Killer Women Festival - London 2016

Are any other AW writers heading to the Killer Women Festival? Let me know if so and maybe we can meet for a cuppa. I'm going to have to clone myself sometime this week in order to attend all the talks/workshops I really want to go to.

I just wanted to report on this for anyone who might be interested in future festivals.

Killer Women Fest was excellent, especially impressive as it was its first year. There was something for everyone from crime readers to newbie writers (like me) to more experienced writers. There were some really big names such as Val McDermid and Ann Cleeves, and there were lots of workshops and interesting panels. I attended an introduction to crime writing workshop with Kate Rhodes (who is lovely) and a talk on building suspense plus panels on historical crime and getting inside the killer's head and a debate on misogyny in crime fiction. I missed much more as there was so much going on I think if I'd had a time turner I could have done it three times without getting bored or repeating myself. I didn't do too badly on the mingling/networking front either despite being a shy introvert who is generally terrible at that - I had several nice conversations and have a few new twitter friends. The catering was the only thing that let it down and I was really glad I'd taken my own lunch.

I'll definitely book my ticket for next year as soon add they're available.

It was a panel discussion with Sam Baker (female crime writer), John Connolly (crime writer), Julie Bindel (writer and activist) chaired by India Knight (writer). The subject was 'Is Crime Fiction Misogynistic?' and there was a really healthy discussion. Some general conclusions were that it certainly can be when written by a misogynist, society is misogynistic and so crime fiction reflects that, that crime fiction is generally not very good at reflecting the domestic reality of most violence against women and that fictional violence against women can certainly be done in a really bad way when it's done to titillate or just to shock. Also that crime fiction can address inequality, injustice and our worst fears in very thoughtful and helpful ways when done well and that it can be escapist in that the bad guy always gets caught, unlike real life.

I was impressed with everyone on the panel although Connolly definitely had some privilege blinders in place (e.g thinking that a writer needs to be 'a misogynist' to write misogynistic fiction) but was generally pretty good as the only man on the panel - he held up reasonably well! Bindel did a good job of being the activist feminist on the panel - challenging without becoming combative. Often Sam Baker had the most insightful comments and I wish she'd spoken a bit more - I'll definitely be seeking out her fiction now.

I really think this festival will go from strength to strength. It's nice to be in at the start of something - even if only in a small way!