BLOODY SCOTLAND INTERNATIONAL CRIME WRITING FESTIVAL REVEALS FIVE FINALISTS FOR THE McILVANNEY PRIZE 2021
sponsored by The Glencairn Glass with match funding from Culture & Business Fund Scotland
Five years ago the Scottish Crime Book of the Year Award was renamed the McIlvanney Prize in memory of William McIlvanney. This year his final book, The Dark Remains, completed with the help of Ian Rankin, was launched at the Edinburgh Book Festival immediately prior to the announcement of the McIlvanney Prize shortlist. The McIlvanney Prize judges this year include Karen Robinson, formerly of The Times Crime Club and a CWA judge; Ayo Onatade, winner of the CWA Red Herring Award and freelance crime fiction critic and Ewan Wilson, crime fiction buyer from Waterstones Glasgow.
Karen Robinson 
Ayo Onatade 
Ewan Wilson
They selected five finalists from the longlist of thirteen.
The list includes 2015 winner, Craig Russell; established names Stuart MacBride and Alan Parks and two debut authors, Emma Christie and Robbie Morrison who beat some of the biggest names in crime fiction to make the cut. Emma Christie was one of the up and coming authors selected to appear at Crime in the Spotlight as a support act for The Never Ending Panel last year.
Craig Russell (c) Jonathon Craig 
Alan Parks 
Stuart MacBride (c) Mark Mainz 
The judges described Craig Russell as ‘an author who never disappoints and always gets to the heart of a story’ and they ‘loved the presentation of Victorian Edinburgh and Celtic myths’ in HYDE (Constable)
They praised THE APRIL DEAD by Alan Parks (Canongate) for ‘continuing to innovate’ and said they ‘enjoyed the well-drawn characters and cliffhanger ending’.
They called THE COFFIN MAKER’S GARDEN by Stuart MacBride (HarperCollins) ‘a dark, edgy and original novel, full of action and a great sense of place with just the right kind of humour’
Emma Christie (c) Maria Jose Fernandez Hidalgo 
Robbie Morrison
They described THE SILENT DAUGHTER by Emma Christie (Welbeck) as ‘taking the domestic noir genre and offering something fresh and different with well controlled characters’ and called EDGE OF THE GRAVE by Robbie Morrison (Macmillan) ‘a compelling exploration of gangland Glasgow, with a brilliant sense of period. They enjoyed the pace of the novel and the unforeseen twist at the end.’ Both are also on the shortlist for the Bloody Scotland Debut Prize.
The Glencairn Glass, the World’s Favourite Whisky Glass and the Official Glass for Whisky is again sponsoring both The McIlvanney Prize and The Bloody Scotland Debut Crime Novel of the Year. Culture & Business Fund Scotland have generously given matched funding.
The winners of both prizes will be revealed at the Albert Halls in Stirling at 5.15pm on Friday 17 September and broadcast live on-line.
Bloody Scotland is Scotland’s International Crime Writing Festival, providing a showcase for the best crime writing from Scotland and the world, unique in that it was set up by a group of Scottish crime writers in 2012. The 2021 Festival will take place from 17-19 September. You can choose to watch events live in Stirling or online, or a combination of both. If you’re watching online, you can purchase tickets for individual events or a digital pass. There are ticket options to suit all. Most events will be available to watch on catch up until 30 September 2021.
Full information at www.bloodyscotland.com
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