Old Peculiar Crime Writing Festival Launch

The full line-up for the 2024 Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival, held 18-21 July at the Old Swan Hotel, has been revealed with Festival Chair Ruth Ware curating a ground-breaking programme that includes some of the biggest names in crime fiction.              

From cutting edge AI and technology’s impact on criminal investigation, to the complexities and capabilities of neurodivergent sleuths; from the shadowy world of spies and twisty whodunnits, to boundary-pushing psychological thrillers, there is plenty to surprise and thrill in this year’s programme.     

Programme highlights include an all-star lineup of acclaimed writers and global bestsellers including Mick Herron, Louise Candlish, M.W. Craven, James Comey, Lucy Foley, Femi Kayode, Saima Mir and many more. 

They'll join Special Guest headliners Chris Carter, Jane Casey, Elly Griffiths, Peter James, Erin Kelly, Vaseem Khan, Dorothy Koomson, Shari Lapena, Abir Mukherjee, Liz Nugent and Richard Osman in what promises to be an unforgettable celebration of the genre. 

Tickets for individual events are on general sale from 10am on Thursday 16 May. The full programme can be found here. It would be  a crime to miss it!

First Names Revealed: Special Guests at 2020 Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival - 23-26 July 2020

The Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival is thrilled to announce its 2020 Special Guests at the world’s largest and most prestigious crime fiction festival.

Crime writing royalty Martina Cole, Mark Billingham, Lisa Gardner, Kathy Reichs, Elly Griffiths, Mick Herron and Michael Connelly will be appearing as part of the killer line-up curated by this year’s Festival Programming Chair and Rebus author, Ian Rankin OBE.

From 23-26 July, Harrogate’s Old Swan Hotel – the legendary scene of Agatha Christie's mysterious disappearance in 1926 – will welcome over 100 world famous authors for a celebration of the crime genre like no other.

Returning for its 18th instalment, the award-winning Festival is established as a literary phenomenon, attracting an international audience to see the best in the business and the most exciting new talent as part of an unmissable programme of creative workshops, once in a lifetime talks and unique panels. 

Joining fiction titan Ian Rankin at this year’s Festival will be No. 1 bestseller Martina Cole will be sharing the stories behind her iconic career as the undisputed Queen of Crime; Kathy Reichs will introduce A Conspiracy of Bones, the riveting new thriller featuring forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan; and Festival favourite Mark Billingham returns to Harrogate to celebrate 20 years of Tom Thorne,  one of British crime fiction's most iconic detectives.

Michael Connelly, the international phenomenon with over 74 million copies sold worldwide, touches down in the UK to share his latest unputdownable thriller featuring veteran reporter Jack McEvoy, Fair Warning; the master of psychological suspense Lisa Gardner will give the Harrogate audience an insight into the twists and turns of When You See Me; Elly Griffiths is set to reveal the secrets behind her much-loved Dr Ruth Galloway mystery series; and Mick Herron will mark ten years of his award-winning spy sensation Slough House and introduce his new novella set in the same world, The Catch.

The Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival forms part of the diverse year-round portfolio curated by the charitable organisation Harrogate International Festivals, delivered with the mission to bring immersive and moving cultural experiences to as many people as possible.

Booking: Rover Tickets – including Weekend, Friday and Saturday – are now on sale, along with Weekend Break Packages. For more information and to book tickets, please call +44(0)1423 562 303 or email crime@harrogate-festival.org.uk.

 

*** The full programme line-up will be announced on 2nd April 2020***

Inaugural Library Conference Makes Noise at Leading Festival

One of the UK’s leading literary festivals is hosting an inaugural Library Conference.

Up to 100 library professionals from across the country are invited to attend the one-day event to be held at the 2019 Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival this July.

Keynote speakers include chief executive of Arts Council England, Darren Henley OBE. Also speaking is leading crime author and advocate for libraries, Ann Cleeves, whose Vera and Shetlands series were adapted for ITV and the BBC.

