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| the Irish Noir panel got a bit rowdy near the end |
Reading #1 was the Irish Noir Panel at the Harrogate Crime Writing Festival. I was on the panel with Eoin McNamee, Stu Neville, Steve Cavanagh and the event was moderated by Brian McGilloway. I knew all those guys except for Steve who I met for the first time. The panel was in front of a huge crowd in a big tent at the Old Swan Hotel in Harrogate. It went well, I think, although as predicted I was jetlagged and punchy and I think I heard a few boos when I said that Nordic Crime writers had it easy because they cd publish any old shite and the punters wd buy it whereas Irish writers had to make their books, you know, good.
Reading #2 was the launch of the pbk of Gun Street Girl later that evening in Harrogate. Another nice crowd and my buddies Stu, Brian, Steve and Ger Brennan showed up to hear me blather on about my crackpot theories and my insane plan for page 1 of Gun Street Girl which did not, alas, come to fruition. There's a report on both events, here. There's a description of the latter event - in French - and some photos, here.
I arrived at Belfast Airport on the same day as 3 of the Game of Thrones cast and, apparently, I was on the same plane as Nell Tiger Free. Kit Harington also got to Belfast at the same time...make of that what you will - maybe he wasn't filming Thrones but just slipped in the back of one of my readings...
Reading #3 was in my sister's pub Ownies Bar in Carrickfergus. About 60 people turned up including many of my old friends from school. Good crowd, great Q&A afterwards - including an interesting writer's block question from a man in the front row (you know who you are!)
Reading #4 was in Carrickfergus Library. Another full house and another very nice audience, and more intelligent and perceptive questions. I'd brought a cold with me to the Northern Hemisphere and my voice was very much going by this stage but I think I managed to hang in there until the end. Big thanks to everyone who showed up for all of the events!
