Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival will take place between Thursday 21st to Sunday 24th July 2022. The event celebrates the very best in crime fiction and the festival has become a firm date in the UK literary calendar.
The festival is based at The Old Swan Hotel – which featured in the movie Agatha and famous for being the location where the Queen of crime writing, Agatha Christie stayed under the pseudonym of her husband’s mistress whilst a nationwide search for her was going on. It’s obviously no co-incidence that the organisers of the first festival chose this venue!
Over the years the festival has achieved international acclaim for the programming, organization and atmospheres. This reputation allows Harrogate to attract the biggest and best crime writers to the festival both a speakers and Chairs of Programming.
The sponsors are a local Yorkshire brewery based in Masham and have been there since the start – and draw similarities between reading a great novel and appreciating the flavor of their beer!
The Crime Writers Festival draws fans from all over the world and in particular the United States, with many American visitors and authors coming to enjoy the 4 day festival. The festival is famed for its no barriers approach and has a reputation as being the friendlies event on the circuit. Fans, fledgling writers and established authors mingle in the hotel bar, the bookshop and the papakata tents in the hotel grounds.
One of the highlights of the festival is the awarding of the prestigious Old Peculiar Crime Novel of the Year which has been won by both famous and up and coming authors over the years. Over the years the festival has attracted some big names in literature. Check out https://harrogateinternationalfestivals.com/crime-writing-festival/ for this years special guests.
If you are coming to the festival next year and want to explore the wider area with a driver guided tour or want to visit some of Yorkshire’s other literary location such at Herriot Country, The Bronte’s and Haworth or Whitby’s inspiration for Bram Stoker’s Dracula visit:
http://realyorkshiretours.co.uk/days-out/yorkshires-literary-heritage/
Contributed by Tim Barber – Real Yorkshire Tours – www.realyorkshiretours.co.uk
