Friday, July 25, 2014

Noirwich brings a festival of crime writers to Norwich this September


The minds behind hundreds of grisly murders will be darkening the streets of Norwich this September, when they come together for Noirwich – the region’s brand new crime writing festival.
Taking place from Wednesday 10 September to Sunday 14 September in venues across Norwich, Noirwich has been launched to highlight the depth and diversity of the popular crime thriller genre and is a collaboration between the Crime Writers' Association, University of East Anglia, Waterstones and Writers' Centre Norwich.

Celebrating the sharpest noir thrillers to contemporary police procedurals, Noirwich brings five days of author events with international writers including one of the world’s most loved crime writers and bestselling author Val McDermid, leading the line-up with readings and discussion on Friday 12 September.

Other authors include Sophie Hannah, John Harvey, Eva Dolan and Megan Abbott.
There will also be two hands-on writing masterclasses on Saturday 13 September where budding crime authors can learn how to write innovatively within and around the crime thriller genre, construct gripping characters and learn the knack of creating real suspense.
A free film screening of ‘The Killer Inside Me’ will also take place over the course of the festival.
The crime fiction and thriller market currently represents over a third of the fiction sector, making it the largest genre by far. And with one in every three books sold in the UK being a crime novel, the festival aims to showcase this hugely popular literary genre while attracting big audiences at all ten events.

Henry Sutton, Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing at University of East Anglia and award-winning crime novelist co-founded Noirwich said “Crime fiction is the most popular literary genre on the planet. It’s only fitting that the place where Creative Writing began in the UK, recognises the huge appetite for the genre, with its own dedicated festival.

Noirwich aims to showcase not just the very best crime writers and crime writing, but the huge diversity and internationalism of this most dynamic of genres. From the darkest psychological thrillers to the most puzzling and innovative police procedurals, from pure noir to pure entertainment, the emphasis will be on the writers who have and who are making the biggest impacts.
Noirwich is all about quality and originality, turning heads and pushing boundaries.”
In 2012, Norwich became England’s first UNESCO City of Literature and this festival further cements this status.

Jonathan Morley, Programme Director at Writers’ Centre Norwich said:
“Norwich is a unique meeting place for readers and writers, a place where local communities rub shoulders with the international literary world. As such we’re delighted to work with our partners to create a new celebration of the UK’s most popular literary genre, Crime Writing. From skulduggery at the Playhouse to murderous plotting at our Crime Writing workshops, we’re confident visitors from across the country will delight in the first chapter of Noirwich.”

Lucy Santos, Director at the Crime Writers’ Association is excited to be involved in launching the festival:
“The Crime Writers’ Association is delighted to be part of Noirwich and look forward to many years of collaboration with even more exciting and innovative events. It is wholly appropriate that the originators of The Daggers, the oldest and most prestigious awards in the genre, should be closely involved in such a celebration of the crime writing genre and, even more wonderfully, to be doing it in a UNESCO City of Literature.”

The full line-up, tickets and more information about Noirwich can be found on www.noirwich.co.uk

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