00:00I'm at the Playhouse in Whitley Bay speaking to Vic Watson, the director of the Bay Tales Crime Fiction Festival,
00:05about the line-up for Bay Tales 2027.
00:08For fans of Vera and Shetland, there's a chance to hear directly from the woman behind those hugely successful crime
00:13stories.
00:14Anne Cleaves will headline the opening session of Bay Tales at the Playhouse, where she'll be interviewed by fellow author
00:20Louise Welch.
00:22Cleaves is also the festival's patron.
00:25When we started Bay Tales, we wouldn't be where we are now without Anne.
00:29She was the one who was introducing us to people who we needed to meet and going to every festival
00:35known to man, saying,
00:36but you really should join us in Whitley Bay.
00:38It's my home festival and it's a brilliant place to be and it's a brilliant festival.
00:43And now it's taken on a life of its own, but without Anne.
00:47You know, people still come to see Anne.
00:50You know, we've got 20 amazing authors, but people are like, is Anne Cleaves going to be there?
00:55Yes, she is. Right, great, get me a ticket.
00:58I think our reputation is quite strong now.
01:00So a lot of book festivals I go to, people go and see the talks, which is great.
01:06But then there's not a lot of books sold, which for an author is obviously a bread and butter.
01:11But here at Bay Tales, we have people come in with empty suitcases to fill with books.
01:17And we have lines going down the stairs and out the door to get their books signed.
01:21And I think the fact that it's quite, it's friendly.
01:26The festival's programme brings together some of the biggest names in crime fiction,
01:30with Anne Cleaves taking centre stage in the opening Patron's Pick conversation.
01:34The line-up also includes authors B.A. Paris, Janice Hallett, Fiona Cummins and Joe Murray.
01:41Broadcaster Steph McGovern will interview Australian best-selling author Jane Harper
01:44and former BBC Breakfast presenter Louise Minchin in the closing special guest session.
01:49There will also be author panels, book signings, an independent festival bookshop
01:54and a charity raffle supporting the Bay Food Bank.
01:56We've got Jane Harper joining us from Australia.
01:59She's the author of The Dry, which was then turned into a feature film starring Eric Banner.
02:05We've got Geoffrey Boyacci, who's a debut novelist, but he's written children's books and non-fiction.
02:11And he's also the host of BBC Radio 4's Add to Playlist.
02:15We have Louise Minchin joining us and Steph McGovern.
02:19But we also have some fantastic debut authors, some favourites.
02:25Fiona Cummins has been to the festival a couple of times before.
02:28She'll be joining us again.
02:29And of course, we have our fantastic patron, Anne Cleaves.
02:33So you might come for somebody that's really well-known, that you've heard of before,
02:36that's an old favourite.
02:38But then you come away and go,
02:40I've bought five new books because I heard five new authors who spoke so brilliantly
02:44and I definitely want to read them.
02:47Bay Tales Live takes place at Whitley Bay Playhouse on the 27th of February,
02:51bringing authors, broadcasters and crime fiction fans together for a full day of events.
