Bloody Scotland

Bloody Scotland is a Scottish international crime writing festival, held annually in Stirling, Scotland. It was founded in 2012 by Tartan Noir writers Lin Anderson and Alex Gray and describes itself as "the literary festival where you can let down your hair and enjoy a drink at the bar with your favourite crime writer".^[1] Its sponsors include the University of Stirling and Stirling Council.^[2][3][4] In 2022 most events were held at the Albert Halls or the Tolbooth.^[5]

Bloody Scotland
Genre	Scottish international crime writing festival
Begins	2012
Frequency	Annually
Venue	Stirling
Country	Scotland
Most recent	15-17 September 2023
Website	bloodyscotland.com

The festival awards The McIlvanney Prize for "the best Scottish Crime book of the year" (so named in 2016 for writer William McIlvanney (1936-2015), who has been called "the Godfather of Tartan Noir"),^[6] and, since 2019, the Bloody Scotland Scottish Crime Debut of the Year.^[7]

Since 2012, the festival has also run an annual Pitch Perfect event, giving emerging crime writers the opportunity to pitch work in progress novels to a panel of publishing industry experts.^[8] Several winners have gone on to publication and acclaim, such as 2021 Pitch Perfect winner Kate Foster whose novel The Maiden went on to win Scottish Crime Debut of the Year in 2023 and longlisted for the 2024 Women's Prize for Fiction.^[9][10]

McIlvanney Prize winners

• 2012: Charles Cumming, A Foreign Country
• 2013: Malcolm Mackay, How a Gunman Says Goodbye
• 2014: Peter May, Entry Island
• 2015: Craig Russell, The Ghosts of Altona
• 2016: Chris Brookmyre, Black Widow
• 2017: Denise Mina, The Long Drop
• 2018: Liam McIlvanney (son of William McIlvanney),The Quaker
• 2019: Manda Scott, A Treachery of Spies (the winner chose to share the prize with the other shortlisted authors: Doug Johnstone, Denise Mina and Ambrose Parry)
• 2020: Francine Toon, Pine
• 2021: Craig Russell, Hyde
• 2022: Alan Parks, May God Forgive^[11]
• 2023: Callum McSorley, Squeaky Clean^[12][13]
• 2024: Chris Brookmyre, The Cracked Mirror.^[14]

Scottish Crime Debut of the Year winners

• 2019: Claire Askew, All the Hidden Truths
• 2020: Deborah Masson, Hold Your Tongue
• 2021: Robbie Morrison, Edge of the Grave
• 2022: Tariq Ashkanani, Welcome to Cooper^[11]
• 2023: Kate Foster, The Maiden^[15][13]
• 2024: Allan Gaw, The Silent House of Sleep.^[14]

Pitch Perfect winners

• 2012: Joseph Knox
• 2013: Alex Cox
• 2014: Margaret Stewart
• 2015: Matt Wesolowski
• 2016: Alison Belsham
• 2017: Mark Wightman
• 2018: C O Vollmer (David Bishop)
• 2019: Suzy Aspley
• 2020: Kate Foster
• 2021: Kris Haddow
• 2022: Joel Rakos
• 2023: Shane McGinley
• 2024: Alys Cummings

References

1. "About Bloody Scotland". Bloody Scotland. Retrieved 29 September 2022.
2. "Stirling shines as it stages the biggest ever Bloody Scotland festival". Stirling Council. 27 September 2022. Retrieved 28 September 2022.
3. "Bloody Scotland festival to go ahead as hybrid event". The Bookseller. 11 August 2021. Retrieved 28 September 2022.
4. "Bloody Scotland". Publishing Scotland. Retrieved 28 September 2022.
5. "2022 Brochure". Bloody Scotland. Retrieved 29 September 2022.
6. "The McIlvanney Prize". Bloody Scotland. Retrieved 28 September 2022.
7. "Bloody Scotland Scottish Crime Debut of the Year". Bloody Scotland. Retrieved 28 September 2022.
8. "Pitch Perfect Seeks Aspiring Crime Writers". Bloody Scotland. 22 July 2022. Retrieved 26 June 2024.
9. "Announcing the 2024 Women's Prize for Fiction longlist". Women's Prize for Fiction. 26 June 2024.
10. "Kate Foster". Women's Prize for Fiction. 26 June 2024.
11. Brown, Lauren (16 September 2022). "Winners of the Bloody Scotland Debut Prize and the McIlvanney Prize revealed". The Bookseller. Retrieved 1 February 2023.
12. "The McIlvanney Prize: 2023 Winner". Bloody Scotland. Archived from the original on 31 March 2024. Retrieved 31 March 2024.
13. Forbes, Ellie (18 September 2023). "Winners of the Bloody Scotland Debut of the Year and McIlvanney Prize announced". Scottish Field. Retrieved 31 March 2024.
14. "Bloody Scotland". Publishing Scotland. Retrieved 17 October 2024.
15. "Bloody Scotland Scottish Crime Debut of the Year: 2023 Winner". Bloody Scotland. Archived from the original on 31 March 2024. Retrieved 31 March 2024.

External links

• Official website