'Noireland' crime festival launches in Belfast

A new crime festival is launching in Ireland next month featuring Sophie Hannah, Scandi author Arne Dahl and Graeme Macrae Burnet.

The “brainchild” of a Belfast bookshop owner David Torrans, The Noireland International Crime Fiction Festival is taking place from 27th to 29th October with other headliners including Benjamin Black (also known as John Banville), "Line of Duty" creator Jed Mercurio and Liz Nugent.

Organisers have said that the festival is “not afraid to address some of the big topics of the day” with discussions focusing on how crime fiction can address issues of identity, gender, religion and race as well as “what might happen in a post-Brexit world”. It is described as the “brainchild” of David Torrans who established the No Alibis Book Store 20 years ago.

The three-day festival will “showcase the amazing talent emerging from Ireland” such as award-winning Nugent who will go “head-to-head” with Dahl while Banville will discuss his crime fiction persona as Benjamin Black.

On the same weekend, the second Killer Women festival will take place in London after launching last year. A collective of crime writers in London and the South East announced the capital's first ever female-led crime festival in May 2016 to "celebrate women’s writing". 

For more information, visit the Noireland website.