The Bloody Scotland 2020 online programme is here!
It's been a long year and a long wait, but we're so happy to be able to reveal the programme for our virtual festival this year!
Paul Reich
A note from our director:
'What began with disappointment and seemingly endless challenges has turned into a genuine opportunity to try something a bit different this year. The festival has a truly epic scale from our biggest ever panel featuring no less than 27 authors to a session that will bring five continents online together, and there will be more spotlights for debut and emerging writers than ever before. We all know the festival won't feel quite the same this year but we have all the makings of a classic Bloody Scotland year nonetheless!'
- Bob McDevitt, Bloody Scotland festival director
All events can be booked on Eventbrite and they will be streamed live on bloodyscotland.com. Attendees will be notified on how to access the events nearer the time but for now, without further ado...
Friday 18th September
Masterclass
Pitch Perfect
The Bloody Scotland Board
The McIlvanney & Debut Prize
Jeffery Deaver
The Fun Lovin' Crime Writers
Saturday 19th September
Dame Sue Black
Peter May
Ann Cleeves
Ian Rankin
Lawrence Block
Simon Mayo
Adrian McKinty
Steve Cavanagh
Attica Locke
Oyinkan Braithwaite
Shamini Flint
JP Pomare
Lin Anderson
Tess Gerritsen
Linwood Barclay
Yrsa Sigurðardóttir
Helen FitzGerald
Robert Crais
Deon Meyer
Crime at the Coo
Sunday 20th September
Lee Child
Val McDermid
Denise Mina
Chris Brookmyre
Mark Billingham
John Connolly
Harriet Tyce
Ruth Ware
Liz Nugent
Lou Berney
Sheena Kamal
SA Cosby
Katherine Ramsland
and many more in the Never Ending Panel...
If you have any questions about this year's virtual events, please check the FAQ:
bloodyscotland.com/bloody-scotland-2020-faq/
or email us at
or tweet us at
We'll do our very best to help you out.
Putting on an online festival of this scale – and being able to bring it to you for free – has taken a monumental effort. In achieving it, we are grateful for the support of our funders and sponsors, without whom it wouldn’t have happened.
However, there are still costs associated with an online venture – paying authors and chair people, fees for festival and technical staff, plus the associated costs of programming, marketing and publicity – and we’d be glad of any help to cover them. The receipt of any donations may also allow us to make the festival available to even more people and help us plan for the 10th anniversary festival in 2021.
If you're able to donate, please go to bloodyscotland.com/donate
or you can text BLOODY plus the number of the amount you'd like to give (up to £20) to 70490 (e.g. 'BLOODY 5' will donate £5, 'BLOODY 10' will donate £10, etc) Each text will cost your donation plus one standard network rate message.
But whether you want to donate or not, please register to watch for free, and we’ll see you all in September. We can’t wait!
Debut shortlist & McIlvanney Prize longlist 2020 announced!
2020 might be a year like no other and we won't be gathering in Stirling in September like we usually do but the prizes must go on! We're so chuffed to announce the shortlist for the Bloody Scotland Debut Crime Book of the Year and the longlist for the McIlvanney Prize for the Scottish Crime Book of the Year. The McIlvanney Prize recognises excellence in Scottish crime writing, and includes a prize of £1,000 and nationwide promotion in Waterstones.
With thanks to The Glencairn Glass, the World’s Favourite Whisky Glass and the Official Glass for Whisky for sponsoring the prize this year, and to Culture & Business Fund Scotland who have generously matched the funding.
Congratulations to all!
Ian Rankin, Denise Mina, Richard Osman and Karen Robinson announce the lucky nominees here:
https://youtu.be/xTPBltasM_o
Deborah Masson, Hold Your Tongue (Transworld)
Stephen O’Rourke, The Crown Agent (Sandstone)
Marion Todd, See Them Run (Canelo)
Francine Toon, Pine (Doubleday)
You can find out more about the debut shortlist here.
