Bloody Scotland | |
---|---|
Genre | Scottish international crime writing festival |
Begins | 2012 |
Frequency | Annually |
Venue | Stirling |
Country | Scotland |
Most recent | 15-17 September 2023 |
Website | bloodyscotland |
Bloody Scotland is a Scottish international crime writing festival, held annually in Stirling, Scotland. It was founded in 2012 by Tartan Noir writers Lin Anderson and Alex Gray and describes itself as "the literary festival where you can let down your hair and enjoy a drink at the bar with your favourite crime writer". [1] Its sponsors include the University of Stirling and Stirling Council. [2] [3] [4] In 2022 most events were held at the Albert Halls or the Tolbooth. [5]
The festival awards The McIlvanney Prize for "the best Scottish Crime book of the year" (so named in 2016 for writer William McIlvanney (1936-2015), who has been called "the Godfather of Tartan Noir"), [6] and, since 2019, the Bloody Scotland Scottish Crime Debut of the Year. [7]
Since 2012, the festival has also run an annual Pitch Perfect event, giving emerging crime writers the opportunity to pitch work in progress novels to a panel of publishing industry experts. [8] Several winners have gone on to publication and acclaim, such as 2021 Pitch Perfect winner Kate Foster whose novel The Maiden went on to win Scottish Crime Debut of the Year in 2023 and longlisted for the 2024 Women's Prize for Fiction. [9] [10]
Sir Ian James Rankin is a Scottish crime writer and philanthropist, best known for his Inspector Rebus novels.
William Angus McIlvanney was a Scottish novelist, short story writer, and poet. He was known as Gus by friends and acquaintances. McIlvanney was a champion of gritty yet poetic literature; his works Laidlaw, The Papers of Tony Veitch, and Walking Wounded are all known for their portrayal of Glasgow in the 1970s. He is regarded as "the father of Tartan Noir" and as Scotland's Camus.
Christopher Brookmyre is a Scottish novelist whose novels, generally in a crime or police procedural frame, mix comedy, politics, social comment and action with a strong narrative. He has been referred to as a Tartan Noir author. His debut novel was Quite Ugly One Morning; subsequent works have included All Fun and Games Until Somebody Loses an Eye (2005), Black Widow (2016) and Bedlam (2013), which was written in parallel with the development of a first-person shooter videogame, also called Bedlam. He also writes historical fiction with his wife, Dr Marisa Haetzman, under the pseudonym Ambrose Parry.
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Tartan Noir is a form of crime fiction particular to Scotland and Scottish writers. William McIlvanney, who wrote three crime novels, the first being Laidlaw in 1977, is considered the father of the genre.
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Kris Haddow is a Scottish playwright, poet, performer and author, originally from Kirkconnel in Dumfries and Galloway.
The Ngaio Marsh Awards, popularly called the Ngaios, are literary awards presented annually in New Zealand to recognise excellence in crime fiction, mystery, and thriller writing. The Awards were established by journalist and legal editor Craig Sisterson in 2010, and are named after Dame Ngaio Marsh, one of the four Queens of Crime of the Golden Age of Detective Fiction. The Award is presented at the WORD Christchurch Writers & Readers Festival in Christchurch, the hometown of Dame Ngaio.
Liam McIlvanney is a Scottish-born crime fiction writer and academic at the University of Otago in Otago, New Zealand, and the inaugural holder of the Stuart Chair in Scottish studies at the university. He is the son of William McIlvanney. Notable students include author Majella Cullinane.
Mary Paulson-Ellis is a Scottish writer and novelist. She writes across the genres of literary, crime and historical fiction. Her work has appeared in the Guardian and been broadcast on BBC Radio 4. Her books have received a number of awards. Paulson-Ellis’ first novel, The Other Mrs Walker (2016) became a Times bestseller and was named Waterstones Scottish Book of the Year in 2017.
Francine Toon, also writing as Francine Elena, is a British writer.
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Kate Foster is a Scottish writer. She was a journalist for 25 years before publishing her first novel at the age of 48.