The conference takes place on Friday 19 July at the Old Swan Hotel, Harrogate, during the 16th Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival delivered by the arts charity, Harrogate International Festivals.

The festival has a long tradition of working with libraries as part of its year-round outreach and educational work. Ten years ago, the festival invited Ann Cleeves to become its first Reader-in-Residence. This year it will deliver its 11th annual Big Read, supported by the Arts Council, with current Reader in Residence, author Mari Hannah.

The Big Read aims to encourage crime fiction fans and entice reluctant readers, to read and discuss the same book and utilise their local library service. It takes place from June 3-14 in libraries across Yorkshire and the North East with 1,500 free copies of Michael Connelly’s The Black Echo donated by publisher, Orion.  Last year, The Big Read featured James Patterson’s Along Came A Spider.

James Patterson will make a rare UK appearance on the day of the Library Conference as Special Guest of the 2019 Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival. The American publishing giant has been the most-borrowed author of adult fiction in UK libraries for the past 11 years in a row.

James Patterson said: “I was thrilled that Along Came a Spider was chosen as the Big Read at last year’s festival and taken on the road by Mari Hannah to libraries across the North. I firmly believe that better readers become better thinkers, and libraries and book festivals play a key role in spreading the joy of reading."

The industry event will feature training on marketing and social media to attract new

audiences to libraries led by Stewart Bain. The former senior library assistant at Orkney Library was dubbed ‘Twitter’s favourite librarian’ by The Times. Bain’s posts on Twitter put Orkney Library on the map, attracting more than 28,000 followers and luring authors such as JK Rowling. He won Librarian of the Year in 2016.

Stewart Bain said: “Crime fiction is the most borrowed genre in libraries. It is accessible, popular and offers a gateway into reading, so hosting the Library Conference at the biggest festival for the genre is very exciting. Having a vocal ambassador like Ann Cleeves, a champion of libraries and their importance to our communities, is a real morale boost for those working in a sector that’s increasingly under pressure.”

 

Panels will also look at engagement in the modern world, and how libraries can engage with publishers and build relationships.

Beth Walker, Marketing and Communications Coordinator at Harrogate International Festivals, said: “We’re passionate about promoting reading, and the importance of libraries within communities. One of the things we discovered with our work with libraries around the Big Read was how much pressure is on librarians to deliver so much with so few resources. Despite the enormous challenges at a time of brutal cuts in the last decade, library professionals have enormous passion for their vocation. We wanted to give them a platform that showed they were valued in the literary community, and to use learning from the conference to build on our outreach work to help support and safeguard their future.”

Attendees will be offered a free ticket to events on the Friday evening.

https://harrogateinternationalfestivals.com/big-read-library-conference/

Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival 2019

Every year I ponder how the crew behind the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival will top the previous year’s festivities – and each year they do.

I decided to book my place early, as 2019 looks spectacular, as this press release indicates, so see you there.

This year’s Programming Chair is the award-winning author Mari Hannah, bringing icons of the genre to the Old Swan Hotel, Harrogate.

One of the biggest-selling authors of all time, James Patterson, will make his first appearance at the Festival. Patterson has sold more than 375 million books worldwide and currently holds the Guinness World Record for the most #1 New York Times bestsellers.

James Patterson said: “I’m really looking forward to coming to Harrogate this year and meeting my UK fans.”

Jo Nesbo’s UK launch of his much-anticipated new Harry Hole thriller, Knife, will also take place at the Festival. The Scandi-noir climber, rock star and former professional footballer has sold over 40 million books in 50 languages.

MC Beaton, author of Agatha Raisin adapted for Sky TV starring Ashley Jenson, will be in conversation with the #1 Sunday Times bestselling author of the Logan McRae series, Stuart MacBride.

