Lisa Jewell in Conversation at Theakston’s Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival

By Sarah Morgan, August 2026 It’s been a big few days for Lisa Jewell. The writer is this year’s Programming Chair at the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival in Harrogate, so she’s barely had a second to herself. “I have been slightly living off my nerves,” she grins, “fuelled by Betty’s biscuits and toast.” There are worse ways to keep yourself going, of course, and it’s clearly worked…