Ludlow-based crime writer Kate Charles is bringing eight crime authors to an international gala event in Ludlow on August 13.
‘CrimeFest at Ludlow Castle’ will begin at 7.30pm and there are only 100 places available.
The evening will include a question and answer session, and the opportunity to meet the writers.
Kate is American by birth but has lived in the UK for 22 years and is a British citizen. She moved to Ludlow from Bedford and loves life here.
She said: “This is one way for me to say thank you to Ludlow for being such a great place to live.”
She added: “We’ve never had an event like this before in Ludlow. The ground is ripe for it. It’s a very literate place and I’m hoping we get a good audience out of it.” Kate said it would be really good if the event became an annual fixture in the Ludlow calendar. For the last 15 years, she has organised the St Hilda’s Crime and Mystery Conference in Oxford, which is the longest running event of its kind in the UK.
It attracts authors from all over the world and several wanted to hold another event while they were over here, so Kate suggested Ludlow as the venue.She said: “There’s no reason why it couldn’t become an annual event if we can get a good turnout.”
Kate’s own work consists of ecclesiastical crime novels set in the Church of England, often dealing with controversial issues for the Church, including women’s ordination and Church attitudes to homosexuality.
The eight other writers on the panel, chaired by Kate, will be Phil Rickman, Caro Peacock and Rebecca Tope from Herefordshire, Priscilla Masters from Staffordshire, Andrew Taylor from Gloucestershire, Anne Perry from Scotland and Deborah Crombie and Marcia Talley from the USA.
Books by all the authors will be on sale and people can get them signed. ‘CrimeFest at the Castle’ will also mark the publication of Marcia Talley’s seventh Hannah Ives mystery, Dead Man Dancing, the first novel by this multi-award-winning American author to be published in the UK.
Tickets for ‘CrimeFest at the Castle’ are strictly limited to 100, and are priced at just £5, which includes a glass of wine. They are now available at Castle Bookshop, 5 Castle Street, Ludlow, call 01584 872562.
‘CrimeFest at the Castle’ is presented in conjunction with Mystery Women (www.mysterywomen.co.uk) and Castle Bookshop, Ludlow.
