Organisers of Granite Noir hailed the sixth outing of the popular crime-writing festival a success.
The festival, which came to a close last night (Sunday February 27), returned to Aberdeen with a packed programme of sold‐out, live, in‐person events, workshops and performances.
Granite Noir enjoyed an attendance of almost 7,000, with an additional 3,000 visits to the Grit in the Granite exhibition at the Music Hall and The Lemon Tree.
And it wasn’t just locals who enjoyed the festival. Visitors dropped in from all over the UK ranging from London, Liverpool and Lincoln, and crime fiction enthusiasts from as far afield as Germany and Ireland also attended.
Granite Noir welcomed international audience to Aberdeen
Audiences for the seven events which were live-streamed online tuned in from Norway, Switzerland and Canada, making it a truly international event.
Granite Noir was produced by Aberdeen Performing Arts on behalf of partners Belmont Filmhouse, Aberdeen City Libraries and Aberdeen City & Aberdeenshire Archives.
Aberdeen Performing Arts’ chief executive Jane Spiers said: “It has been wonderful to see so many people out enjoying our first in-person Granite Noir in two years, and to welcome viewers to our live-streamed events.
“Last year’s virtual festival showed us that the sky is the limit with people tuning in from all corners of the world, but there is only one place for Granite Noir and that is right in the heart of Aberdeen.
“The granite sparkled all weekend as we welcomed international best‐selling authors, Scotland’s finest and the very best emerging homegrown talent from right here in the north-east.”
Famous crime fiction authors travelled to the Granite City
Granite Noir welcomed more than 60 speakers including Ann Cleeves, Jenni Fagan, forensic anthropologist Professor Sue Black and Norway’s best-selling crime writer Kjell Ola Dahl.
Audiences were also thrilled to hear about debut novels from Ewan Gault, Leela Soma, A J West, Rosie Andrews and Oyinkan Braithwaite.
Dr Julia Shaw and Sofie Hagan examined the case of Helen Priestly, a child who was killed on Aberdeen’s Urquhart Street in the 1930s, in a live recording of their popular Bad People podcast, and Aberdeen-based theatre company Ten Feet Tall staged performances of specially-commissioned play Witch Hunt in the atmospheric Kirk of St Nicholas.
West End hit The Hound of the Baskervilles was also at HMT last week and the production received rave reviews. You can read what our reviewer thought below.
REVIEW: The Hound of the Baskervilles leaves Aberdeen audience howling with laughter
The Grit in the Granite, a free exhibition in The Music Hall and The Lemon Tree which shone a light on the darker side of Victorian Aberdeen with documents and photographs drawn from the Aberdeen City and Aberdeenshire Archives, attracted national attention.
Granite Noir 2022 was supported by Aberdeen City Council and Creative Scotland and
EventScotland.
Did you attend any Granite Noir events? Check out our gallery from the festival below.