Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival celebrates audience growth at ‘most successful event ever’
The Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival celebrates its most successful event ever after record numbers of crime fiction fans from around the world flocked to the Old Swan Hotel, Harrogate to enjoy more than 30 events with 120 authors over four days, 17-20 July.
(c) Richard Maude
The UK and Ireland’s most prestigious crime fiction Festival saw significant audience growth with 19,450 tickets sold, an increase of 8.8 percent on 2024, making this year’s event the biggest in its twenty-two-year history. For the first time, BBC shows Radio 2 Book Club podcast hosted by Jeremy Vine and Radio 4 Broadcasting House hosted by Paddy O’Connell were recorded at the Festival.
This year’s Festival headliners included Lee and Andrew Child, Irvine Welsh, Attica Locke, Kate Atkinson, Paula Hawkins, Kate Mosse, Steph McGovern, Val McDermid and Mark Billingham, with the most attended event an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at the hugely popular Slow Horses TV series with Mick Herron, Emmy award-winning showrunner Will Smith, and surprise guest, actor Saskia Reeves. This year’s programme also featured the much-anticipated Critics’ New Blood panel and the announcement of the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year, which was won by New Blood alumnus Abir Mukherjee for his thriller ‘Hunted.’
The Festival’s popular shared reading scheme The Big Read was launched over the weekend with ‘The Potting Shed Murder’ by Paula Sutton announced as this year’s selected book. The Big Read will go on tour for a series of free events in libraries across Yorkshire and the North of England, hosted by Reader-In-Residence, bestselling crime novelist Luca Veste in late September. Free copies of ‘The Potting Shed Murder’ will be available from participating libraries.
(C) Gerard Binks
Simon Theakston, Chairman of T&R Theakston, said:
“We are delighted that this year’s Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival was the biggest and most successful ever, with more crime fiction fans than ever enjoying the world-class line up of speakers and soaking up the atmosphere of this unique event. It continues to be a joy to support the world’s best crime writing Festival and we can’t wait to be back in 2026!”
Sharon Canavar, Chief Executive of Harrogate International Festivals, said:
“I’m so proud of this year’s Festival and the incredible line up of guests and special events curated by this year’s programming Chair Mick Herron, and the programming committee, which attracted our biggest audience ever - with many first-time visitors travelling to Harrogate from far and wide to attend. However, the Festival is not quite over yet, as we are looking forward to The Big Read in September, which provides another great opportunity for people in our local community and beyond to connect through a love of crime fiction. We’re distributing free copies of our big read book and encouraging everyone to read Paula Sutton’s entertaining cosy crime novel ‘The Potting Shed Murder’ and come along to our free library events or get involved in the discussion online.
The Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival is delivered by the north of England’s leading arts Festival organisation, Harrogate International Festivals and forms part of their diverse year-round portfolio of events, which aims to bring immersive cultural experiences to as many people as possible. Next year’s Festival dates are 23-26 July.
