{"id":529,"date":"2019-09-29T16:27:55","date_gmt":"2019-09-29T16:27:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lynnfraser.com\/?p=529"},"modified":"2022-09-14T17:20:55","modified_gmt":"2022-09-14T17:20:55","slug":"capital-crime-2019-as-welcome-and-refreshing-as-a-good-cup-of-tea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lynnfraser.com\/wp\/?p=529","title":{"rendered":"Capital Crime 2019 – as welcome and refreshing as a good cup of tea"},"content":{"rendered":"

As part of his advice to writers, David Headley (agent, bookseller and co-founder of Capital Crime) said, \u2018Don\u2019t get in a taxi with Adam Hamdy\u2019 (author, screenwriter and David\u2019s co-conspirator on the festival). It was a reference to the amount of time the festival took to organise whilst juggling the other demands of writing and publishing, and the fact that they cooked up the idea in the back of a New York taxi. I\u2019m glad he did get into that taxi because Capital Crime was marvellous.<\/p>\n

I still have a soft spot for the Killer Women who put on the first London-based crime writing festival (that I\u2019m aware of). Their event has the intimate feel of a club, and those of us who spend most of our time holed up alone reading and writing, and feeling very \u2018unclubbable\u2019, love to find a club to which we can belong. And London is plenty big enough for two crime writing festivals.<\/p>\n

Capital Crime was a blockbuster, with big names and a fancy venue, but it had an inclusivity and generosity of spirit beyond my expectations \u2013 and I loved it for that. It was a perfect reflection of London.<\/p>\n

I used to live in London and people often say to me, \u2018but wasn\u2019t it really unfriendly?\u2019 They\u2019re thinking of the reputation Londoners have for not smiling on the tube and not tolerating slow walking on pavements. That\u2019s just about getting on with the business of living in a city bursting at the seams with people, people with things to do and places to be. If you\u2019re stuffed in under someone\u2019s armpit, you don\u2019t want to make eye contact. Out of that context, I have always found London folk \u2013 those staying and those passing through \u2013 to be open and friendly. London itself is a huge collection of neighbourhoods that have merged together over time and it contains people of every nationality, culture, type and interest. London opens its arms to all \u2013 with respect for personal space \u2013 and Capital Crime was just like that.<\/p>\n

So many of the huge names in crime writing were giving talks and on panels on Friday and Saturday. Highlights for me were Ian Rankin, Kate Atkinson and Denise Mina. The Killer Women were there. I have to admit to never having read Will Dean, but a number of swoony ladies told me that I should go to his panel \u2013 and I\u2019m not sure it was completely about what he had to say. (I have seen A LOT of photographs on social media of women posing at the festival with Will Dean and his fabulous hair. Just saying.) Other people will have named other writers as their headline events. There were so many to choose from: Mark Billingham, Robert Harris, Lynda La Plante, John Connolly\u2026<\/p>\n

What there wasn\u2019t so much of was big publishers and writers\u2019 cliques. There were no separate parties and meals and \u2018dos\u2019 for people on the inside track (or if there were, they kept them very quiet and didn\u2019t invite me *cue moment of social insecurity*). If there were any stars of this show, I\u2019d say it was the bloggers. There was a particular posse of bloggers whose glee and enthusiasm lit up whichever room they were in. They were fabulous and represent the readers to whom every writer and publisher at the event owes their living and career.<\/p>\n

I took part in the Digital Festival, recording video footage that will go live as part of an online showcase at the end of October. I\u2019m new to this game \u2013 one little book being digitally published by Orion\u2019s new imprint Dash Books. I saw other new authors waiting to be recorded alongside much bigger, more established names. Again, a platform for all, and one that recognised how much of the book business is now in the virtual world, rather than ink and paper, and bricks and mortar. (Like London, accepting of and alive to change.)<\/p>\n

For me, the symbol of this festival was the free tea and coffee (sponsored by Pan Macmillan) \u2013 kind, practical and sustaining. Every effort had been made to keep the festival affordable \u2013 writing isn\u2019t always the most lucrative of endeavours and books are a costly addiction \u2013 and free tea was a much-appreciated touch. (Hoping for an aligned sponsorship from Mcvities next year, maybe??) Capital Crime was a tea and coffee festival, rather than a prosecco and cocktail festival, and I loved it for that. I\u2019m feeling energised and ready to get writing, and reading, ready for next year\u2019s Capital Crime.<\/p>\n

Thank you to all the organisers for making it such a smooth-running, friendly and enjoyable festival.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As part of his advice to writers, David Headley (agent, bookseller and co-founder of Capital Crime) said, \u2018Don\u2019t get in a taxi with Adam Hamdy\u2019 (author, screenwriter and David\u2019s co-conspirator on the festival). It was a reference to the amount of time […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"sfsi_plus_gutenberg_text_before_share":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_show_text_before_share":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_icon_type":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_icon_alignemt":"","sfsi_plus_gutenburg_max_per_row":""},"categories":[96],"tags":[61,87,86,85],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lynnfraser.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/529"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lynnfraser.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lynnfraser.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lynnfraser.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lynnfraser.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=529"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.lynnfraser.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/529\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":535,"href":"https:\/\/www.lynnfraser.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/529\/revisions\/535"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lynnfraser.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=529"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lynnfraser.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=529"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lynnfraser.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=529"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}