What to see at Venice Noir in English

Venice Noir weekend is rapidly approaching so let me give you a quick guide to the principal book events in English over the weekend. All of these are free but we do ask you to reserve a free ticket on our Eventbrite site to help with event planning. You will find it here. 

Friday 3.30 pm Ateneo Veneto

A Critical Look at Don’t Look Now

We open with what I’m sure will be one of the weekend’s most memorable panels, a discussion of that classic movie Don’t Look Now, for many one of the greatest films ever set in the city. The film writer John Bleasdale, a regular for magazines such as Variety, will lead the discussion. With him will be Ian Rankin, Lisa Hilton, historian, author and frequent visitor to Venice, the city’s resident crime writer Philip Gwynne Jones and Gregory Dowling, recently retired Professor of American Literature at Ca’ Foscari. A must event – booking definitely advised. 

Friday 4.30 pm Ateneo Veneto

The Trial of Giacomo Casanova

This is the tercentary of the birth of the notorious Casanova, a great Venetian romantic or so popular opinion has it. But if you actually read his memoirs a darker, more dangerous individual emerges. So was he a great romantic or really an abuser of women and a notorious liar to boot? We will stage an amusing and semi-serious trial and ask you, the audience, to be the jury at its conclusion. I’ll lead the prosecution. Lisa Hilton acts for the defence. Anna Mazzola, a lawyer as well as a prize-winning author, will offer a legal opinion. Gregory Dowling will act as judge. 

Saturday 10.30 Ateneo Veneto

Write About What You Don’t Know

How do authors go about setting their stories in locales that are foreign to them? Four acclaimed novelists give us their own experiences… Essie Fox, whose new novel Dangerous features Lord Byron in Venice, Anna Mazzola, author of The Book of Secrets, this year’s winner of the Crime Writers’ Association Gold Dagger, Barbara Nadel whose Istanbul books were recently seen on TV, and the UK crime writer Erin Kelly who is currently writing and researching a new novel set in Venice. 

Saturday 11.30 Ateneo Veneto

Dining Out on Crime

Every novel set in Italy in particular features a bar or restaurant at some stage. But crime writers aren’t creating travelogues. Food and drink serve a purpose in the story, or else they wouldn’t be there. Philip Gwynne Jones and D.V. Bishop talk about gourmet Venice, Tom Benjamin discusses his native Bologna, and Barbara Nadel talks about the role coffee and food play in her Istanbul stories.

Saturday 15.00 Ateneo Veneto

The Case of Old Hamlet’s Ear

Crime writers kill people all the time. But how believable are some of the murders in fiction, among them the death of Old Hamlet, poisoned by a draught in the ear, by Shakespeare. Ian Rankin leads the discussion with Tom Benjamin and Anna Mazzola, with one of the UK’s most acclaimed pathologists, Suzy Lishman, to tell us where we get it wrong. 

Saturday 16.00 Ateneo Veneto

Whose Venice is it Anyway?

Venice has inspired writers and artists for centuries. But how accurate are the portraits of the city in fiction… and does accuracy really matter? I’ll lead the discussion with Philip Gwynne Jones, author of the Venice-based Nathan Sutherland books and D.V. Bishop who moved his prize-winning historical Florence series to the Veneto this year. Prolific historian and guide Alberto Toso Fei will be there to offer the insights of a native Venetian. 

Sunday 12.00 The Ridotto Room, the Monaco Hotel

Final reception and the announcement of the first Venice Noir award prizewinner

Our final closing ceremony will give you the rare chance to enter one of the most illustrious locations in the city, the Ridotto, the room overlooking the Basin of Saint Mark which was once home to the casino visited by Casanova and others. There you can meet our authors and enjoy the hospitality of one of our sponsors, Select, makers of the bitter that is at the heart of a true Venetian spritz. And we will close by revealing the first recipient of the Venice Noir award, a stunning piece of Murano glassware to be awarded annually to an author who has made a memorable contribution to the genre.

Paid for events

We also have two cocktail receptions, each costing €30 per person and limited to a small number of people. I will introduce Ian Rankin for the first at 7pm on Friday November 14 at Ca’ Pisani, the boutique art hotel next to the Accademia. The price will include drink and cicchetti. Ian and I will talk about his writing career and then open to questions from the audience. Email Ristorazione@capisanihotel.it for reservations. 

At 7pm on Saturday November 15 at the Experimental Cocktail Club in the Palazzo Experimental on Zattere you can enjoy Noir At The Bar, where Philip Gwynne Jones and Gregory Dowling will discuss some of the great figures – and drinkers – in crime history. And they will unveil the official Venice Noir cocktail, invented for the occasion. Tickets €30 per person. Email reservations@palazzexperimental.com to reserve. 

Hope to see you in Venice!