I grew up in Swindon, and was very excited when I heard that Swindon Story Shed would be hosting its first crime fiction festival. And what better title for it than Bloodshed?
Running from October 18-20, 2024 and hosted at the Delta Marriott Hotel in Swindon, it featured sixteen authors, including DV Bishop, Tom Hindle, Eleanor Barker-White, and Simon Mason, and I was delighted to be able to take part with a panel and two workshops on the Saturday.
Organisers of events like this have choices. Do they host more panels and split the audience between multiple rooms? How much audience engagement is desirable? What are the facilities available at the venue? Do the panels just cater for writers or readers or both? And so on...
There are no right or wrong answers because it depends on the aims and audience, but I loved some of the decisions the organisers made. First of all, the venue was a single large room with the audience seated around large tables.
This gave guests a chance to talk to each other between panels and gave authors the opportunity to join in and enjoy some informal conversation. On top of this, great imagination and attention to detail in the presentation added atmosphere and interest. For example, every author was introduced via a brilliant “wanted” file, the work of the co-organiser Nick of Nick Pavone Creations.
The workshops leant towards those interested in writing but from my experience with book groups, there is always a large crossover; plenty of readers have no desire to write a book, as readers are very interested in the process and the skills.
I was on the psychological thrillers panel, and many other crime genres were investigated, including historic, cosy and police procedurals. The festival team were fantastic and I overspent at the bookshop!
One of the highlights for me was M.A. Hunter, with his latest novel (and one of my purchases) Sleepwalker. Hunter is hugely entertaining, whether moderating or participating on panels; he has a great sense of humour and always takes questions in unexpected and often entertaining directions.
Queuing for drinks at the bar gave me plenty of time to chat with festival-goers… actually, that’s just a polite way of saying that the service was very slow and the only negative of the day.
I could fault nothing else and I hope the Story Shed team build on the success of this first event. It is always difficult to establish a new festival, but the format, enthusiasm and creative staging give Bloodshed a cutting edge. Good luck for next year!
For more details, you can check out the official festival site at Swindon Story Shed: (https://www.swindonstoryshed.co.uk/the-bloodshed/)
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