Top crime writers lined up as Hull Noir festival returns

Mark Billingham. Picture by Steve Best

Crime fiction fans can hear from some of the genre’s leading authors with the return of the Hull Noir festival next month.

The festival, which will be a day-long series of online events on March 20, will feature best-selling writers from across the UK, as well as Hull’s own.

Writers already confirmed include Mark Billingham, celebrating 20 years of his character Tom Thorne, with his novel Cry Baby; Laura Shepherd Robinson, whose debut Blood & Sugar won the Debut Crown at the Historical Writers’ Awards; New York Times bestselling author of The Whisper Man, Alex North; and Hull-born Ian McGuire, whose novel The North Water was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize.

Also appearing will be Hull novelist Louise Beech, Sunday Times bestseller Harrier Tyce, author of Blood Orange, and many more.

This year’s festival marks the 50th anniversary of the British crime classic film, Get Carter – adapted from Ted Lewis’s seminal crime novel Jack's Return Home.

Lewis studied at Hull Art School in the late 1950s and his novels reference the city and its hinterland, the towns on the south bank of the Humber and the bleak Lincolnshire coast. 2021 also marks the 50th anniversary of his novel Plender, this year’s festival read.

Nick Triplow, Hull Noir co-organiser and author of acclaimed Ted Lewis biography, Getting Carter, said: “We were disappointed not to be able to host the festival last year – particularly to mark what would have been Lewis’s 80th birthday and 50 years of Jack’s Return Home – but we’re just glad to be back in business.

Nick Quantrill, Hull-born crime writer and festival co-organiser, said: “We’ve been working hard to put together a day of fascinating panels exploring crime writing from around the North and further afield.

“So get ready to book your tickets and climb inside the heads of some of the most talented crime writers in the UK.”

“This year will be different, but isn’t everything?” said publisher and festival co-organiser Nikki East. “We hope people will join us for a day of crime discussion and debate from the comfort of their own homes.”

Tickets are free and will be available from Sunday, February 21, along with the full festival line-up. Follow Hull Noir on Facebook and Twitter (@HullNoir) for further details.