Lin Anderson, Time for the Dead (Macmillan)
Lisa Gray, Bad Memory (Thomas & Mercer)
Andrew James Greig, Whirligig (Fledgling)
Doug Johnstone, A Dark Matter (Orenda)
Val McDermid, How the Dead Speak (Little, Brown)
Ben McPherson, The Island (HarperCollins)
James Oswald, Bury Them Deep (Headline)
Ambrose Parry, The Art of Dying (Canongate) aka Chris Broomyre and Marisa Haetzman
Mary Paulson-Ellis, The Inheritance of Solomon Farthing (Mantle)
Caro Ramsay, The Red, Red Snow (Severn House)
Craig Robertson, Watch Him Die (Simon & Schuster)
Francine Toon, Pine (Doubleday)
You can find out more about the McIlvanney Prize longlist here.
Bloody Scotland 2020 cancelled
Hello friends,
It may not come as a surprise but we’re very sad to announce that Bloody Scotland will not be taking place in Stirling this year due to the global Coronavirus pandemic. The safety of our team, participants and audiences is paramount and even if social distancing restrictions are lifted by September, we feel we cannot proceed as normal without knowing safety can be absolutely assured.
Though we will greatly miss celebrating the finest local and international crime writing at the festival, we hope to bring you a wee taste of that classic Bloody Scotland atmosphere in the form of online events which we are currently in the process of plotting. More about that will be announced on a later date so make sure you’re following us on all the usual channels and join the mailing list for the latest updates.
Until then, please stay home and stay safe.
All the very best from the Bloody Scotland team.
If you have any questions please send them through to info@bloodyscotland.com
Dates for Bloody Scotland 2021 are currently scheduled as 17 - 19 September, should circumstances deem it possible closer to the time.
Four Blokes Go Wild(ish) in Spain
Prologue
For the last few years Bloody Scotland has been forging a relationship with a noir festival, Xabia Negra, in the town of Javea on Spain’s Costa Blanca. With the support of the local town council we have had authors such as Graeme Macrae Burnet, Abir Mukherjee, Craig Robertson, Lin Anderson and Alexandra Sokoloff appear at the festival. This year, due to local elections, the council decided to rest the festival but, keen to keep the link with Bloody Scotland, invited the Four Blokes (Douglas Skelton, Mark Leggatt, Neil Broadfoot and myself) to put on a one-off event.
Day 1
And so the Four Blokes booked their flights, purchased their Euros and packed the sun cream for a trip to Spain.
Unfortunately, due a domestic emergency, Neil had to withdraw at the last minute. So the Four Blokes became the Tres Amigos.
The three of us departed the shores of the UK at an hour only fit for farmers and those that forgot to go home the night before. We departed on the 31st of January, Brexit Day. We did have a minor worry that we may not be allowed back in. But that had nothing to do with Brexit and isn't something that need bother anyone reading this. It was also transfer deadline day for the football. Mark spent the day waiting on the call from Manchester United to fill the striker’s position – he’s still waiting.
And so we left the rain and we landed in the sunshine. We left the cold and arrived in the heat. We left sober and arrived … well you get the picture.
Javea’s old town - this is what blue sky looks like for the sun-starved of the UK.
Our first task was to visit a bar, well what else? But, being good boys, we stuck to a rigid diet of Café con Leche.
Mark and Douglas – with Douglas winning on the cool-look stakes.
Post the coffee I had arranged to meet the Javea council’s representative, Pepa Roig, to visit the venue and make the necessary arrangements for the event. The venue turned out to be fantastic. Owned by the church our room sat in a renovated 18th century building.
The venue and the calm before the storm.
After scouting the venue - and given it was a Friday night - and given we were in Spain - and given the bars were open we decided to sample the local nightlife in Javea. A quiet night was had, well as quiet as you can expect from three ageing rock stars on the eve of a gig – in other words we went wild(ish) – threw caution to the wind and almost stayed out ‘till midnight.
Somewhere, in the less salubrious part of town, three men sort out the world’s problems.
Day 2
We awoke to a sun-drenched day of waving palm trees, balmy breezes, lapping waves and the plaintive cries of frigate birds whirling in the cloud peppered sky. (Dear cliché monster than you for the last sentence.)
Actually, it rained. Admittedly for all of ten minutes and in such a manner that it would be embarrassed to call itself rain back in the West of Scotland.
