Kiwi crime showcased at NZIAF

Last month I shared that international crime stars Jo Nesbo and Denise Mina would be part of the 2012 New Zealand Arts Festival in Wellington next March. It's great to see New Zealand books and arts festivals including crime fiction amongst the literary content on offer. Now, I'm very pleased to be able to share that there will also be a New Zealand crime fiction event at the 2012 New Zealand Arts Festival.

Three terrific New Zealand crime writers will be part of the event; Vanda Symon, Paul Cleave, and Paul Thomas? What, you say - Paul Thomas? But he hasn't put a crime novel out in years. That's right - but in another piece of excellent news, the King of Kiwi crime writing during the late 1990s and early 2000s is making a welcome return to the page next year with DEATH ON DEMAND, his first Detective Ihaka tale in more than a decade (read more about Thomas's crime writing here).

Here's the official blurb for the New Zealand crime fiction event:

PAUL CLEAVE, PAUL THOMAS, VANDA SYMON
New Zealand crime fiction

Three of New Zealand’s best contemporary crime writers talk about mixing violence and humour, and bringing one of the world’s most popular forms of storytelling into a distinctly New Zealand setting.

Paul Cleave’s Christchurch-set thrillers have made bestseller lists and drawn critical acclaim around the world. His debut, The Cleaner, is one of the biggest selling novels ever to come out of New Zealand, and has been optioned for film adaptation. Blood Men, a novel about a man forced to confront his violent genealogy as he hunts his wife’s killers, won the Ngaio Marsh Award. Paul Thomas dragged local murder mysteries into modernity with several critically acclaimed thrillers in the late 1990s and early 2000s. His second Detective Ihaka tale, Inside Dope, won the inaugural Ned Kelly Award. After a decade-long hiatus, Thomas and Ihaka have returned with Death on Demand. Vanda Symon is the creator of the bestselling Sam Shephard series, set in Otago and Southland. A previous finalist for the Ngaio Marsh Award, her latest novel, The Faceless, is a standalone thriller told from multiple perspectives.

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There will be an official launch of the Writers and Readers week programme on 26 January, with tickets for all events going on sale on the 27th. Hope to see some of you there!

It's terrific to see more New Zealand books and arts festivals including crime fiction. I understand that there will also be New Zealand crime fiction events at several other festivals in 2012, including the Hamilton Garden Arts Festival early in the year, and the Christchurch Writers Festival in August/September. I haven't yet heard anything about the Auckland Readers and Writers Festival, but hopefully it too will include some crime fiction, international and/or local, in its 2012 line-up.