It was with sadness – but great pride – that we announced in December 2024 that our sixteenth CrimeFest, in May 2025, would be the final one.
CrimeFest was created following the hugely successful one-off visit to Bristol in 2006 of the American Left Coast Crime convention. The British hosts were encouraged to continue with a similar annual event and, as a result, the first CrimeFest was organised in June 2008. Like our American counterparts, CrimeFest ran on the US model where everyone who attended (other than Featured and Highlighted Guest Authors) paid to attend. Unlike any other major crime fiction event in the UK – where authors have to be invited to appear – any commercially published author who signed up for CrimeFest before all panel slots were allocated, were guaranteed at least one panel. In this way, CrimeFest provided many authors with a platform they would not have been offered elsewhere in the UK. And, subsequently, readers discovered and met writers they otherwise may never have heard of. During CrimeFest, all delegates – be they authors, readers, etc. – came together as equals to celebrate the genre they love.
Every year we have been able to showcase approximately 150 authors on some 50+ panels, interviews and events over a four day period. Over 1,100 authors have appeared on panels, many of them returning year after year. We’ve also brought in new initiatives as the years have passed. With the funds we received from Specsavers, our highly valued sponsor, we introduced reduced cost Community Passes for UK school and public librarians, full-time UK students and for recipients of Jobseekers Allowance, Income Support, Employment Support Allowance, Universal Credit and DLA/PIP (£25 – £50 for the full weekend). In 2021 we also created an annual bursary for crime fiction authors of colour, with the recipient receiving a full weekend pass to CrimeFest, a night’s accommodation and at least one guaranteed panel appearance. We ran community projects at local schools in the community; donated books to many schools and libraries across Bristol and the UK; our anthology Ten Year Stretch and our raffles each year raised thousands of pounds for the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB); and the seven awards we presented each year celebrated crime fiction, non-fiction, TV and crime fiction for children and young adults (the latter two being the first in the UK). We are immensely proud of all of these initiatives, some of which remain unique in the UK and we are also so proud of providing a platform for authors who may not otherwise have been showcased at any other event, festival or convention in the UK.
CrimeFest was a convention run by fans of the genre, for love of the genre. It was initially organised and co-hosted by Myles Allfrey, Liz Hatherell, Adrian Muller and Donna Moore, and, more recently, by just the latter two. Throughout, we had the help of a fabulous dream-team of volunteers, and each and every one of us did so because we love crime fiction and its community. CrimeFest was championed as one of the most important and friendliest crime fiction events in the UK, which is the highest accolade we could have wished for and is a legacy that we are so proud of.
The crime fiction community is largely a wonderful, supportive, helpful and welcoming one, and CrimeFest was a labour of love for Adrian and Donna and for our volunteers. We didn’t have a big staff or many corporate backers. What we did have was a small team who came together every year and helped out over the weekend at the registration desk; stuffing book bags; time-keeping panels, etc. We are immensely grateful to the authors, readers, publishers, booksellers, sponsors, volunteers and a whole host of other people who supported us over the years. We are delighted to call many of you friends, and most likely we will see you at many other crime fiction events in the UK and further afield. And, though we can’t thank you all by name here, your support, friendship and love of crime fiction has meant a lot to us.
Whilst this is the end of CrimeFest – certainly for the immediate future – Adrian and Donna both love the genre, the community and, most importantly the CrimeFest family, so who knows what the future may hold.
With love, with thanks and with best wishes,
Donna Moore and Adrian Muller, CrimeFest co-hosts.
