Richard Osman, Mick Herron and Elly Griffiths are among the novelists who will appear at this year’s Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival.
Hosted by programming chair, Ian Rankin, the event will return to Harrogate’s Old Swan Hotel from July 22 to July 25.
Making an appearance at this year’s festival will be Richard Osman, presenter of the TV show Pointless and author of The Thursday Murder Club and espionage expert Mick Herron, author of the Slough House series.
Elly Griffiths, Ann Cleeves and Mark Billingham will also be special guests, as well as queen of crime Val McDermid.
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Ian Rankin, best-selling Rebus author, said: ‘
“After a year of once-in-a-lifetime challenges, I couldn’t be more excited to stage this celebration of all things crime! With the announcement of our special guests, the countdown is officially on to this year’s festival and I’m looking forward to unveiling what else we have in store.”
Sharon Canavar, chief executive of event organiser Harrogate International Festivals, said:
“The Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival is a lynch-pin in the publishing calendar – an annual pilgrimage for crime fiction aficionados – and we are thrilled to reveal the first taste of this year’s unmissable programme.
“Harrogate International Festivals has long pioneered innovative and unique cultural experiences, and over the course of the past year we have shown great flexibility and creativity to continue with this mission.”
The festival will include four days of talks and panels from crime writing specialists, including the queens of domestic noir Clare Mackintosh and CL Taylor in conversation.
Weekend packages for the festival will go on sale on Monday.
For more information on the event and details of covid government regulations visit http://www.harrogateinternationalfestivals.com/.
Harrogate district event venues light up in ‘red alert’The Harrogate Convention Centre, Harrogate International Festival’s HQ and Ripon Catherdral lit up in red last night as part of a national campaign to highlight the plight of the stricken live entertainment industry.
The “Red Alert” campaign aims to put pressure on the government to give financial support to the industry which has been shut down by the coronavirus lockdown with no clear end in sight.
HIF cancelled its summer season events which has left freelancers working in the sector including artists, events teams, crew and technicians with no work until at least next year.
Harrogate International Festivals chief executive Sharon Canavar warned that without government support the sector could collapse.
She said:
“The impact of COVID-19 has taken our industry to near breaking point, and to support this national campaign, we bathed our Cheltenham Parade base in bright red light – sending an urgent ‘red alert’ to the Government.
“Red is the universal symbol of danger and, as an industry, we are in danger of ceasing to exist!
“It’s an urgent SOS that without support, the arts will not survive.”
Harrogate Convention Centre tweeted its support for the campaign.
Tonight we are showing our support for all the UK’s live event venues #LightItInRed and the amazing staff, suppliers and freelancers in our sector who deliver the live events we love #WeMakeEvents pic.twitter.com/dMXhvuT4rJ
— Harrogate Convention Centre (@HgtConventions) August 11, 2020
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Ripon Cathedral
Harrogate Theatre said they would not be lighting up in red “at a later date” due to concerns over health and safety.
Chief executive David Bown said:
“Of course we want to support the campaign it’s keeping the plight of theatres in people’s consciousness -our technicians are looking into it. The movement is to remind people of what is happening and the impact on the industry.
“It’s the health and safety that we have to be careful with, leaving lights on when no-one is in the building.”
The government said it has launched a £1.57 billion support package for the arts with applications for funding still open.
A government spokesperson said:
“Our £1.57 billion support package is the biggest ever one-off cash injection in UK culture to secure the future of the performing arts and live events, protect jobs in the industry and ensure work continues to flow to freelancers. Throughout this crisis, we have worked with urgency to support the arts and we are committed to delivering this funding quickly and fairly to organisations across the country.”