating career.  The City. When he discovers he has a connection to the case that hopelessly compromises him, he makes the snap decision not to tell his superiors. With such a brutal and sadistic murder to unpick, Tyler must move carefully to find out the truth, without destroying the case or himself.  Meanwhile, someone in the city knows exactly what happened to the body. Someone who is watching Adam closely. Someone with an unhealthy affinity with fire . . .

March 2020

It's sweltering in Charlotte, North Carolina, and Temperance Brennan, still recovering from neurosurgery following an aneurysm, is battling nightmares, migraines, and what she thinks might be hallucinations when she receives a series of mysterious text messages, each containing a new picture of a corpse that is missing its face and hands. Immediately, she's anxious to know who the dead man is, and why the images were sent to her.  An identified corpse soon turns up, only partly answering her questions.  To win answers to the others, including the man's identity, she must go rogue. With help from a number of law enforcement associates including her Montreal beau Andrew Ryan and the always-ready-with-a-smart-quip, ex-homicide investigator Skinny Slidell, and utilizing new cutting-edge forensic methods, Tempe draws closer to the astonishing truth.  But the more she uncovers, the darker and more twisted the picture becomes ...  A Conspiracy of Bones is by Kathy Reichs.

April 2020

Little Disasters is by Sarah Vaughan.  You think you have the perfect family.  But everything can be broken.  Liz and Jess have been friends for ten years, ever since they both started a family. But how well do they really know each other?  When Jess arrives at hospital with a story that doesn't add up, Liz is the doctor on call. Jess has devoted her life to family and home. But she is holding so many secrets. As the truth begins to emerge, Liz is forced to question everything she thought she knew: about Jess, and about herself.   When something feels so personal, how do you stay professional? 

May 2020

Los Angeles, December 4th - exactly three weeks until Christmas day. Angela Wood, a master in the art of pickpocket, has just finished for the day - six hundred and eighty-seven dollars - not bad for less than fifteen minutes work.  As she celebrates her profitable day with a cocktail, one of the patrons in the lounge she's in catches her attention by being rude to an old man. Angela decides to teach him a lesson, and steals the man's expensive-looking leather bag.  Inside is no money ... no laptop computer ... nothing of any value ... at least not to Angela. Just a black, leather-bound book, surprisingly heavy. Curiosity takes over and in the comfort of her apartment, Angela quickly leafs through the pages.  That is when the worst nightmare of her life begins.  This is no ordinary book.  Read it at your own peril.  Written in Blood is by Chris Carter.

Kill the King by Sandrone Dazieri and I Saw Him Die by Andrew Wilson are also due to be published in May 2020.

June 2020

The Other Passenger is by Louise Candlish.  You're feeling pretty smug about your commute to work by riverboat. No more traffic gridlock or getting stuck on the tube in tunnels (you're claustrophobic); now you've got an iconic Thames view, fresh air - a whole lifestyle upgrade. You've made new friends onboard - led by your hedonistic young neighbour, Kit - and just had your first 'water rats' Christmas drinks.  But the first day back after Christmas, Kit isn't on the morning boat. The river landmarks are all the same, but something's off. You disembark to find the police waiting. Kit's wife, Melia, has reported him missing and another passenger witnessed the two of you arguing on the last boat home after your drinks. Police say you had a reason to lash out at him. To kill him.  You protest. You and Kit are friends - ask Melia, she'll vouch for you. And who exactly is this other passenger pointing the finger? What do they know about your private lives? No, whatever coincidences might have occurred that night, you are innocent, totally innocent.  Aren't you?

When a string of horrific terrorist attacks plagues the Western world during the holiday season, the broader markets fall into a tailspin. The attacks are being coordinated by a shadowy former Iraqi commando who has disappeared into Europe's underground. The United States government has an asset who can turn the Iraqi against his masters: James Reece, the most-wanted domestic terrorist alive.  After avenging the deaths of his family and team members, Reece emerges deep in the wilds of Mozambique, protected by the family of his estranged best friend and former SEAL Team member. When a series of events uncovers his whereabouts, the CIA recruits him, using a Presidential pardon for Reece and immunity for the friends who helped him in his mission of vengeance.  Now a reluctant tool of the United States Government, Reece travels the globe, targeting terrorist leaders and unraveling a geopolitical conspiracy that exposes a traitorous CIA officer and uncovers a sinister assassination plot with worldwide repercussions.  True Believer is by Jack Carr.

Watch Him Die is by Craig Robertson.  Evil found its twin despite there being an ocean between Matthew Clelland and Ethan Garland.  One is dead but the dying has only just begun.  The search is on for dead bodies in Los Angeles. The hunt is on for live victims in Glasgow.  Meanwhile, the world is watching as a young man slowly dies in front of their eyes.

