Seventy-five years ago Dame Ngaio Marsh crafted one of the Golden Age’s most startling deaths, with the victim lured to his end in a thermal mud pool. Next January, crime writers from several countries will be gathering near the crime scene on New Zealand’s volcanic plateau for Rotorua Noir, the inaugural New Zealand crime and thriller writing festival.
Rotorua Noir will be held over the weekend of 26-27 January 2019, and is a convention-style festival akin to Crimefest and Iceland Noir in Europe, and Left Coast Crime and Bouchercon in North America, where the onstage programme is created from invited Guests of Honour and other crime writers who register for the festival. Guests of Honour include CWA Gold Dagger winner Michael Robotham (Australia), Bloody Scotland festival founder Alex Gray, and award-winning Nordic crime writers Lilja Sigurdardóttir (Iceland) and Kati Hiekkapelto (Finland).
Three-time Ngaio Marsh Awards finalist Vanda Symon will also be hosting crime writing masterclasses on Friday 25 January, free to festival registrants (limited places). More than 20 other crime writers have already registered for Rotorua Noir, along with publishers, editors, librarians, reviewers, and keen crime readers from several countries. It is going to be a fantastic weekend of author panels, workshops, and other fun events celebrating antipodean crime writing and the global genre.
The organisers would warmly welcome any Sisters in Crime Australia members who’d be interested in attending Rotorua Noir. You can find out more at the festival website, or by contacting co-founder Craig Sisterson: craigsisterson@hotmail.com