Scottish crime writer to give the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo a graphic twist

It has been reported today (NZT) that Scottish crime writer Denise Mina, who's recently been in the news down this way with the announcement she would be a guest at the 2012 New Zealand International Arts Festival (and was the subject of a very good feature by my fellow Ngaio Marsh Award judge Bernard Carpinter in a recent New Zealand Listener) willl take the reins of the "Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" series. Not to complete any rumoured fourth manuscript, but to bring Lisbeth Salander and her escapades to full vivid colour via graphic novels.

Alison Flood of The Guardian has said that, "Mina has been chosen by Larsson's literary estate to adapt the late Swedish novelist's The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and its sequels The Girl Who Played with Fire and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest into six graphic novels for DC Comics. The author, whose latest novel The End of the Wasp Season was shortlisted for the Gold Dagger award, said she had nearly finished adapting the first book, with the first volume to be out next March. The illustrator is Leonardo Manco, with whom Mina has previously collaborated on the Hellblazer comics."

You can read Flood's full article here.
 
It will be interesting to see Mina's graphic novel take on the Swedish crime tales. I'm fascinated by how some writers produce excellent work in a variety of mediums, while others concentrate solely on one. Different strokes for different folks, of course. Amongst the crime writers I've spoken to this year, our own Neil Cross writes film and television scripts in addition to bleak and gripping thriller novels, Robert Crais went from TV scripts to private eye novels, and Gregg Hurwitz juggles thriller writing with graphic novels, film, and TV scripts. And I thought my life was busy!
 
Hat tip to another of my fellow Ngaio Marsh Award judges, Graham "Bookman" Beattie, for the heads-up with the news about Mina.

Denise Mina talks about doing things differently

Recently it has been announced that acclaimed Scottish crime writer Denise Mina would be visiting New Zealand early next year, as part of the 2012 New Zealand International Arts Festival.

As noted on the Festival website, "Mina is a Scottish crime writer and playwright whose style has been described as ‘tartan noir’. She is the author of the Garnethill trilogy and another series featuring Patricia ‘Paddy’ Meehan, a Glasgow journalist. Mina’s first Paddy Meehan novel, The Field of Blood, has become a BBC drama."

Ian Rankin has previously described Mina as "one of the most exciting writers to have emerged in Britain for years". Last month, Mina was interviewed by my fellow Ngaio Marsh Award judge Bernard Carpinter, who writes the monthly crime fiction column for the New Zealand Listener. That article is now available to read in full online. Amongst other things, Mina talks about being bored by "everything's awful endings", her most recent novel, THE END OF THE WASP SEASON, writing about a sex worker as "a full human being" rather than a caricature just to be brutally killed, why she began writing crime fiction, and much more.

It's a good piece by Carpinter, and I recommend you go and have a read (click here).

Crime aplenty: Jo Nesbo and Denise Mina announced for 2012 New Zealand Arts Festival

In some terrific news that I can finally reveal, it's now been announced that there will be some strong crime writing content as part of the prestigious 2012 New Zealand Arts Festival, to be held in Wellington next year. The Festival will include 300 arts events over 24 days in late February and March next year, and a Writers & Readers Week is also part of the festivities. Amongst the visiting international writers for 2012 are two big names from European crime fiction: Norwegian Jo Nesbo, and Scottish writer Denise Mina.

I understand there will also be a New Zealand crime writing event, with several local writers. More details about the full Festival line-up will be released in due course. It's great to see important local festivals, such as the New Zealand Arts Festival, starting to embrace and include crime fiction, particularly local crime fiction, more and more, in their line-ups. I'm very much looking forward to the 2012 New Zealand Arts Festival.

You can read more about the international authors attending, and their events, here.

Tick, tick, tick... Bouchercon!

Well, it's almost upon us. This week the 2010 edition of the fantastic (I've heard) Bouchercon crime writing festival will kick off. From a look at the lineup and the building excitement on blogs and elsewhere amongst the crime fiction community, Bouchercon by the Bay is going to be absolutely huge.

I've got to say, I'm pretty envious of everyone heading along. Scratch that, really envious. Incredible Hulk green with envy. I was quite tempted to hop on a plane from New Zealand, especially as San Francisco, the location of this year's 'Con is one of my favourite US cities, and also a fairly accessible/affordable flight from New Zealand (one of the most geographically isolated countries in the world, apparently). Unfortunately finances and timing hampered my Bouchercon 2010 dreams. But maybe next time.

For all of you heading along this year, I hope you have a magnificent time. For those, like me, who can only look on, our faces pressed up against a faraway window, hopefully there will be all sorts of fantastic articles and blog posts coming out about the events, from those lucky enought to be on the ground there in San Francisco. I'm talking to you Peter Rozovsky (Detectives Beyond Borders), Jon and Ruth Jordan (Crimespree magazine), Janet Rudolph (Mystery Readers International), J. Kingston Pierce (The Rap Sheet), and others... make sure you share it all with us.

Lee Child, who I was fortunate enough to interview and meet in New Zealand earlier this year (read NZLawyer feature, read 9mm interview) is 'Distinguished Contribution to the Genre' in 2010, and Scottish author Denise Mina, who's Gold Dagger-shortlisted novel STILL MIDNIGHT I recently read, is the International Guest of Honour, at Bouchercon by the Bay.

Skimming the programme, there are so many cool events on offer. I'd certainly have some pretty full days there. Watching the San Francisco-set crime movies The Maltese Falcon, Bullitt, and Murder by Death on Wednesday night (6pm onwards) would be a great start to what is going to be a really terrific few days. In amongst all the authors events, there is also the announcement/presentation of several prestigious crime/mystery writing awards, ie the Macavitys, the Barrys, and the Anthonys. And the Dashiell Hammett-inspired walking tours also sound great - San Francisco is such a great strolling city.

You can check out the line-up of events here:

• Thursday
• Friday
• Saturday
• Sunday

I hope that everyone heading to the festival has a truly terrific time, and I look forward to reading about all the festivities.

What do you think about the Bouchercon by the Bay lineup? Are you heading along? What events/authors would you most like to attend, if you were going? Who should win some of the awards? Do you enjoy author events and mystery writing festivals? Thoughts and comments welcome.