An exciting announcement today, #bookjunkies! Check this out!
Some of Scotland’s finest crime writers are set to bring a slice of tartan noir to India. Val McDermid, Graeme Macrae Burnet and Abir Mukherjee will be championing contemporary Scottish crime fiction at the prestigious Kolkata Literary Festival (KLF), where they will also launch Bloody Scotland, a thrilling anthology of dark Scottish tales, published for the first time in India and at a special price to hook the Indian market. Open Book on BBC Radio 4 will be recording interviews with the authors in Kolkata.
The activities are part of a project supported by the British Council to help Bloody Scotland, Scotland’s international crime writing festival, reach international audiences and grow the global reach of Scotland’s celebrated crime writing scene.
The anthology features twelve stories from a stellar cast of Scottish writing talent, including Lin Anderson, Ann Cleeves and Denise Mina. Rights were sold to Kolkata-based publisher BEE Books by Edinburgh-based Historic Environment Scotland. The book will also be published in the US by Pegasus.
The visit to Kolkata is the culmination of a partnership between Bloody Scotland, BEE Books, and Publishers and Booksellers Guild, which aims to make popular Scottish crime titles available to readers in India at a competitive price. In addition to the new anthology, two other works are in the pipeline for publication by BEE Books: The Disappearance of Adele Bedeau and The Accident on the A35, both by Graeme Macrae Burnet.
Speaking ahead of the visit Bloody Scotland Chair Jenny Brown, said “We’re delighted to be working with BEE Books on this innovative partnership to introduce Indian readers to Scottish crime fiction by bringing writers to the Kolkata Literary Festival, and by making their work more accessible in Indian-published editions. We know from our visit to KLF last year that there is a huge appetite for Scottish classics including the Sherlock Holmes mysteries and Strange Case of Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde – now we want readers to try contemporary writing.”
Graeme Macrae Burnet commented “I’m completely thrilled to be travelling to Kolkata for the first time, particularly in the company of two such renowned writers as Val and Abir. It promises to be a very exciting and enlightening trip. And I’m particularly pleased that through the partnership with Bee Books, two of my novels will be made available to local audiences at an affordable price.”
