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!
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!