An Update:

CRIMEFEST needs your help!

Those of you who have recently visited the website will have seen that, for obvious reasons, this year’s CRIMEFEST is unlikely to take place in June.

We have contacted all the registered delegates and would like to share some of the details of a recent email we sent them. They will also have received the following message, totally unsolicited by us, from Zoë Sharp, which we now share with you:

I’m Zoë Sharp. Along with many of you I’ve attended CRIMEFEST since the beginning and almost every event since. I’m doubly saddened that this year’s festival is unlikely to take place, as I was due to be the Toastmaster/Toastmistress/Toastrix.

Hence I write you as Toastrix and CRIMEFEST supporter—I will say straight away that this is not a letter from the organisers, but peer participation.

CRIMEFEST will be left with debts as a result of the cancellation—severe enough for bankruptcy to be a real consideration. Were that to happen there’d be no more CRIMEFESTs.

Yet, the sums involved are not huge. If just half of us subscribers agree not to ask for a refund for this year’s event, it should raise enough money to cover the debt and ensure CRIMEFEST 2021.

So, I ask this—if it is within your means, please write to Adrian and Donna and make CRIMEFEST a gift of your 2020 subscription. Or please make a donation on CRIMEFEST’s Just Giving page. It will make all the difference.

Stay safe and well.

Zoë

The bulk of CRIMEFEST’s income is from the advance registrations and passes, and this is the time of year where we have our highest expenditure. Just as one example, we have paid the hotel substantial pre-payments which, subject to government intervention, they are not contractually obliged to refund. Even if, at best, they do carry the monies over to the next CRIMEFEST, there is a further payment shortly due which we are contractually obliged to pay. We have put other commitments on hold where we can, but a significant amount of expenditure has already been made in anticipation of ticket revenue.

CRIMEFEST exists from hand to mouth each year on a tiny overhead and very little cash reserves. This is so, even as we try to broaden the convention’s community outreach in both Bristol and the wider UK with the immense generosity of our headline sponsor Specsavers, and others.

We want to be able to be in readiness for a return to normality; but, sadly, there is no date for this and thus with your help, we would like to establish an emergency fund, the sole purpose of which will be to try to ensure the continuity of CRIMEFEST. The fund will be supplemented by any grants or support that CRIMEFEST is able to apply for, along with a contribution from our very meagre reserves.

We hate asking for financial support but “the friendliest” and most inclusive convention wants to be able to return for a bumper year in 2021. Without your help, there is serious doubt we can manage that.

Some of you have already very kindly donated your ticket cost, which has kickstarted this fund. Many thanks for offering to do so. Others have agreed to transfer their registration to 2021. We really appreciate your kindness and generosity.

For those who would like to donate, please make a payment via our JustGiving page. For those of you who prefer not to pay electronically, please send a cheque, made payable to CRIMEFEST Limited, to CRIMEFEST, BASEMENT FLAT, 6 Rodney Place, Bristol BS8 4HY.

On a more positive note, CRIMEFEST hopes—with the support of our headline sponsors Specsavers and others—to keep you entertained and informed with digital content and newsletters. So, keep checking for newsletters with details of activities CRIMEFEST is able to put on digitally to keep you entertained whilst our reserves last.

Stay safe,

Adrian & Donna,
CRIMEFEST organisers.

2020 Featured Guests

Highlights include:
Gala Dinner
Interviews with Guest Authors
Presentations of the CRIMEFEST Awards

In addition, there will be some forty author panels with more than a hundred participating authors, a crime writing workshop, a pitch-an-agent strand, and much more.

Visit the AUTHORS & DELEGATES page for the most up-to-date line-up.

Venue: Mercure Bristol Grand Hotel, Broad Street, Bristol BS1 2EL, United Kingdom
Email: info@crimefest.com

The Full CRIMEFEST Pass will incrementally go up to £200. The full pass includes admission to all panels and a CRIMEFEST delegate bag with books and a programme. (Visit XE Currency Converter for approximate international prices)

First organised in June 2008, CRIMEFEST is a convention for people who like to read an occasional crime novel as well as for die-hard fanatics. It has not only become one of the biggest crime fiction events in Europe, but is also one of the most popular dates in the international crime fiction calendar. The annual convention was featured as one of ‘the best crime writing festivals around the world’ in the Guardian and one of ‘the 50 Best Festivals’ in The Independent. CRIMEFEST draws top crime novelists, readers, editors, publishers and reviewers from around the world and gives delegates the opportunity to celebrate the genre in a friendly, informal and inclusive atmosphere.

We look forward to seeing you in 2020.

Donna Moore & Adrian Muller,
Co-Hosts of CRIMEFEST.

Authors listed as participating may be subject to change beyond the control of the organisers.

Passes and tickets have the following cancellation fees:
– 15% up to 31 January
– 25% from 1 February – 30 April
– 50% from 1 May onwards
– no refund on Gala Dinner tickets after 21 April
To avoid any cancellation fees tickets may be transferred at no cost (subject to the discretion of the organisers)

CRIMEFEST’s stated aim is to give all delegates the opportunity to celebrate the genre in a friendly, informal and inclusive atmosphere. Attendees are asked to respect commonsense rules for public behaviour, personal interaction, common courtesy and the rights of others. CRIMEFEST supports diversity and free speech, and all attendees are expected to be considerate of others. Comments and views expressed by interviewers, interviewees, moderators and panellists during CRIMEFEST are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of the organisers.