Harrogate Crime Writing Festival - confirmed authors

A couple of hours after I mentioned that Yrsa Sigurdardottir will be appearing at both of the major crime conventions in the UK next year, the Harrogate Crime Writing Festival announce more of the authors attending in 2009:

2009 Authors Confirmed:

Megan Abbott
John Banville
Mark Billingham
Gyles Brandreth
Ken Bruen
Duncan Campbell
Lee Child
Ann Cleeves
Natasha Cooper
Neil Cross
Daniel Depp
Stella Duffy
Ruth Dudley Edwards
Jasper Fforde
Barry Forshaw
Christopher Fowler
Ariana Franklin
Frances Fyfield
Jason Goodwin
Allan Guthrie
John Harvey
Reginald Hill
Suzette A. Hill
Declan Hughes
Peter James
Paul Johnston
Simon Kernick
Mark Lawson
David Levien
Robert Lewis
Laura Lippman
Stuart MacBride
Shona Maclean
Val McDermid
Brian McGilloway
Mark Mills
Denise Mina
Dreda Say Mitchell
Barry Norman
Caro Peacock
Caro Ramsay
Manda Scott
Zoë Sharp
Yrsa Sigurdottir
Andrew Taylor
Cathi Unsworth
Dan Waddell
Martyn Waites
Martin Walker
Lee Weeks
Laura Wilson

From the newsletter (not yet on the website):

Exclusive 2009 Festival Preview: Panel Highlights

The Festival will get off to a pacy start with the announcement of the recipient of the hotly contested Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year award. Afterwards you'll have the opportunity to familiarise yourself with the weekend's starry cast of criminally-inclined characters, as authors and crime fans mingle at the Festival Opening Party.

The plot thickens as we delve into the very roots of the crime genre with The Raven and The Rue Morgue, a panel celebrating the bicentennial of the birth of the mysterious man hailed as the father of the modern detective story, Edgar Allan Poe. Peter James, Laura Lippman, Andrew Taylor and Martin Walker will be helping chair Barry Forshaw tackle the man behind the myth.

Setting the mood, Music To Murder By will take a look at the use of music in crime fiction. Can it become a character in itself, or is it merely an easy way to convey an atmosphere? John Harvey, Dreda Say Mitchell, Cathi Unsworth and Martyn Waites are among the admirers of classical, jazz, reggae and punk rock discussing what their favourite sounds bring to their work.

Adding a touch of glamour to proceedings, Harrogate meets Hollywood in the panel Shoot The Book. Film critic Barry Norman addresses the different disciplines of writing for page and screen with the aid of tinsel town screenwriters-turned-novelists, David Levien (whose writing credits include Ocean's 13, Rounders, and Runaway Jury) and Daniel Depp (co-writer of The Brave with his brother Johnny), Spooks writer and author Neil Cross and author of acclaimed novels adapted for television, Frances Fyfield.

Providing a twist in the tale, Dangerous Dykes will ask why do lesbians make such successful crime writers? Four of the best gay women novelists, Val McDermid, Natasha Cooper, Stella Duffy and Manda Scott, discuss the pros, the cons and the controversial aspects of their work.

Shocking denouements come courtesy of a new late night cabaret event, Secrets and Lies in which host Mark Billingham encourages some of your favourite crime writers to confess their innermost secrets - but are they telling the truth or just creating yet more works of fiction? You have to decide.