Bloody Scotland is here to celebrate Scottish crime writing, but we want to place it in an international context too. For this first festival we explore the links between crime writing from Scotland, and noir from our near Nordic neighbours.

We will be asking whether the success of northern crime has something to do with the small size of our countries, our relatively homogeneous populations, our stable cultural traditions— settings, in short, in which murders stand out starkly? And do the dark, cold, long winters and the extreme contrast of midnight sun also have a role?

We are delighted to present two leading Nordic writers at Bloody Scotland.

Karin Fossum is often referred to as the Norwegian queen of crime. She is the author of the internationally successful Inspector Konrad Sejer series of crime novels, translated into 25 languages and honoured with several awards. Her novels often feature dark secrets in small, typically isolated, communities.

Yrsa Sigurðardóttir is an Icelandic writer, of both crime and children’s fiction. By day she works as a civil engineer and at night she writes a series of novels featuring lawyer Thóra Gudmundsdóttir. Yrsa’s novels, leavened by a delicious dark comedy, have won readers in 30 countries.

Also at Bloody Scotland to help us discover the links between Scottish and Nordic noir is Barry Forshaw, author of the definitive and illuminating study on the success of Scandinavian crime fiction, Death in a Cold Climate.

Hope to see you in September!
Jenny Brown

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Former Edinburgh International Book Festival Director and Head of Literature at the Scottish Arts Council, Jenny runs Jenny Brown Associates, Scotland’s leading literary agency. She personally represents both Alex Gray and Lin Anderson and couldn’t say no when they asked her to help make Bloody Scotland happen.