Bloody Scotland International Crime Writing Festival, which launched in 2012, will be one of the cornerstones of Stirling's 900th anniversary celebrations when it takes place in September.
The 13th festival begins, appropriately, on Friday 13th and has a stellar line-up of international crime writers and fun events including Friday 13th Fright Night, The Wickedest Link, Karaoke at the Coo and The True Crime Walking Tour.
The opening reception at The Golden Lion Hotel will include the presentation of two major literary prizes – The McIlvanney Prize and The Bloody Scotland Debut Prize - with Bloody Scotland cocktails courtesy of Stirling Distillery and, afterwards, the Stirling & District Schools Pipe Band will lead a procession from the Golden Lion to the Albert Halls.
Last week Bloody Scotland revealed five headliners appearing at the festival in their inaugural ‘sneaky peek’ and today the rest of the programme has been revealed as audiences also get the opportunity to mark the establishment of Stirling as a Royal Burgh in 1124.
Programme
Elly Griffiths, Imran Mahmood, Frank Gardner, Chris Brookmyre, Janice Hallett, Vanda Symon, Irvine Welsh, Tove Alsterdal, Ben Aaronovitch, AA Chaudhuri, Andrew Child, Louise Welsh, JD Kirk, Marisa Haetzman (aka Ambrose Parry), Abir Mukherjee, Mark Billingham, Hugo Rifkind and Erin Kelly are amongst those joining Richard Armitage, Ann Cleeves, Peter May, Louise Minchin and Ruth Ware in Stirling this September.
For a full list of all the authors appearing at the festival see the link to the programme bloodyscotland.com/whats-on/
The festival will include the usual opportunities for aspiring crime writers. Pitch Perfect – which is free but ticketed at Central Library, this year offers a £1000 prize provided by Scottish communications agency Spey in memory of broadcast journalist and crime writer Rae Stewart. His widow, Vicki Young, BBC Deputy Political Editor will be on the panel alongside Natasha Harding, Publishing Director at Bookouture and Camilla Bolton, literary agent.
‘Crime in the Spotlight’ – sponsored by the Open University in Scotland - is where newly published authors can bid to read their work to the audience in the Albert Halls ahead of the more established names and will open for applications on 1 July 2024. Graeme Macrae Burnet was famously ‘in the spotlight’ for Sir Ian Rankin and went on to be shortlisted for the Booker Prize.
Bloody Scotland is also introducing a new free but ticketed event at Central Library - How To Get Published. An experienced panel of industry experts including a commissioning editor, a literary agent and an author will offer advice and answer questions.
The 2024 festival will begin at 3pm on Friday 13 September with JD Kirk and Rachel Abbott in the Albert Halls and it will conclude at 1.30pm on Sunday 15 September with Chris Brookmyre and Stuart Turton on the main stage.
Classic
Alan Bett, Head of Literature and Publishing at Creative Scotland said: “Alongside bringing a strong programme of internationally recognised crime writers to Stirling, Bloody Scotland continue their aims to both discover and nurture new voices and ensure a strong future for the genre.
"They not only platform unpublished authors and connect them to literary agents but allow emerging writers to share audiences with the bigger names. Bloody Scotland celebrates the strength and success of our crime writing and projects it to many loyal readers from Scotland and beyond.”
Bob McDevitt, Festival Director of Bloody Scotland said: “In what has been a turbulent year for festivals up and down the country, I'm very much looking forward to what I hope will be an absolutely classic Bloody Scotland weekend, filled with brilliant writers, topical panels, a hilarious quiz and some terrible singing - as long as Jason from Friday the 13th doesn’t make an appearance!”
Tickets for the whole programme will go on sale from 1pm today (Thursday 20th June). See www.bloodyscotland.com for more information.
The festival remains committed to bringing Bloody Scotland to the wider world and those who can’t make it to Stirling can choose to watch a curated selection of events online. A £50 digital pass will allow you to watch 15 events online over the weekend including the Opening Reception and Prize Ceremony or £5 each to watch individual events.