The Arts and their Crafts series follows interviews of professionals in arts industries who have connections to the University of Stirling.
Bloody Scotland is an annual crime writing festival in Stirling, with an impressive lineup of authors and events. Bob McDevitt is the director of this and the programmer for Glasgow’s Aye Write festival.
In 1989, McDevitt graduated from the University of Stirling. Brig caught up with him after the Bloody Scotland 2025 programme launch.
What about the 2025 line up excites you?
“I think it is the best line up we have had, a lot of that is down to having (Sir) Rankin as the guest programmer this year. He delivered a lot of headline events we need to make the festival a success. Apart from those we’ve got other big headliners, like Jo Nesbo the Norwegian bestseller.”
If you could only see one event, what would you go to?
“It is almost impossible as the programmer, because I think all the events are good. There is a couple of books I’ve read this year that have been really excellent so I am looking forward to those.”
“One is called The Rush. It’s a brilliant historical novel unlike anything I had read before. The author will be part of a historical fiction panel.”
“The other is a science fiction book called Esperance. It’s a detective novel, but with aliens. It wasn’t the kind of book I would normally read, but that’s the good thing about this job. The author is on a speculative fiction panel.”
Art festivals seem to happen in Glasgow or Edinburgh, why is it important for Bloody Scotland to happen in Stirling?
“Stirling is a great place to be because it’s in the heart of Scotland, so we tend to attract a varied audience.”
“It’s also good because it has a manageable centre. A big part of Bloody Scotland is the sociable aspect. Writers like to get something to eat, a drink from the pub. It’s not an exclusive festival where there’s no contact between readers and writers. “
“Edinburgh and Glasgow have big festivals, so it was nice to bring Bloody Scotland to a city that didn’t already have one.”
Why is the Scottish crime genre significant?
“We have never worked out why, we do seem to punch above our weight as a relatively small country. We have produced brilliant crime writers like McDermid and Rankin. “
“We give out a debut prize, there is always new writers coming through. It’s been talked about, is it something dark in the Scottish psyche, do we just enjoy crime or crime stories.”
What advice do you have for students who want to work in literature?
“Literature is broad, it could be publishing, book selling or writing itself. There’s lots of different jobs, so I would say play to your strengths and things you enjoy.”
“I worked in bookselling and publishing mostly before I ran book festivals. There’s lots of different jobs in publishing, it’s a good industry.
My advice is work hard and make good connections.”
Featured Image Credit : Craig Sisterson
Arts Editor - get in touch via arts@brignews.com
Journalism and English student.
