Night of Crime at Derry Central Library

Yes, I'm still alive. It's just been an insanely busy couple of months, but I thought I should break the silence with this bit of news from the Libraries NI website:

Thanks to the City’s first ever Culture Night, Libraries NI, in partnership with Derry City Council, is inviting fans of crime thrillers along to Derry Central Library’s ‘Night of Crime’ event.

Culture Night Derry takes place on Friday 24th September, which will see the city being joined by twenty towns, cities and counties across Ireland, who will come together to celebrate cultural activity. There’s also an international dimension with Culture Nights also taking place in Leuven in Belgium and in New York.

Over half a million people are expected to explore and engage with culture on the evening of 24th September and at this Derry Central Library event, fans of crime thrillers will be able to enjoy readings by two renowned local authors of crime fiction, Eoin McNamee and Stuart Neville, who read from their work from 8pm to 9.30pm. This will be followed by an open discussion, led by Gerard Brennan of the blog Crime Scene NI, about the emerging crime writing scene in Northern Ireland.

Trisha Ward, Business Manager with Libraries NI explains:
“Culture Night is a night of entertainment, discovery and adventure and Derry Central Library is proud to be involved. Arts and cultural organisation, including libraries, will open their doors with hundreds of free events, tours, talks and performances for you, your family and friends to enjoy – and Libraries NI is delighted to be working with Derry City council to make this ‘A Night of Crime’ event, featuring respected crime thriller novelists and bloggers, a success.”

Eoin McNamee, is originally from Kilkeel, County Down and saw his first book, the novella The Last of Deeds, shortlisted for the Irish Times Literature Prize. In his new novel, Orchid Blue, due out in November, he returns to the territory of his acclaimed Booker longlisted The Blue Tango. The evening will include readings from this book as well as from the crime fiction titles McNamee has published under the name John Creed.

Stuart Neville burst onto the crime writing scene in 2009 with his Belfast set novel The Twelve. The sequel to that award- winning debut, Collusion, has just been published. Both books confront in an unsparing manner post-ceasefire Northern Ireland.

Gerard Brennan, of the Crime Scene NI blog, will also be in the library to chair the event and to stimulate discussion. He has edited Requiems for the Departed, published earlier this year, an anthology of short stories inspired by tales from Irish mythology. His work is due to appear in the Mammoth Book of best British Crime 2010

Eugene Martin, Branch Library Manager of Derry Central Library , said:
“We are certainly very excited to welcome two well established writers, Eoin McNamee and Stuart Neville, to the Foyle Street Library along with Gerard Brennan, who runs the Crime Scene NI blog. Eoin and Stuart will talk about their books, what inspires them and what drives them to write crime fiction. There will also be a general discussion of the recent explosion in the writing and following of crime fiction. Crime thriller enthusiasts must come along to what should be an enjoyable evening.”

The Night of Crime event will be held on Culture Night (Sept 24th) at Derry’s Central Library at 8pm. For more information, please call into the Foyle Street library, telephone 028 7127 2300 or email derrycentral.library@librariesni.org.uk. For details of all events taking place in Derry Central and Belfast Central Libraries to mark Culture Nights, go to the Libraries NI website at www.librariesni.org.uk

For details of the full programme of events for Derry’s Culture Night visit www.cityofculture.com