We’d all arranged to meet up at lunch time for a bite to eat and a quick chat about the gig. Not for a rehearsal; there’s no way to rehearse Four Blokes – it’s a straight fly by the seat of your pants exercise every time. However, we felt we needed to ring a few changes and the plan for the evening was to mix things up a bit by taking a leaf out of the improv comedy circuit. The first half of the gig would be the usual mix of one author writing while the others answered the audience’s questions. In this way we construct a crime story live but, and this is the large, elephant sized but, we decided to allow the audience to throw a few curveballs our way in the second half. We planned to ask them to draw from the Tea Cosy of Inspiration (which is fair enough as it where we draw our inspiration from) – but in this case an audience member would draw out a ‘Make it Awkward for Us’ slip and challenge whoever was writing next to add in a sentence of their choice – or write the next section in a particular style – or introduce a new character and so on (see below). Later in this blog I’ll let you know if this addition was a resounding success or a spectacular own goal.
| What sentence should the next Bloke start with? | What sentence should the next Bloke start with? | What sentence should the next Bloke start with? |
| In what style should the next Bloke write?
(eg Sci-Fi, Romantic, Shakespearean etc) |
In what style should the next Bloke write?
(eg Sci-Fi, Romantic, Shakespearean etc) |
In what style should the next Bloke write?
(eg Sci-Fi, Romantic, Shakespearean etc) |
| What word should the next Bloke include? | What word should the next Bloke include? | What word should the next Bloke include? |
| What character should the next Bloke include? | What character should the next Bloke include? | What character should the next Bloke include? |
The ‘Make it Awkward for Us’ Sheet.
Once the new format was agreed we retired to the balcony, stricken with the effort of talking to each other.
Stricken authors drained of their creative juices.
The Night Itself
And so to the gig itself. We had arranged to do a sound check at five o’clock (sound checking - that is so rock’n’roll). But if there is one thing you learn about Spain it’s that they have a relaxed attitude to life. This is a wonderful trait and one that we really should embrace in the UK but on this occasion the word relaxed, when applied to the arrival of the sound equipment, stretched even the loosest definition of ‘mañana culture’. With the gig kicking off at eight and the audience due to arrive from seven-thirty, the sound man appeard at just before seven, a rather nerve inducing two hours late. As a result the sound check was conducted while some of the audience were coming into the venue.
With the large numbers anticipated (we had close on a hundred and twenty people) - effectively a sell-out - we needed some help at the door to manage the throbbing throngs. In addition, we also needed a little help throughout the evening with things like the roving mike and to help with the new format. With the Tres Amigos on stage it fell to a friend of mine, Ian Hall, who manfully stepped into the breach and became ‘the fourth bloke’ for the evening. And at this point I need to give a big thanks to him for his help.
Ian and Douglas invigilating as Mark sits the compulsory pre-show exam (he failed).
Just prior to the gig the Councillor for Culture in Javea, Quico Moragues, popped into say hello. And I’d like to say a big GRACIAS to both Quico and Pepa Roig for both the council’s support and help in putting on the show. And while I’m at it I need to thank Bloody Scotland for all their support in getting us all to Spain.
‘Quico Moragues and the Tres Amigos.’
Sound issues sorted, photos taken, teeth brushed, fresh pants donned and copious underarm anti-perspirant applied - we said hello to our audience.
Our wonderful audience.
And so to work. The first order of business was to ask the audience to select the main protagonist and the murder weapon that would feature in our story. Ian dutifully collected the slips from the audience and placed them in the Tea Cosy of Inspiration.
The Tea Cosy of Inspiration with Ducky and spoon (don’t ask).
The protagonist was drawn and was one Dick Pinto and the weapon of choice a boomerang. And that was what we had to work with. Douglas was selected by the audience to start writing and myself and Mark got down to talking as Douglas donned the Tea Cosy of Inspiration. The night fair flew by. Much laugher was had accompanied by more than a few groans. Douglas, Mark and myself desperately wrestled a story, word by word, into shape as we tried to create something cohesive (which to be fair would be a first). During the second half of the show we introduced the ‘Make it Awkward’ section and this went down well although it did make it slightly more difficult for us – but, hey, where’s the no pain.
