Celtic Noir Festival

The Celtic Noir Festival was presented in 2019 by the Centre for Irish and Scottish Studies (CISS), Dunedin Writers & Readers Festival, Dunedin Public Libraries, and Dunedin UNESCO City of Literature, with sponsorship by the University Book Shop Otago.

The programme included:

Opening Event at the University of Otago Campus on Thursday 10th October, 5pm – What is Celtic Noir?
Professor Liam McIlvanney, Co-Director of the Centre for Irish and Scottish Studies, explored the long and intertwined history of crime writing in Scotland and Ireland, identifying the key characteristics and assessing the major exponents of Celtic crime fiction.

A Week of events in the Dunningham Suite, 4th Floor, Dunedin City Library:

Saturday 12th October, 10am-11.30am – Plotting a Thriller with Liam McIlvanney.  A workshop in which award-winning crime novelist Liam McIlvanney took attendees through the process of plotting a thriller, explaining how to generate suspense, why the three-act structure is the writer's friend, and what strategies will carry the writer from inciting incident to finale. The workshop included space for practical exercises and class discussion.

Saturday 12th October, 1pm-2pm - Fiona Kidman in Conversation With Majella Cullinane.  Having established herself as one of New Zealand’s most celebrated and best-loved novelists over a long and varied career, Dame Fiona Kidman belatedly turned to crime! Her novel, This Mortal Boy, tells the true story of young Irish immigrant Albert ‘Paddy’ Black, the so-called Jukebox Killer’, who was hanged for the murder of a teenage acquaintance in 1950s Auckland. The novel, which won the $53,000 Acorn Foundation Fiction Prize, was described by the NZ Listener as ‘a tale about violent acts that is infused with humanity and compassion’. Dame Fiona discussed This Mortal Boy, as well as her distinguished literary career, with prize-winning Irish poet and novelist, Majella Cullinane.

Saturday 12th October, 2.30pm-3.30pm - Adrian Mckinty on Writing the ‘High-Concept’ Thriller.  Adrian McKinty’s recent history reads like a novel in its own right. Two years ago, having seen his family evicted from their home because he couldn’t make the rent, McKinty had given up writing and was driving an Uber when his agent persuaded him to give his dream of literary glory one last shot. The resulting thriller, The Chain, was published in thirty-five territories, was a New York Times and Sunday Times bestseller and Paramount bought the movie rights for a seven-figure sum. McKinty’s breakout novel, The Chain is a brilliant example of the ‘high-concept’ thriller, a ‘book with a hook’ – a premise that draws readers in and propels the narrative forward. McKinty talked with fellow crime writer Liam McIlvanney about the process of writing a high-concept thriller, his phenomenal recent run of success, and his next writing journey.

Saturday 12th October, 4pm-5pm – Cops and Horrors featuring Vanda Symon and Liz Nugent.  This session brought together two acclaimed crime writers working in very different genres. Dubliner Liz Nugent has been called ‘the finest psychological thriller writer currently at work’, serving up chilling portraits of psychopaths in dark, Gothic novels like Lying in Wait, Unravelling Oliver and Skin Deep. Dunedin’s own Vanda Symon, by contrast, is a skilled exponent of the police procedural, pitting her gutsy heroine, Detective Constable Sam Shephard, against villains of various stripes in novels like Overkill and The Ringmaster. Sonja Tiernan, herself a Dubliner as well as the Eamon Cleary Professor of Irish Studies at Otago, chaired the discussion, exploring the visceral appeal of these ever-popular genres.

Saturday 12th October, 6.30 (drinks reception) | 7pm-8pm author talk – Val McDermid in Conversation with Adrian McKinty.  Scotland’s ‘Queen of Crime’ Val McDermid returned to the 'Edinburgh of the South' (Dunedin) to discuss the thirty-fifth novel of her stellar career. How the Dead Speak is the latest in the bestselling Tony Hill and Carol Jordan series. It came hot on the heels of My Scotland, a book of memoir and photography which takes readers on a journey to the landscapes Val has known all her life, and the places where her stories and characters reside. Val – who had recently taken up an appointment as Visiting Professor of Scottish Studies and Crime Fiction at the University of Otago – discussed her long and extraordinary career with chair Adrian McKinty.

Sunday 13th October, 10am-1pm – Liz Nugent Masterclass.  In this Masterclass, award-winning crime novelist Liz Nugent talked about the core principles of writing drama that can apply to TV, radio, cinema or novels. Using the pilot episode of Breaking Bad as a teaching tool, she examined plot, dialogue, characterisation, structure and awareness of the medium in question. 

Sunday 13th October, 2pm-3pm – Panel Discussion on Celtic Noir featuring Val McDermid, Liz Nugent and Adrian McKinty.  Some of the most successful and acclaimed crime fiction of recent years has emerged from Scotland and Ireland. Liam McIlvanney assembled a panel of Celtic crime writers – Scotland’s Val McDermid, and Ireland’s Liz Nugent and Adrian McKinty – to discuss the current landscape of crime fiction in both countries. What makes crime such a prominent genre in Scotland and Ireland? What do the two literatures have in common? How important is the shared inheritance of Gothic fiction in Ireland and Scotland? Panelists debated these and other questions from the audience as the Celtic Noir Festival drew to a close.