Peter James, Anne Holt, Ian Rankin and Hugh Fraser are among the top names set to speak at this year’s CrimeFest in Bristol, 19th – 22nd May.
CrimeFest will once again host a stellar line-up of award-winning, bestselling crime fiction authors, as well as hundreds of publishers, agents and lovers of crime fiction over four days of exciting panel discussions and author talks. Since its launch in 2008 CrimeFest has become the standout event of the year for crime fiction aficionados from around the world.
International bestselling author of the Roy Grace series Peter James will be interviewed by Andrew Taylor about receiving the Crime Writer’s Association Diamond Dagger Award for excellence in crime writing. Anne Holt, who has spearheaded the Norwegian crime-thriller trend, becoming Norway’s bestselling female crime writer, will be interviewed by Barry Forshaw and award-winning crime author Ian Rankin will be interviewed by Jake Kerridge. This year Hugh Fraser, best known for playing Captain Hastings in Agatha Christie’s Poirot, will be the Gala Dinner Toastmaster, having recently released his debut novel Harm.
Andrew Sisman, bestselling author of the biography that unearthed the enigma behind John le Carré, will be in conversation with BBC icon James Naughtie to discuss the compelling espionage that led le Carré to write classic crime thrillers like The Night Manager, now a hit BBC series.
The hotly contested trial of Steven Avery in the unmissable Netflix documentary Making A Murderer will be debated in a mock-trial hosted by Crime Scene Magazine. Neil White, criminal lawyer and bestselling author of Cold Kill, will be battling head to head for Avery’s conviction against Steven Cavanagh, author of the Eddie Flynn thrillers. Sophie Hannah will be making a special appearance as the Judge.
CrimeFest host and co-founder Adrian Muller said: “This has been a fantastic year for crime fiction, with TV adaptations of real cases like Making A Murderer and The Jinx and adaptions of crime classics like The Night Manager and Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None boosting crime fiction’s popularity and reaching a new audience. From discussing contemporary issues of everything from cyber-terrorism to sexism within the police force to debating corruption in the criminal justice system, CrimeFest will present an array of exciting panels from the best crime fiction authors from around the world.”
Also appearing at the UK’s biggest crime convention are a number of fantastic panel events and discussions including:
- ‘Deadly Dames: Women As Killers, Investigators And Victims’ with culinary-crime writers Janet Laurence and Anna Mazzola
- ‘What’s So Funny? Humour In Crime Fiction’ with James Runcie (Grantchester) and Dead Ringers writer Nev Fountain
- ‘Crimes Against Humanity: Terrorism, War And International Intrigue’ with Yusuf Toropov, author of Jihadi: A Love Story
- ‘When is Enough Too Much?: Violence Against Women In Crime Fiction’ with Shetland author Ann Cleeves and author of the bestselling Thora Gudmundsdottir series Yrsa Sigurðardóttir, moderated by James Runcie
For more information, and to view the programme in full, please Click Here.
