Simon Maltman Blogs

Overview of Ulster Noir On my Belfast Noir walking tour, I give out lots of recommendations and people often note many of these down. A reading group from Dublin were on the tour yesterday  and asked for me to compile  a list for them. I thought I would share it here on my blog too. This is by no means exhaustive, but hopefully will offer a rudimentary overview of the local scene. It includes well established writers and some who are earlier in their career. Of course it also includes many of my personal favourite books!  Rise of Ulster Noir  (This was following a period of 'Troubles Trash' where many books were set here but often written from afar and were not always that great) Maurice Leitch Leitch's first novel came in 1965 and he is still writing today in various disciplines. He has been awarded an MBE for services to literature.  Check out Silver's City  Colin Bateman  Colin Bateman broke the scene wide ope

It was great craic to be part of the Noireland festival this year, taking Crime Fiction fans on our Belfast Noir tour. Great to have people along not only from various parts of the UK, but the likes of USA and Germany too. The festival had a great atmosphere about it and was a really class weekend. Last week I had a Tourist Board tour, taking international buyers on Belfast Noir too. I love introducing people to Belfast and in particular to writers who they haven't read before. Finishing  up in No Alibis Bookstore is always a great way to end, so folk can have a good old riffle through some awesome books. I've found it's really true that writers aren't competitive with one another, and like nothing more than bigging up other authors  that they enjoy- and that's certainly how I feel. The local scene really is thriving. What about talking about our own books?  It's a well discussed contradiction that introverted writers have to get out there and