Murder One – New International Crime-Writing Festival For Dublin

A stellar cast of crime and thriller writers have been lined up for a new crime writing festival taking place in Dublin in November. Murder One will feature a host international authors including Peter James, Val McDermid, Mark Billingham, Clare Mackintosh, Lynda La Plante, Lisa Jewell, Ruth Ware, Mick Herron and Robert Goddard together with many of your favourite Irish crime writers including Liz Nugent, Jane Casey, Patricia Gibney, Jo Spain, Karen Perry, Sam Blake and many more.

A three-day long weekend crime writing festival running from 2 – 4 November, Murder One will also feature readings and interviews with Irish and international authors, panel events, a speakers’ corner and forensics and writing workshops. Murder One will be a broad church which will aim to accommodate the kindred genres of thrillers and spy fiction.

International bestseller, Michael Connelly will open the festival with a special preview event on October 28th at 2.00pm in City Hall with Declan Burke moderating. Thereafter the main programme takes place in Smock Alley, one of Dublin’s premier event venues, from 2nd – 4th November.

International bestseller Lynda La Plante brings festival attendees a unique free workshop for anyone interested in the world of forensics or Crime Scene Investigation. This interactive event is hosted by Think Forensic whose experts include CSI’s, forensic scientists, and senior investigating officers. In Lynda La Plante’s CSI Murder Room, get a hands on introduction to forensic science and be briefed on the crime of the day, inspired by Lynda’s newest thriller Murder Mile. Lynda herself will be interviewed by Niamh O’Connor on Saturday 3rd November, talking about Murder Mile and the Steve McQueen movie due out in November, based on her novel ‘Widows’.

Murder One has been developed and will be curated by two of Ireland’s most experienced literary event programmers, Vanessa Fox O’Loughlin of Writing.ie, and Bert Wright formerly of Mountains to Sea dlr Book Festival and currently curator of The Dublin Festival of History and the DLR Voices Series. Working with Dublin City Libraries, Dublin City Events, and Dublin UNESCO City of Literature, the organisers aim to attract not just an avid local audience but also literary tourists from all over the world.

With crime writing consistently the highest selling genre worldwide, the time is ripe for a great literary city to expand its festival portfolio and Murder One, it is hoped, will become one of the key events in the national and international crime festival calendar.

Bert Wright said: “Not for nothing was Dublin chosen as one of the first UNESCO Cities of Literature. UK visitors always remark upon the enthusiasm and sophistication of Dublin audiences and this has been a festival waiting to happen. Irish crime writers are now rightly respected and admired the world over. England Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own crime festivals, so it really was time for Dublin to step up to the plate. It’s all enormously exciting and we can’t wait to get stuck in.”

Vanessa O’Loughlin said: “As a crime writer myself I’m constantly delighted by the passion and enthusiasm of Irish crime fans and I’m confident that they will welcome this new landmark festival in Dublin. In addition to my fellow Irish writers, we have attracted some major international names to make our first year a memorable one. In 2017, the top three bestselling books were thrillers and we plan to thrill festival goers whether they enjoy cosy whodunits or Cold War spy dramas. Check out murderone.ie to see the plot unfold.”

Alison Lyons, Director of Dublin UNESCO City of Literature, added: “Crime novels are enjoyed by a wider variety of readers than possibly any other genre, and are consistently among the most popular titles borrowed in libraries, so we have no doubt that there is a huge appetite for Murder One. We look forward to being a part of the festival and bringing readers and authors together, especially our widely celebrated and internationally renowned Irish writers of crime fiction.”

For more information and how to buy tickets, go to