A photo that shows me, mid-type as Mark holds court with Douglas trying to get a word in edgeways.
Douglas rounded off the night by drawing the short straw and had to find a way to finish the story. He exceled by producing a fantastic conclusion that manged to include, at an audience members’ suggestion, Theresa May.
As we finished the gig the audience rose to its feet as one, mainly to make for the exit.
This was probably one of the best nights we’ve had as the Four Blokes and it's a pity Neil couldn't make it to share in it.
After chatting, signing books and generally winding down we retired to the, wait for it, bar for a well-earned non-alcoholic beverage (there is a lie buried in that last sentence).
Day 3 (the day after)
The day after the night before dawned to find the Tres Amigos full of life, vigour and bursting with energy. Or as it is more commonly known in Scottish parlance – we were knackered.
A slightly jaded but in good humour Mark and Douglas.
We all roamed the wilds of Javea on our own in the morning and wandered the wilds of Javea together in the afternoon as a pack.
Douglas photographing orange trees –
for reasons known only himself he spent most of Sunday in this pursuit.
We closed of Sunday night with a pizza the size of the moon and a couple of gallons of tea before retiring for an early night. Something we do a lot.
The pizza beat us.
Conclusion
And that ended the Four Blokes/Tres Amigos/Three Blokes and Ian my friend’s* (*delete as required) weekend in Javea.
My conclusion – a great weekend and great show. Judging from the social media reaction on the Sunday the audience had a wonderful time and according to Quico Moragues the council will be in touch about the future - so we must have done something right.
The continual drive to spread the word about Scottish crime writing continues and the Four Blokes will soon be taking the message to a much wider audience closer to home when we appear at the Glasgow International Comedy Festival on Wednesday the 18th of March at the Glad Café in Shawlands – tickets a very reasonable £6 each – what are you waiting for?
Not The End
- Gordon Brown
McIlvanney Prize 2019 winner is Manda Scott!
The judges of the McIlvanney Prize this year were Jamie Crawford, Alison Flood and Stuart Cosgrove who said of the winner:
"A powerful, complex and remarkable espionage thriller: a present-day murder links back to Resistance France. An intricately plotted novel which keeps the reader guessing right to the end."
Our biggest of congratulations to Manda Scott!
Buy A Treachery of Spies from Waterstones
Read an extract of A Treachery of Spies
Claire Askew wins the Bloody Scotland Scottish Crime Debut of 2019!
Congratulations to Claire Askew who has won the inaugural Bloody Scotland Scottish Crime Debut of the Year, 2019 for All the Hidden Truths!
In the aftermath of a tragedy, the world needs an explanation.
In Edinburgh, after the Three Rivers College shooting, some things are clear.
They know who. They know when.
No one can say why.
For three women the lack of answers is unbearable: DI Helen Birch, the detective charged with solving the case. Ishbel, the mother of the first victim, struggling to cope with her grief. And Moira, mother of the killer, who needs to understand what happened to her son.
But as people search for someone to blame, the truth seems to vanish...
Buy All the Hidden Truths from Waterstones
McIlvanney Prize shortlist 2019 announced!
The wait is over! (well, this wait. Now begins the wait for the winner announcement but one thing at a time) We can reveal the shortlist for the McIlvanney Prize Crime Book of the Year is...
Breakers, Doug Johnstone (Orenda)
Judges said of Breakers: A tightly written and compelling exploration of two sides of Edinburgh, touching on social topics rarely examined in crime fiction. A brilliant and moving portrait of family dynamics and loyalty as a young boy struggles to break out of his powerlessness.
Conviction, Denise Mina (Harvill Secker)
Judges said of Conviction: A highly original and timely rollercoaster of a read, a caper which takes the reader on an unforgettable journey from central Glasgow to the Highlands, France and Italy. The novel fizzes with energy and brims over with a love of storytelling.
The Way of All Flesh, Ambrose Parry (Canongate)
Judges said of The Way of All Flesh: Intensely and brilliantly researched piece of writing, casting back to 19th century Edinburgh when the art of surgery was just emerging at the same time as body snatchers were at large on the streets.
