It has been a few weeks since I attended Morecambe & Vice Crime Writer’s Festival but I wanted to do a wee shout-out and highlight it as I had such a good time! I arrived on Friday and settled in to the beautiful atmosphere. My “hotel” wasn’t the greatest, but for the price and the view, I am not going to complain too much about that! A few drinks that night and I settled in early as it was a long journey and I wanted to be ready for the full day ahead on Saturday!
I will say one thing about the hotel I was in – they made a damn fine breakfast! After filling my belly, I headed towards to the venue and was blown away by the atmosphere! Grabbing my press pass (Eeeeek!) and a fantastic bag of goodies – #AllTheBooks I ran into Graham Smith, Mike and Jo Craven (and Jo’s mum). I was also glad to see/meet a few peeps I am friends with online – Caroline Venables, Sheila Howes, Jason Kelly and then I settled in for the panels!
Ben Cooper-Muir & Tom Fisher were AWESOME at introducing the festival and keeping the audience entertained throughout. I also need to thank them both for the press pass – though I would have happily paid as it was both good value and reasonably priced! I attended most of the panels that day including:
10.00am
Smarter than the Average Bear Sgt Adie Knowles & Hannah Robinson discuss ‘Inspector Ted’ – a local childrens book raising money for Unique Kidz.
Mari Hannah, Sarah Hilary, Jake Arnott & Alex Reeve discuss LGBT themes and characters in crime fiction.
Participating Moderator: Paul Burston
The knowledge, information and humour was enough to keep this gal glued to the chair. I am totally fascinated by people’s writing journeys, characters, influences and the reasons they write about the things they do. I met up with a few of the authors – and finally met the absolutely awesome Robert Parker – what a nice guy! Drinks were had well into the evening (I did go and have dinner at some point – after all, I needed to be able to absorb all that gin!) I was also thrilled to catch up with Angela McMahon – an amazing woman, font of all knowledge and so incredibly fun to chat with! It was an incredible day of crime fiction, indeed!
Sunday was equally as awesome, though quite short as I had a train to catch. These are the panels I managed to attend:
Members of the popular ‘Crime Writing Masterclass’ David Mark, Kate Bendelow & Neil White are here to help you plan the perfect crime.
Participating Moderator: Graham Bartlett
So would I recommend attending Morecambe & Vice – you bet your sweet ass I do! I had an amazing time! The venue and atmosphere was SUPERB. The prices were reasonable and affordable for those crime fiction fans on a budget and the panels were interesting, informative and full of humour. I am hoping to go back next year! A huge thanks to Tom and Ben, Waterstones and all the sponsors and volunteers who made the weekend spectacular!
