It was murder getting it off the ground, but now the Harrogate Crime Writing Festival is taking on a momentum of its own. Steve Pratt reports.
IT'S NO mystery to William Culver-Dodds why Harrogate Crime Writing Festival has taken off in such a big way. "We discovered there was a huge interest in crime fiction, which can be seen through television and films. It really does appeal across a whole spectrum of interest," says the festival director. "From our perspective, we've seen it grow from crime enthusiasts coming for the weekend to people who want to meet their favourite author.
"What's helped it grow too is that it's an international festival of crime writing and there's not another festival like this in Europe. We attract people from Northern Europe - Denmark, Sweden, Holland - and already have a big American group wanting to come over next year."
Four years ago Culver-Dodds envisaged organising an event that would be "a small part" of Harrogate International Festival. Since then, the crime writing festival has grown and grown.
The fourth, which takes place from July 20-23, is bigger than ever. This year's festival is expected to welcome between 7,000 and 8,000 people to talks and discussion sessions over the four days. Already more weekend packages have been sold than ever before.
Size forced organisers to move the festival base to a bigger hotel. They settled, appropriately enough, on the Old Swan Hotel. A £5m refurbishment has restored it to its original four-star values, although the attraction for crime fans is that this is the Harrogate hotel where Agatha Christie was found following her mysterious disappearance 80 years ago.
The festival isn't marking the Christie connection with any special events. "The Christie family still have problems because it was an upsetting time in her life, so they don't want to be too closely associated with Harrogate," says Culver-Dodds.
But the annual Foul Play evening, put together by Simon Brett and in which crime writers are challenged to find out whodunit, will have a Christie theme.
Culver-Dodds says authors enjoy the event as much as the public. "It's become a networking place for writers, and also the publishing industry which puts lot of store into crime fiction. They've taken it on board and use it for promotional purposes," he says.
"So it's become an industry event as well - we're in the publishing calendar. It works well because there are opportunities to launch books for the summer market."
A certain amount of persuasion was needed the first year to attract authors along. "Val McDermid was going out and twisting arms, getting friends and colleagues to come along. Now it's much easier to attract writers," says Culver-Dodds.
York-born Kate Atkinson, Ian Rankin, Martina Cole and PD James are among writers who'll be talking crime alongside Americans George Pelecanos and The Bone Collector author Jeffrey Deaver from America, and Australian Shane Maloney.
A new feature is Creative Thursday, a response to increasing numbers of people wanting to write. The seminar aimed at aspiring crime writers with authors, publicists and experts on hand to offer advice.
For the second year, Theakston's Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award will be announced on the festival's opening night. This is the only prize of its kind to be voted for by the public, either in Ottakars stores or online at www.ottakars.co.uk or www.harrogate-festival.org. uk/crime.
Voting on the long list ends on May 31. The shortlist of six will be announced on June 13, with voting closing on July 14.
* Theakston's Old Peculier Harrogate Crime Festival runs from July 20-23. Box office 01423 537230. www.harrogate-festival.org.uk/crime
Published: 16/05/2006
