Recorded live at HIF’s Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival 2019

Who better to put the world to rights, and to help us celebrate Burns Night, than two Scottish supernovas!?

Best-selling author Val McDermid has been publishing acclaimed crime fiction for over 30 years. An international bestseller, her books have been translated into 40 different languages and sold over 16 million copies worldwide. She’s won many accolades, including the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year and the Outstanding Contribution to Crime Fiction. She’s written four award-winning series, including the Tony Hill & Carol Jordan novels, adapted for TV as Wire In the Blood. Other work includes non-fiction, short stories, a children’s picture book, writing dramas for radio and the stage, and captaining a winning University Challenge team. In Val’s book My Scotland, she takes readers to the landscapes she has known all her life, and the places where her stories and characters reside.

Nicola Sturgeon joined the SNP at 16. Five years later she became Scotland’s youngest parliamentary candidate and in 2014 was elected SNP Leader. She is the first female First Minister of Scotland. A dynamic campaigner, this year she was appointed as the first global advocate for the UN’s #HeForShe campaign, advancing gender equality. An enthusiastic reader, Nicola views books as one of life’s great pleasures. She regularly shares her recommendations on social media on a Saturday night and is an avid supporter of libraries. She’s also become a regular interviewer of writers at book festivals. She has contributed the foreword to My Scotland.

Podcast music by Joseph McDade.