Sunday, March 18, 2012

CrimeFest News

Fabulous News from CRIMEFEST, the international crime fiction convention: May 24-27, 2012, Bristol, UK www.crimefest.com

DIAMOND DAGGER WINNER FREDERICK FORSYTH AT CRIMEFEST!
This year the Crime Writers' Association (CWA) has awarded its Diamond Dagger to Frederick Forsyth. This prestigious award is presented for sustained excellence in and a significant contribution to crime fiction. Forsythe is the author of landmark thrillers such as The Day of the Jackal, The Odessa File, The Dogs of War and The Fourth Protocol. Since the award presentation has always been an exclusive event, CRIMEFEST traditionally invites the recipient for an interview as a more public celebration of the award. Frederick Forsyth has accepted and his interview will be on Friday, 25 May.

The itinerary is now up on the CRIMEFEST website. For details of panels, interviews and receptions, visit the PROGRAM page.

MILLION FOR A MORGUE RECEPTION
This year's CRIMEFEST pre-Gala Dinner reception is hosted courtesy of Million for a Morgue. What is Million for a Morgue? Dundee University have enlisted a sleuth of crime writers in a unique campaign to raise one million pounds for a new morgue for their Centre for Anatomy and Human Identification (CAHID). Everyone who donates to the Million For A Morgue campaign gets the chance to vote for their favorite author(s) to determine who will have their name on the new building. Participating authors are: Mark Billingham, Lee Child, Harlan Coben, Jeffery Deaver, Tess Gerritsen, Peter James, Jeff Lindsay, Val McDermid, Stuart MacBride and Kathy Reichs. The campaign's official launch party will be CRIMEFEST's Saturday evening pre-Gala Dinner reception - with the attendance of Lee, Jeffery, Peter and Professor Sue Black, a leading forensic anthropologist in the UK, and the director of the award winning CAHID. All CRIMEFEST delegates are welcome (regardless of whether you are going to the Gala Dinner), so bring your wallet! You can vote at the Million for a Morgue website if you can't wait until then. (The site will also be running competitions throughout the year for a pair of tickets to this and next year's CRIMEFEST.)

DEATH COMES TO PEMBERLEY & DRIVE GIVE-AWAYS
To highlight two of this year's participating authors we have two give-aways this month. Three copies of P.D. James' Death Comes to Pemberley are up for grabs (thanks to Faber & Faber). To enter send an email with 'pemberley' in the subject line, and your name, postal and email address in the body of the message to competition@crimefest.com. The deadline is March 31, 2012.

Also attending CRIMEFEST is James Sallis, a crime writer's crime writer with a dedicated cult following. Until the recent hit film adaptation of his crime novel Drive, Sallis was probably best known for the Lew Griffin series and his highly acclaimed biography of Chester Himes. Courtesy of Icon Pictures, there is a copy of the Drive DVD (region 2 - Europe only) to give away. To enter send an email with 'sallis' in the subject line, and your name, postal and email address in the body of the message to competition@crimefest.com. The deadline is March 31, 2012.

LEFT COAST CRIME IN SACRAMENTO
CRIMEFEST will have a registration booth at Left Coast Crime in Sacramento (29 March - 1 April). So, if you are there, come on by, have some Harvey's Bristol Cream Sherry and some British chocolate (yes, the real stuff!) and sign up for CRIMEFEST ! It's not to late to register for Left Coast Crime and join the sleuth of delegates headed by this year's Special Guest Authors John Lescroart, Harley Jane Kozak, Howard Rollins and Jacqueline Winspear.

2 comments:

Sarah Hilary said...

Hello Janet, thanks very much for this shout-out for CrimeFest. We're launching a flash fiction contest, first prize a free pass to CrimeFest, early next week. If you're able to help promote the contest, which is free to enter, we'd be very grateful.

Bobbi Mumm said...

Wouldn't that be wonderful to attend... Frederick Forsyth!