Bloody Scotland Reveals Team Captains for Annual Scotland v England Football Match

Bloody Scotland Team Managers, Craig Roberston (Scotland) and Luca Veste (England) today revealed that their teams will again be captained by Chris Brookmyre and Mark Billingham for the annual Bloody Scotland Crime Writers Football Match which will take place at 2pm on Saturday 21 September.

The football match was the brainchild of Craig Robertson in 2014 and the first year Ian Rankin, Mark Billingham, Chris Brookmyre and Martyn Waites all signed up to play.  Following a resounding victory for Scotland Craig Robertson said “In a drunken, triumphalist haze we waved our English friends a fond and patronising farewell, sending them homeward to think again. Unfortunately, they did think again and they came back two years later and gubbed us”. 

The football has taken place on the Bowling Green at Cowane’s Hospital ever since though following a dispute when Thomas Enger (a Norwegian semi-professional footballer) joined the Scottish team new rules were drawn up. Teams now have to be made up exclusively of Scottish crime writers and English crime writers. No publishers, no editors, no agents, and definitely no professional footballers. One highlight for the English team this year is former Gladiator turned crime writer, Mark Griffin.

It is free to watch and in recent years has had the addition of a pop-up gin bar courtesy of Stirling Gin who provide Bloody Scotland cocktails for the fans – and sometimes for the players!

If you would like to interview Craig Robertson, Luca Veste, Mark Billingham or Chris Brookmyre please contact fiona@brownleedonald.com

LONGLIST ANNOUNCED FOR THE McILVANNEY PRIZE FOR SCOTTISH CRIME BOOK OF THE YEAR 2018

"Forty-one years ago, William McIlvanney rocked the British literary world with Laidlaw, a gritty and socially conscious crime novel that brought Glasgow to life more vividly than anything before. This year's longlistees for the McIlvanney Prize demonstrate how modern Scottish crime writing has flourished from those seeds. From debutants to authors with more than 20 books, spy thrillers to long-running detective series, nineteenth-century mysteries to futuristic space station noir, there's an amazing range of talent on show."

Craig Sisterson – Chair of the Judges 2018

 

‘I went to Bloody Scotland and I was just knocked out... this event was so friendly, so supportive I was honestly overwhelmed’

William McIlvanney – speaking on BBC Scotland, 2012

 

Two years ago the Scottish Crime Book of the Year Award was renamed the McIlvanney Prize in memory of William McIlvanney who established the tradition of Scottish detective fiction. This year his son, Liam McIlvanney, has made the longlist for the 2018 McIlvanney Prize.

The complete longlist, revealed today, has been chosen by an independent panel of readers:
Follow the Dead by Lin Anderson (Macmillan),

Places in the Darkness by Chris Brookmyre (Little, Brown)
Presumed Dead  by Mason Cross (Orion)
The Man Between by Charles Cumming (Harper Collins)

The Loch of the Dead by Oscar De Muriel (Michael Joseph),

Perfect Death by Helen Fields (Harper Collins)

Now She’s Gone by Alison James (Bookouture)

The Quaker by Liam McIlvanney (Harper Collins)

No Time to Cry by James Oswald (Headline)
The Suffering of Strangers by Caro Ramsay (Severn House)

The Hunter by Andrew Reid (Headline)

The Photographer by Craig Robertson (Simon & Schuster)

It features an intriguing mix of previous winners, established crime writing luminaries, some emerging talent and a debut.  The award recognises excellence in Scottish crime writing, includes a prize of £1,000 and nationwide promotion in Waterstones.

The judges for the next round will be chaired by Craig Sisterson and include comedian and crime fiction fan, Susan Calman who like Craig is joining the panel for a second year and crime reviewer, Alison Flood.

The finalists will be revealed at the beginning of September and the winner kept under wraps until the ceremony itself which this year will take place at the Church of the Holy Rude in Stirling and followed by a torchlight procession – led by the winner accompanied by Denise Mina and Val McDermid – to their first event at the Albert Halls.

Both the opening ceremony and the torchlight procession are open to the public but tickets are selling fast and capacity is less than at the castle last year so people are urged to book them now.

Previous winners are Denise Mina with The Long Drop 2017, Chris Brookmyre with Black Widow 2016, Craig Russell with The Ghosts of Altona in 2015, Peter May with Entry Island in 2014, Malcolm Mackay with How A Gunman Says Goodbye in 2013 and Charles Cumming with A Foreign Country in 2012.
 

For further information or to request press tickets please contact fiona@brownleedonald.com 07767 431 846
@brownlee_donald @bloodyscotland