I'm on holiday this week (a strategic bit of rest between book-related weekends) so there's no daynotes being written, but I did want to write about the incredible weekend I've just come back from in Stirling. The above photo is of karaoke night at the Curly Coo - a very good indication of the overall weekend vibe. Photo from Andrea Mara on Instagram.
But that was Saturday - let's start a bit earlier.
I was very kindly invited to an event on Thursday evening to celebrate thirty years in print for Chris Brookmyre, who I've been reading for most of those thirty years. It was a fantastic night, and a little surreal to stand around chatting with a lot of writers I hugely admire while Val McDermid belts out ABBA or Harriet Tyce does a word perfect rendition of Eminem's Stan. It was a really brilliant start to the weekend.
The next day I got checked into the green room and met some familiar faces from the previous years at Bloody Scotland, before finding my books in the Waterstones bookshop at the Golden Lion and heading to some great panels:
It was particularly wonderful to sit in the audience for this year's Debut Prize panel and remember being on the same panel myself last year. I remember how nervous we all were, but also how supportive the energy was in the room. And that was definitely the case this year too, especially with an all-women shortlist for the first time. The panel opened with short readings from each book and it was an excellent showcase for the variety and depth of talent in Scotland's writing scene.
Then we all walked up to the Church Of The Holy Rude to watch the prize ceremony, where we saw Frances Crawford pull of an unprecedented double win, scooping both the Debut Prize and the McIlvanney Prize for best overall crime novel for her book A BAD, BAD PLACE.
Frances also repeated what I managed last year, winning the McDermid Award at Harrogate and the Debut Prize, but also adding the McIlvanney to the total. An absolutely incredible achievement and you could feel the love in the room for her and her story. She gave a powerful thank-you speech highlighting the importance of learning later in life and having people who believe in you. It was deeply inspiring.
That evening was a wonderful festival opener and many people returned to the bar at the Golden Lion Hotel, which is the hub of the festival.
I finally rolled into bed after a very nice Indian meal around midnight (I think).
The Saturday of the festival was even busier, since I had my own panel to think about. But I started my day (after coffee with friends) by heading over to watch a panel on writing in American settings.
This was a really fun panel, ended with a blind tasting of Irn Bru (which Edel had never tried).
I returned to the same venue for my own panel with Chris Merritt and Paul Warner, hosted by Paul Burke of CrimeTime FM.
The panel went really well, with great questions from the audience.
After that I grabbed lunch with my agent (and pitched him a project he's excited to see, phew) then headed back to the Golden Lion for more hang out time.
Then we went out briefly for some very nice noodles (with some very nervous writers preparing for Pitch Perfect the following day), then off to the Curly Coo for the legendary Saturday night Bloody Scotland karaoke.
The above photo is a good indication of the overall weekend vibe - exhausted but happy from start to finish. I paced myself (a lot) better than last year and got a reasonable amount of sleep, but it's still a lot of very long days. And being a non-drinker, I don't tend to get the energetic second wind that comes with having a few pints - I just get steadily more tired, hour after hour. Still, I tumbled out of the karaoke around 1am and eventually got to sleep around 2am. Phew.
The last day of Bloody Scotland started a bit slower - a nice hotel breakfast, a quick coffee with my friend Remi Kone, packing and checking out, catching up with more friends over more coffees in the hotel bar, then all of us heading over to Pitch Perfect at Stirling Central Library.
This is one of my favourite parts of the festival and it's a real showcase for talent, with this year being no exception. We heard some really polished and effective pitches, and I saw at least one writer (not the winner) being approached by a publisher afterwards. So, if you're an aspiring writer in Scotland who writes crime, thriller or adjacent genres, consider giving it a go. Writers who have competed at Pitch Perfect have gone on to sign with agents, get book deals and more.
There were panels going on into the evening, but I sadly had to go in the early afternoon, but this remains one of my absolute favourite weekends of the year. If you've never been before, I heartily recommend it. And if you do come along, please do say hi. I will very probably be wearing some form of checked shirt and standing in the bar of the Golden Lion. I've been for the last four years running and I don't see that stopping anytime soon. And each year has been better than the last.