The best ever festival in twenty years! That’s not us saying it but the acclaim of many leading publications, media groups, Harrogate and district businesses and of course the festival goers themselves.
The Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival held at the Old Swan Hotel in Harrogate has beaten the record books once again with over 18,000 tickets sold for the four-day event. Thousands of visitors to Harrogate enjoyed panels, discussions, events featuring some of the world’s greatest crime authors including this year Lee Child and his brother co-author Andrew, Jeffrey Deaver, Anne Cleaves, author of the Vera and Shetland TV series as well as other stars of stage and screen, Richard Osman, John Rinder and Lucy Worsley to name but a few.
From an inspired grasping of a sponsorship opportunity twenty years ago, the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival has grown from nothing to now being the world’s greatest event of its kind. Authors queue up to come to the festival each year and with the growing importance of the festival as part of the literary calendar so to is the importance attached to it by publishers, editors and publicists from the UK and all over the world.
We identified that being such a uniquely special beer, Theakston Old Peculier required a unique platform to underpin the standout pre-eminent position in the world beer market. The fact that the name of the beer itself stems from a medieval crime long lost in the mists of time provided an even greater justification for the initial sponsorship, the details of which would make and excellent crime novel itself!
Photo Credit: Mike Whorley & Charlotte Graham
The Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival also features the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year. Now in its 19th year, the much sort after prize, the most coveted in the industry, is announced after eager anticipation on the first night of the Festival by our own Simon Theakston. This year’s winner, The Botanist by MW Craven immediately went to number one in the Times best seller list on news of the announcement and all copies available at the Festival book shop were sold out within minutes
The Theakston Old Peculier Crime Festival takes place every mid-July at the Old Swan Hotel Harrogate. If Crime novels are your thing, then this is one event that you should not miss!