Crime fiction festival to come to Shetland in 2015

By Kirsty HalcrowNovember 25th 2014

Shetland Arts and Promote Shetland are delighted to announce that Shetland Noir, in association with Iceland Noir, will take place at Mareel from Friday 13 November until Sunday 15 November 2015.

The Crime Fiction Festival will be the first of its kind ever to be held in Shetland and the headliners will be: Denise Mina, Stuart MacBride and Alex Gray from Scotland, and Arne Dahl, Yrsa Sigurðardóttir and Hakan Nesser, representing the Nordic countries. Further writers will be announced in 2015.

Shetland Arts" Literature Development Officer, Donald Anderson said: “It's really exciting to be able to announce such a stellar line up for Shetland's first ever Crime Fiction Festival and we are grateful to Iceland Noir for the opportunity to host their festival in 2015. We are proud to be working with Iceland Noir and Promote Shetland in order to bring this brilliant festival to a Shetland audience, and we look forward to welcoming crime fiction writers and enthusiasts from all over the UK, the Nordic countries and beyond.”

Misa Hay, Brand Marketing Executive at Promote Shetland, added:

“It feels incredible that just over a year ago, at the “Bloody Scotland” festival in Stirling, we had a discussion with Ann Cleeves about the possibility of running a Shetland Noir festival in association with Iceland Noir. We then approached Arne Dahl and invited him to Shetland, he gladly accepted, which I suppose was the main impulse to liaise with Shetland Arts and start planning the festival. We are absolutely thrilled to be involved in such a great project, since crime fiction is increasingly popular and this festival is a great way of promoting Shetland."

Iceland Noir was founded by three crime writers who all write Icelandic crime fiction. Quentin Bates is the British author of Iceland-set Officer Gunnhildur crime novels, published in the UK, US, Germany and the Netherlands, Ragnar Jonasson, is the Icelandic author of the Dark Iceland crime series, set in the northernmost town in Iceland, published in Iceland and Germany and due in English in 2015. Yrsa Sigurdadottir, is the Icelandic author of the Thóra mystery series and 2012 Glass Key nominated crime/horror novel “I Remember You”, all published internationally.

Ragnar said: "The Iceland Noir team is very excited to be working with Shetland Arts and Promote Shetland to bring the 2015 festival to the wonderful Shetland Islands in the form of Shetland Noir, strengthening further the ties between Shetland and the Nordic countries."

The festival will be centred in Mareel, and a festival ticket, on sale now via Shetland Box Office, will ensure access to all of the panel events, and to a choice of fringe activities which will include specialist bus tours and other activities, to be announced in 2015. Further information about Shetland Noir, in association with Iceland Noir, is available on the festival website www.shetlandnoir.com and festival tickets can be purchased from Shetland Box Office in Mareel & Islesburgh, over the phone on 01595 745 555, and online at mareel.org and shetlandboxoffice.org.

Crime fiction festival to come to Shetland in 2015

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