So welcome to part two of my little soundbite pieces on my trip to the Bloody Scotland Festival – and early on Saturday morning (it felt early after the night before!) I attended my first panel which involved some of those wonderful Killer Women – a lady I feel lucky to count as a friend, Helen Giltrow – alongside M J McGrath and Louise Millar – discussing amongst themselves (and us, the audience) women’s relationship towards violence in Crime Fiction.
I do have a couple of pictures – these are from my phone not from the talented Eoin, so please excuse the quality – but I had a great view and as I said yesterday the whole thing was very inclusive and despite the size of the room and the packed house, it still felt like an intimate setting where you could really get involved in the ongoing discussion
The talk itself was absolutely fascinating – from the differences in how men and women read violence in crime fiction to the differences in how they WRITE violence in crime fiction, the debate was open, honest and gave you a great deal to think about. We all read and love Crime fiction but there are lines drawn there as in everything – one of the most interesting parts for me was hearing the lines these authors set for themselves and where, both in reading and writing, things may go too far.
They were brilliant to listen to as they went back and forth, some differences in opinion kept things interesting and there were some more light hearted moments in there too. The audience was enthralled (as was I) and the hour simply flew past. We all got involved with questions at the end and by the time the whole thing was over I had a much deeper insight into not only the writing processes of these three authors but also into them as people. A really terrific panel.
Now I’m not one of the “press” people who took copious notes so I can tell you about each nuance of discussion – for me these posts are all about telling you guys out there about the feelings, sense and emotional responses of being able to attend events such as Bloody Scotland – and this being my first panel I can tell you that it was SUCH great fun but also informative, insightful and worth travelling for. As more of these posts appear I hope to get that across more and get you all desperate to come next time. You really should.
After each panel the authors headed to the signing room where you could say hello and get your book signed – they were all so welcoming, really pleased to be there and if you are a book lover like me there is nothing you would rather be doing with your weekend, trust me!
There will be more coming soon (wait until you see the Slice girls!) and for anyone who is interested in reading some of the authors they may not have come across before right at the end of this series of posts there will be one that gives you links and information on the books and writers who were part of Bloody Scotland and you can all have a lovely time discovering some new reading experiences.
For now here are a couple of links you may want to bookmark. Killer Women are a wider organisation of women crime writers and do some very interesting stuff so keep an eye out for where and when they will be. And a link to the Bloody Scotland website where you can sign up for the newsletter and stay informed about whatever is next. Whatever IS next you can bet your bottom dollar that I will be there..
http://www.bloodyscotland.com/
Happy Reading!
