Five events to catch at Bloody Scotland 2018

For one weekend each September, Bloody Scotland takes over Stirling in the country's premier celebration of crime writing. Each year, they bring together a stellar cast of creators, pit Scotland vs England in an authors football match, and show the many sides to crime writing, with 2018 being their most ambitious programme yet. Here are five events to catch at the 2018 festival.

MC Beaton with Ashely Jensen | Saturday 22 Sept, 7.00pm
Agatha Raisin is the PR guru turned amateur sleuth who wandered straight from the mind of MC Beaton into the hearts of many a crime reader. She will be heading to Bloody Scotland alongside Scottish actress Ashley Jensen, star of Ugly Betty, Accidentally on Purpose and many more, who brings Agatha to life in the brilliant TV show. Two greats from their respective fields.

P.S. Sophie Kennedy Clark (Dark Shadows, Black Mirror) will be appearing with Helen FitzGerald to discuss new BBC Drama The Cry too. 

Crime that Goes Bump in the Night | Sunday 23 Sept, 4.00pm
Crime and horror go hand in hand, and Crime that Goes Bump in the Night brings together three authors who straddle that line with finesse. Luca Veste's The Bone Keeper brings some children's urban myth to life; CJ Tudor's The Chalk Man bends childhood fears into an unsettling reality; Alison Belsham's The Tattoo Thief isn't going to let you comfortably sit down and read. Each author will make you sit on the edge of your seat, hairs raised, and you may need to sleep with the light on for a while. Sounds good, right?

Breaking Barriers | Sunday 23 Sept, 2.30pm
Breaking into the publishing industry means coming up against many gatekeepers. As Bloody Scotland joins forces with publisher Harvill Secker to launch a prize for BAME authors, the festival hosts Abir Mukherjee, AA Dhand, Sandija Kay and Lilja Sigurdardottir, four brilliant authors, to talk about their routes to publication and the barriers faced at the intersection of race, gender, class and sexual orientation. A sure to be brilliant event navigating their respective journies to publication.

Times Up | Sunday 23 Sept, 12.45pm
Crime writing and violence against women have been known to go hand in hand; it's a conversation rightfully sweeping society today and one that Bloody Scotland are looking to tackle head-on. The question: do crime novels have a responsibility to avoid violence against women and girls, or should they tackle it to explore the issues around violence? Sophie Hannah, Alexandra Sokoloff and Jo Jakeman are here to answer it. A topical, important discussion to be had.

Irvine Welsh | Sunday 23 Sept, 5.30pm
As a writer, Irvine Welsh has been described in many ways, but a crime writer isn't often top of the list. Technically speaking though, he does write about crime, and does so very well, and is making his Bloody Scotland debut in 2018 to do just that. His latest book Dead Men's Trousers brings the fateful four of Trainspotting - Renton, Begbie, Sick Boy and Spud - back together. They're still bouncing between crises, and one does not survive the book. *Cue dramatic music*. Always a brilliant event, and a fine way to close the festival.

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Bloody Scotland takes place across various venues in Stirling from 21-23 September. More information can be found at bloodyscotland.com.