AN international crime fiction festival set to be held in Aberystwyth later this year, has been given a funding boost from the Welsh Government.

Gwyl Crime Cymru Festival is Wales' only international crime fiction festival, profiling the rising stars of Welsh crime fiction alongside bestsellers and household names from the UK and abroad.

It has been held digitally in 2021 and 2022. The first live edition is planned for 21-23 April 2023.

Aberystwyth, which is already well known as the home of crime TV series Y Gwyll/Hinterland, will be the home of the festival, and the aim is to establish a world-class, international crime fiction festival for Wales.

The event will also support writers to develop new Welsh crime writing talent and to promote Welsh artistic life in and beyond Wales.

Alis Hawkins, Chair of Gwyl Crime Cymru, said: “The organisers of Gŵyl CRIME CYMRU Festival - until now an online-only festival - are thrilled that support from Event Wales will now allow us to stage Cymru’s first ever international crime fiction festival in Aberystwyth in April 2023.

"We’re delighted that the need for such an event has been recognised and we look forward to delivering the event in April.”

From Friday,21 April to Sunday, 23 April, fans of crime fiction from around the world will finally be able to join international bestselling crime authors at the Gŵyl CRIME CYMRU Festival, the first in-real-life gathering since it was launched online in 2021.

Due to the Covid pandemic and social distancing restrictions, a second online event took place in 2022, featuring more than a dozen panels with more than 30 authors, over six crime fiction-filled evenings. More than 2000 crime fans clamoured to watch panels featuring some of the biggest names in international crime writing including Belinda Bauer, Mark Billingham, Ann Cleeves, MW Craven, Elly Griffiths, Mari Hannah, Vaseem Khan, Clare Mackintosh, Abir Mukherjee and Lilja Sigurdardottir, not forgetting our home- grown Welsh crime novelists from Crime Cymru.

The event covered everything from psychological thrillers, historical crime fiction, spy mysteries and forensic thrillers set in Wales or in far-flung locations such as India and the wilds of the USA, and the cities of Venice, London, Newcastle and Reykjavik.

The Welsh Government is also providing funding for The Circus Village in Swansea, which will see 2023’s participants live, work and create together in a purpose-built site with three Big Tops, culminating in a public celebration and three-day Circus Festival in April 2023.

Deputy Minister for Arts and Sport, Dawn Bowden, said: “I’m delighted that we’re able to support the development of these home-grown cultural events which will be exciting additions to the cultural event calendar in Wales.

"They will give a great platform for skills and talent development as well as providing even more reasons for people to visit Wales in 2023.”