Former attorney Jeffery Deaver has sold over 50 million books with The Bone Collector adapted to film starring Denzel Washington and Angelina Jolie. Deaver will introduce his new series, The Never Game. 

A trio of powerhouse authors, Belinda Bauer, Eva Dolan and Erin Kelly, will share a stage. Bauer rocked the literary world when she was longlisted for the 2018 Booker Prize for her novel, Snap. Eva Dolan’s standalone, This is How it Ends, is one of the most critically acclaimed thrillers of the year. Erin Kelly’s novels have been adapted for TV and dominated the bestseller lists, with her latest, Stone Mothers, an irresistible novel of psychological suspense.

Master of the suburban thriller and Netflix collaborator, Harlan Coben, is the perennial #1 New York Times author of 30 novels. The American will be in conversation with Rebus creator, Ian Rankin.

Val McDermid, who co-founded the Festival with literary agent Jane Gregory and arts charity Harrogate International Festivals in 2003, will also be in conversation with Scotland’s First Minister, and bookworm, Nicola Sturgeon. 

The writer behind BBC1’s phenomenal The Bodyguard, Jed Mercurio, also stars. With viewing figures exceeding 10 million, The Bodyguard, starring Richard Madden and Keeley Hawes, returned us to a time when a TV show could be a national event. One of the most successful TV writers at work today, Mercurio is behind many hit series, including Line of Duty.

2019 marks the 16th Festival.

Programming Chair, Mari Hannah, said: “Announcing James Patterson in my year as Festival Chair is a huge honour. Harrogate has a reputation for its powerhouse Special Guests. Every year, the programming committee work hard to attract the very best crime writers to the festival from around the world. The response to 2019’s line-up has been incredible. I’m looking forward to welcoming readers in July.”

Alongside the starry headline names, the Theakston Old Peculier is renowned for supporting emerging talent, with Val McDermid’s annual New Blood panel and a day-long creative writing workshop, Creative Thursday. 

It is also a hotbed of debate. Famed for its no barriers approach, fans, fledgling writers and established superstar authors mingle in the hotel bar. Around 90 authors take part over four days of panels, late night events, and author dinners. The full programme of events will be announced in April.

The Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival is one of the most important events in the crime publishing calendar. Agents, publishers, publicists, readers and authors attend from all over Europe and the world. 

ENDS

The 2019 Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival takes place at the Old Swan Hotel, Harrogate 18-21 July.

Rover Tickets are on sale from Tuesday 19^th February at 10am. Weekend Rover: £236, Friday Rover: £93, Saturday Rover: £105. Box office: 01423 562 303, or Book online harrogateinternationalfestivals.com

 For more media info, contact Ann@causeuk.com M: 07534892715

The Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival

The Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival is Europe’s largest event dedicated to the celebration of crime fiction. Taking place annually over four days each July (18-21 July, 2019) at the Old Swan Hotel in Harrogate, the Festival programmes over 90 best-selling UK and international crime authors and over 30 events. It is delivered by the north of England’s leading arts festival organisation, Harrogate International Festivals.  

The event features the prestigious Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award.

About Mari Hannah

Mari Hannah is an award-winning author who became a writer after her career as a Probation Officer was cut short following an assault on duty. For several years, Mari was a scriptwriter with an eye on a career in film or TV. This took off after pitching a crime pilot to the BBC based on the characters in her then unfinished debut novel The Murder Wall, winning a place on the BBC’s North East Voices Drama Development Scheme, adapting the script to a crime novel when it ended.

That award-winning book and seven others were published by Pan Macmillan before she moved to Orion in 2017. Mari’s ninth book The Lost, the first in a series featuring DI David Stone and DS Frankie Oliver, was published in the spring of 2018. The tenth – The Insider – followed in November. Her third Stone & Oliver novel, The Scandal, will launch on March 7, 2019.

http://www.marihannah.com

Photo Credits: Charlotte Graham, Ali Karim and the Authors / Publishers publicity shots