Bloody Scotland International Crime Writing Festival 21-23 September 2018
‘They have really tried to find new ways of doing things.They decided to institute a football match which was Scottish writers versus writers from the rest of the world, they hired rooms in a nearby pub so authors could do cabaret or turns and that’s extra-curricular. I think if we’re going to attract more people to literary festivals…you have to have more enticing things happening around the festival as a sort of fringe.’
Jake Kerridge talking about Bloody Scotland
on Open Book, BBC Radio 4, July 2018
Bloody Scotland has established a great name for thinking outside the box and the annual football match, which takes place at 2pm this Saturday 22 September, between Scottish and English crime writers has become a highlight of the Crime Writing Festival.
It’s a great chance for the public to get up close and personal to some really big names. Mark Billingham again captains the England squad. Chris Brookmyre, who has taken over the role as captain of the Scottish squad from Ian Rankin, said:
“I am deeply honoured to be captaining my country, and am planning to learn from my predecessor Ian Rankin by being on the pitch for the kick-off and then limiting my subsequent participation as much as possible.”
The Scotland team captained by Chris Brookmyre will include crime writers Craig Robertson, Doug Johnstone, Liam McIlvanney, David Ross, Alan Jones, Andrew Reid and Charles McGarry.
The England team captained by Mark Billingham will include crime writers Luca Veste, Howard Linskey, Will Carver, Robert Scragg, Vincent Holland Keane and Lloyd Otis.
Commentary will be provided by the inimitable Douglas Skelton.
It is a fabulous FREE event which takes place on the hallowed turf of Cowane’s Hospital bowling green and is enhanced by a pop-up bar serving Bloody Scotland cocktails courtesy of Stirling Gin and, in the event of rain, made less soggy by Bloody Scotland umbrellas.
The Scotland team lifted The Bloody Cup in 2017, with a storming 6-3 victory, sending Mark Billingham’s men homeward to think again. The word is that they have thought and they’re coming back hell-bent on revenge.
Live and Deadly 