As it has been a couple of weeks since I and my good wife attended the brilliant Harrogate Crime Festival, I thought it was time to put my thoughts down.
The Harrogate Crime Festival is one of the major crime festivals of the year, where
the loyal readers of the genre mingle and talk to their favourite authors, established, up and coming, and just starting out.
This year was my 2nd visit to the festival. The first was in 2019 before the pandemic. As an author who is still on the starting out road, attending any crime festival is of benefit. I met a lot of people who I had only spoken to on social media, and it was brilliant to meet and talk to them in person. And, of course, to say hello again to the ones I met in 2019. It has been said that crime authors are always willing to help out fellow authors with their writing and answer questions, and this I can wholeheartedly agree with.
The conversations going on at Harrogate are tantamount to that. There is always something to learn about crime writing, whether you have sold thousands of books or just a few.
Waterstones set up a book shop in the Old Swan Hotel, and judging by the amount of bags of books which I saw, they were doing a roaring trade. I purchased a signed copy of Mick Herron's Slough House, winner of the Theakston's Crime Novel of the Year!
Great weather, flowing beer and other alcoholic beverages added to the atmosphere. If you ever get the chance to go to the festival, don't miss out. I have already booked my hotel for next year. But be warned, there are a lot of hills!!!
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