Steven Dunne

Festival of Words: An Audience with Steven Dunne

In 2008 Derbyshire author Steven Dunne self published his first crime novel, The Reaper. After gaining good reviews and generating respectable sales, he was approached by the publisher Headline. The Disciple quickly followed and now, Deity, his third novel to feature DI Damen Brook, is achieving critical acclaim.

Steven opened his talk at NTU with a series of slides, featuring him and his books like a parent might show off baby photos. There’s no doubt about it, this affable author is enjoying his success and he is, quite rightly, very proud of Deity. A part-time secondary school teacher, he explained how he called on his work experience to write about the difficult in-between years. Steven was interested in the process today’s youngsters go through when they lose their sense of invincibility and realise the world does not revolve on their terms.

A self confessed smug grin - and why not?

As the opening chapters of Deity were read out we heard what all the fuss was about. Four Derby College students go missing, an internet film purporting to show them committing mass suicide. If it's real, why did they kill themselves? If the suicides are faked, why the set up and where are the students? Intriguing stuff.

Questions were welcomed and there was even a rare opportunity to hear from an author’s partner. When asked about his writing process, Steven's wife admitted that this was the most she’s heard him speak in weeks. Between writing and teaching there’s not much time for reading, explained Steven who, unlike most crime writers I know, doesn’t read many contemporary crime novels. His main influences include Gore Vidal, Arthur Conan Doyle, Truman Capote and Joseph Heller, and he recently dispatched formulaic fiction into Room 101.

After the revealing Q&A there even time to hear a world exclusive reading of Steven’s fourth novel in the series, The Unquiet Grave, with its tagline Even the dead need answers. With Deity doing so well and the new book set for a summer launch it’s easy to see why Steven’s living the dream.