Organisers of the fourth annual Kirkcudbright Book Week have been awarded a £1,750 grant from the Robin Rigg Community Fund to help them develop the crime fiction component of the festival.
Kirkcudbright Book Week is designed to celebrate the growing literary scene in and around the South West Scotland town and crime fiction has proved to be a popular genre with audiences since the first event was staged.
It is the third year running that the Robin Rigg Community Fund has supported Book Week, which in addition to crime writers features appearances from authors working in genres including everything from novels, historical fiction, fantasy, romance, thrillers and memoir to children’s books, poetry, non-fiction, political commentary and cookery.
The next Book Week is due to take place between March 3-9 and organisers the Kirkcudbright Book Week Society will use some of the grant from the Robin Rigg Community Fund to support the crime fiction programme.
It will use the remainder to support the staging of crime fiction events at other times of the year, including talks and workshops delivered by crime authors. Details will be released in due course.
The initiative has earned the support of the UK-based Crime Writers’ Association (CWA), whose Chair Vaseem Khan said: “If my regular trips up to speak at Scottish crime events have taught me anything it is that locals there love a good dollop of murder. Kirkcudbright’s support of the genre is wholeheartedly welcomed by the Crime Writers’ Association, as is the warmth with which readers in the region have embraced the crime writing community.”
Kirkcudbright Book Week Society Chair Chris Walker said: “Recent years have seen Dumfries and Galloway develop a tradition for crime fiction and that is something we are keen to support.
“The area is home to a number of crime writers, several of whom have appeared during Kirkcudbright Book Week, and the stunning Dumfries and Galloway landscape has been the setting for many crime novels.
“In addition, we have brought a number of big-name authors to Kirkcudbright for Book Week as we develop a reputation for championing crime writing, something which we are keen to continue.
“Our audiences love their crime fiction and the grant from the Robin Rigg Community Fund will help us to extend our offering.”
Crime writer John Dean, who lives near Kirkcudbright and is Joint Organiser of Book Week, said: “One of our aims is to attract visitors to the Kirkcudbright area and over the past couple of years, we have seen increasing numbers of people booking holidays and short breaks around Book Week events. A growing number of them have come to see events featuring the crime writers and building on that throughout the year will be good for the local economy.
“Kirkcudbright Book Week Society is dedicated to growing its support for as many different types of writing as we can and crime fiction is proving to be very popular so the thought of developing it further is an exciting one.”
The Robin Rigg Community Fund is sponsored by RWE, the operators of the Robin Rigg wind farm, and is administered by the Solway Firth Partnership.
Clair McFarlan, Partnership Manager at the Solway Firth Partnership, said: “We’re very excited to be supporting Kirkcudbright Book Week again this year. This is a growing event which not only encourages a love of reading but also helps to support the local economy. We encourage everyone to check out the events on offer – if you like books you’re sure to find something of interest.”
Kirkcudbright Book Week 