Britain’s best selling crime novelist Ian Rankin is coming to this year’s Cúirt International Festival of Literature where he will read from his work and take part in a public interview.
Ian Rankin will read in the Town Hall Theatre on Thursday April 22 at 8.30pm. He will also play a number of his favourite songs, discuss the influence of music on his work with the musician and broadcaster Philip King, and take questions from the audience.
Born in Fife in 1960, Rankin graduated from the University of Edinburgh in 1982 and has since been employed as grape-picker, swineherd, taxman, alcohol researcher, journalist, and punk musician.
He was a prize-winning poet and short-story writer before turning to novels with The Flood, followed by Knots & Crosses, in 1987, the first of his Inspector Rebus novels.
Rankin lives in Edinburgh with his wife Miranda and their two sons, and writes about the city in his award-winning Inspector Rebus novels. The books have twice been dramatised for TV and translated into 36 languages.
He has won many awards, including the Crime Writers Association Gold Dagger for Fiction for Black & Blue (1997 ), and the Mystery Writers of America ‘Edgar’ Award for Best Novel and Germany’s Deutsche Krimi Prize for Resurrection Men (2004 ). He has twice won the CWA Short Story Dagger Award (1994 and 1996 ) and in 2005 he received the CWA Diamond Dagger for Lifetime Achievement. He has also received the Grand Prix du Roman Policier, France’s most prestigious award for crime fiction.
This year Rankin was rewarded for his outstanding contribution to the cultural and social landscape of Edinburgh when he became the first recipient of the Edinburgh Award and was also appointed Deputy Lieutenant of Edinburgh. In 2009 he was awarded an Honorary Fellowship from the University of Edinburgh and in 2003 an OBE in the British Queen’s Golden Jubilee Birthday Honours List.
Ian also appears regularly on TV, notably as a reviewer on BBC2’s Newsnight Review. His three-part documentary series on the subject of evil was broadcast on Channel 4 in December 2002.
Tickets will be available from the Town Hall Theatre from 6pm on Tuesday March 23 and online at www.tht.ie The full programme of events for the 25th Cúirt International Festival of Literature will be launched on Tuesday March 23.