Treachery of Spies, Manda Scott (Bantam Press)
Judges said of Treachery of Spies: A powerful, complex and remarkable espionage thriller where a present-day murder links back to Resistance France. An intricately plotted novel which keeps the reader guessing right to the end.
This year's judges are Alison Flood, James Crawford and Stuart Cosgrove. Here they are making the tough decisions earlier this week!
The winner will be revealed on Friday 20th September at our gala event before the torchlight parade from Stirling castle. If you'd like to be there for the gala announcement, you can still buy tickets here.
Hugest of congratulations to our shortlist!
Pitch Perfect 2019
Revealing the 2019 Pitch Perfect cohort! They will be pitching to our expert panel and you can attend the event by buying tickets here.
Robert Craven has been writing short stories and novels since 1992. His latest novel ‘The Road of a Thousand Tigers’ launched in November 2018 went to No.1 on Kobo downloads in July 2019 in Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Working with the Ian Fleming Society, a pitch for the ‘00’ universe grew into a stand-alone adventure in the style of Lee Child and James Patterson. His Eva series: Get Lenin, Zinnman, A Finger of Night and Hollow Point have received rave reviews and solid sales on both Amazon and Kobo platforms. His final Eva adventure ‘Eagles Hunt Wolves’ is in the pipeline for release in early 2020. A former touring musician, he also regularly reviews CDs for Independent Irish Review Ireland. Robert is a member of the Irish Writer’s Union.
Rob will be pitching The Road of a Thousand Tigers
Suzy Aspley is Geordie living in Scotland with a dash of Danish. A former journalist, she lives in the Trossachs, west of Stirling, with her family including kids and assorted animals. Inspired by the landscape around her, she can often be found wandering in the forest with her dogs, conjuring up dark tales of murder and mystery. She also writes very short flash fiction and the occasional poem.
Suzy will be pitching: One for Sorrow
Twitter: @Miss_Suzannie
Elissa Soave is a Scottish writer whose work has appeared in Structo, Gutter, the Glasgow Review of Books, Open Pen, Literary Orphans, and others. Her story 'Blood' will appear in this year's New Writing Scotland (forthcoming September 2019). She has had stories selected for performance at Glasgow CCA and the Scottish Writers' New Writing Showcase, and another shortlisted for performance by Liars League London. She has also written two short plays, both of which have been performed by the Short Attention Span Theatre Group (@SASTSCOTLAND). She is currently on the shortlist for the Primadonna Prize (winner to be announced in December). Elissa's fiction is set in the domestic but often dangerous world of ordinary people. Her characters tend to be alienated, damaged, and often angry, but their perspective on the world and the way in which they deal with their problems will reassure readers of the resilience of the human spirit.
Elissa will be pitching How Will You Love Me?
Twitter: @elissa_soave
Dave Macdonald is a sociologist by training and has lived and worked in several African and Asian countries mainly as a drug demand reduction advisor. He spent five years in Afghanistan working for the UNODC and as an advisor to the Ministries of Counternarcotics and Public Health. Now he lives in Perthshire but escapes to India in the winter to escape the Scottish winter. Most of the year he spends his time writing and teaching Qigong. He has several non-fiction books, book chapters and journal articles, including Drugs in Afghanistan: Opium, Outlaws and Scorpion Tales, published by Pluto Press, London.
Dave will be pitching Elvis in Kabul: Killing Ground of the Creole King
Anne Hamilton is a creative writing tutor and freelance fiction editor. She has published life-writing and short stories – but this is her first foray into crime and suspense. She lives in Edinburgh with her young son.
Anne will be pitching The Baby In The Box
Twitter: @AnneHamilton7
David Smith is a lawyer and writer from Washington, DC. He spends more time in airports than is probably healthy but does not complain about the results of this practice. He was recently shortlisted for the 2019 CWA Debut Dagger.
David will be pitching The Last Bird
Twitter: @dcsmithwrites
Libby Cutts is a writer, a reader, a listener and, by day, a gardener. She fell into gardening from an English Literature with Creative Writing degree and has been wrangling the greenery around large historic houses for the last fourteen years of her working life, most recently in Derbyshire. She is currently pruning and training her life into a ladder she can use to climb further into writing.
