Crime Writing Masterclass with Ian Rankin and Elly Griffiths

Join us for the exclusive opportunity to hear two of the UK's best selling crime writers talk about their craft. The Sunday Times bestselling author of the Dr Ruth Galloway Mysteries will be in conversation with Rebus creator Ian Rankin and sharing their thoughts on creating characters, shaping plot, setting compelling locations and building tension. Numbers are limited to give the audience the opportunity to post questions on the Zoom chat to Ian and Elly. Unmissable for writers either new to the genre or who want to find out how to improve their writing or have an on-going manuscript or those who simply love crime fiction and want to know how it's done.

For more than thirty years novelist Ian Rankin OBE has entertained and gripped us with stories of the maverick Detective Inspector Rebus, whose daily grind involves tackling Edinburgh’s grim underbelly. The Rebus series is now translated into twenty-two languages and the books are bestsellers on several continents. He has also written standalone novels including Doors Open, which was televised in 2012, short stories, a graphic novel – Dark Entries – and a play (with Mark Thomson, the Royal Lyceum Theatre’s Artistic Director) Dark Road. He also writes under the pseudonym Jack Harvey. Ian has been elected a Hawthornden Fellow, and is also a past winner of the Chandler-Fulbright Award. He is the recipient of four Crime Writers’ Association Dagger Awards including the prestigious Diamond Dagger in 2005. In 2004, he won America’s celebrated Edgar Award for Resurrection Men.

Elly Griffiths is the bestselling author of the Dr Ruth Galloway Mysteries and the Brighton Mysteries. She has won the CWA Dagger in the Library, has been shortlisted five times for the Theakston's Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year, and longlisted for the CWA Gold Dagger for The Lantern Men. Her new series featuring Detective Harbinder Kaur began with The Stranger Diaries, which was a Richard and Judy book club pick and won the Edgar Award for Best Novel in the USA. It was followed by The Postscript Murders, shortlisted for the CWA Gold Dagger and Bleeding Heart Yard.

This event is ONLINE ONLY via a Zoom link which will come with your ticket confirmation.

Proceeds from the event will go towards the Festival's outreach programme in schools, the community and prisons.