Several big names are lined up for north east Wales’ newest literary festival. Clwyd Crime will begin on November 5, 2025 as part of a partnership between the Wrexham Carnival of Words, The Mold Bookshop, Gwella Libraries and Wrexham Library Service.
This new festival to be held in both Mold and Wrexham will be a bonanza for fans of murder mysteries, crime and thriller novels. The programme will feature bestselling authors such as Alan Johnson and Simon McCleave and will include events in both English and Welsh.
Who will be at Clwyd Crime?
The festival opens with bestselling crime fiction author Vaseem Khan who takes us on an exhilarating journey from the post-Independence complexities of India – and his Malabar House novels – to contemporary Britain’s MI6 and the exploits of James Bond and Q. He will take a detour via his standalone thriller The Girl in Cell A, immersing us in a claustrophobic American mining town replete with dark secrets. And his new series featuring Q, beginning with Quantum of Menace, brings to life one of spy fiction’s most iconic characters – but who was the real Q?
Also appearing will be one of the UK’s most gripping crime writers, Simon McCleave, creator of the atmospheric Snowdonia Killings who will convey an electrifying afternoon of suspense, storytelling, and secrets. Across the rugged landscapes of North Wales, Simon crafts mysteries that keep readers on the edge of their seats. In a special event, Simon will discuss his novels, the art of building tension, and what it takes to write a truly unforgettable detective.
Alan Johnson – former Education Secretary, Health Secretary and Home Secretary in the Labour government up to 2010 – won a multitude of awards for the four books of his memoirs, This Boy, Please Mister Postman, The Long and Winding Road and In My Life. More recently, Alan has published a best-selling biography of Harold Wilson, but will appear at the Clwyd Crime festival to chat about his Mangan detective novels, The Late Train To Gypsy Hill, One Of Our Ministers Is Missing, and Death on the Thames.
Two Welsh language authors also appear at Clwyd Crime. Meleri Wyn James’ latest novel Dim Ond Un sees a family meet for a celebration in a cottage on Bardsey Island; for some it is a rare opportunity to see relatives, while it is a task to be unwillingly suffered for others. A stranger arrives at the cottage, and many secrets are revealed. The novel is a mystery about a family in isolation on an island with a murderer amongst them.
Sonia Edwards is one of Wales’s most popular Welsh language authors with thrilling mysteries that intertwine with compelling characters. She is a recipient of the Tir na n-Og Award, the Arts Council Book of the Year Award in 1996 and in 1999 and 2017 she won the Prose Medal at the National Eisteddfod on Anglesey and again in 2017.
Alis Hawkins is a founding member of Welsh crime writers’ collective, Crime Cymru, and a member of the Society of Authors and the Crime Writers’ Association. Two of her four Teifi Valley Coroner novels have been shortlisted for the CWA’s prestigious Historical Dagger award.
Sarah Ward is a critically acclaimed crime and gothic thriller writer. Her book, A Patient Fury, was an Observer book of the month and The Quickening, written as Rhiannon Ward, was a Radio Times book of the year. Sarah is a former Vice-Chair of the Crime Writers Association and a Trustee of Gŵyl Crime Cymru Festival
Murder on Ynys Môn by Sion Tecwyn, who co-wrote the book with Meic Parry, examines the mystery behind the brutal killing of a pensioner on Anglesey in 2019. Gerald Corrigan was shot with a crossbow outside his remote home. The killer was sent to prison, but speculation continues that somebody else ordered the murder.
The Wrexham Carnival of Words, established in 2015, is one of Wales’ leading literary festivals holding a multi-genre events at Wrexham Library during April each year. The Bookshop Mold holds regular author events throughout the year, many of which are hosted at Mold library, part of the Gwella Libraries.