Libby will be pitching The Mere
Cheralyn Wilcox (who writes under C J Willcox) was born in Bristol and grew up in Severn Beach which was known as the Blackpool of the south. She has always had a love of books and writing that was fuelled by her late father. She completed her law degree at Bristol University but decided the corporate world wasn’t for her, so embarked on other things which included being a foster carer. She now lives with her wife Kat, their four grown up children and a serious amount of animals on a farm in a little village on the edge of the Cotswolds. She and her family run the farm as a retirement home for horses and a small riding centre that specialises in working with special needs adults and children. She is about to start her final year training as a psychodynamic therapist and once qualified, she would like to bring together her therapy training with horses to help people who suffer with mental health problems.
Cheralyn will be pitching The Marble Man.
Twitter: @C_J_Willcox
Crime in the Spotlight-ers 2019 revealed!
We're thrilled to announce this year's 12 Crime in the Spotlight winners who will be supporting a number of events at Bloody Scotland by reading from their books before kick-off.
In order of time of performance we look forward to welcoming...
- Judith O’Reilly with David Baldacci, Fri 20th, 8.30pm (Reading from Killing State)
- Geraldine Hogan with Dr David Wilson, Sat 21st, 10am (Reading from Silent Night)
- Jackie McLean with Chris Brookmyre & Michael Robotham, Sat 21st, 11.45am (Reading from Shadows)
- Gordon Kerr with Alexander McCall Smith, Sat 21st 1.30pm (Reading from The Partisan Heart)
- Fiona Erskine with Denise Mina & Louise Welsh, Sat 21st 3.15pm (Reading from The Chemical Detective)
- Daniel James with Richard Osman, Sat 21st 5pm (Reading from The Unauthorised Biography of Ezra Maas)
- Noelle Holten with Ian Rankin & Nicola Sturgeon, Sat 21st, 8pm (Reading from Dead Inside)
- Anne Pettigrew with Professor Angela Gallop, Sun 22nd, 11am (Reading from Not the Life Imagined)
- Neil Lancaster with Lin Anderson & Alex Gray, Sun 22nd, 12.45pm (Reading from Going Dark)
- Douglas Watt with Ambrose Parry and Nicci French, Sun 22nd, 2.30pm (Reading from The Unnatural Death of a Jacobite)
- Anna Sayburn Lane with Yrsa Sigurdardottir & Sally Magnusson, Sun 22nd, 4pm (Reading from Unlawful Things)
- Christine Laurenson with Stuart MacBride & Mark Billingham, Sun 22nd 5.30pm (Reading from Dark Business)
Nicola Sturgeon to join Ian Rankin at Bloody Scotland
You've been very patient while we've held on to this secret for a while but now we can reveal all: Bloody Scotland is delighted to reveal that the ‘special guest’ interviewing Ian Rankin on Saturday 21 September will be First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon.
A self-confessed crime fiction fan, the First Minister was last seen at the Harrogate Crime Festival singing backing vocals with the Fun Lovin’ Crime Writers hot from their appearance at Glastonbury.
In case you didn't know: at the last count, Ian had sold some 30 million books that have been translated into thirty-six languages and have been bestsellers around the world. As a thrilling storyteller – Ian Rankin has few rivals.
The First Minister said:
“Ian Rankin is one of Scotland’s most celebrated crime writers, world-renowned for his page-turning thrillers - so it’s a real pleasure for me to interview him at the Bloody Scotland International Crime Writing Festival.
“Now in its eighth year, Bloody Scotland is attracting writers and audiences from around the world with its excellent programme - and I look forward to attending this year’s festival.”
Ian Rankin said:
“I’ve probably done hundreds of events during my time as an author but this is a first for me. I’ve no idea what the First Minister will ask or where our conversation will lead. I just know she’s one of the best-read politicians currently gracing the world stage - and she definitely knows her crime fiction!”
We can't wait to see what questions Nicola will have lined up for Ian! Sure to sell out, don't miss your chance to attend this once in a lifetime event.