Nail Biters: Celebrating the women in and behind modern thrillers, featuring Heather Darwent and Rupa Mahadevan

Join us for a thrilling event to close the festival! Tension, manipulation, high stakes: there's a reason that thrillers top the charts. Authors Heather Darwent, whose take on dark academia and the worst of the wellness industry have resulted in two gripping novels, and Rupa Mahadevan, whose debut novel won the Joffe Books Prize in 2024, will join chair Nyla Ahmad to celebrate and discuss women thriller authors and how they have changed the genre..

Heather Darwent is based just outside of Edinburgh, the setting for her Sunday Times bestselling debut, The Things We Do To Our Friends. Originally from Yorkshire, she came to Scotland to study at the University of Edinburgh and ended up never quite leaving. When she’s not writing, you’ll find her reading chaotic non-fiction about Silicon Valley and swimming in the sea . . . or being unbearably boring in conversation about swimming in the sea. A Sharp Scratch is her second novel.

Rupa Mahadevan is an acclaimed author of psychological thrillers. Her debut novel won the Joffe Books Prize in 2024 and is set to be published in September 2025. She grew up on the south-eastern coast of India and has lived on the south-eastern coast of Scotland for over 15 years. She now resides in Edinburgh with her husband and two children. When she isn’t working on Excel in her day job, she enjoys reading and imagining her own stories.

About the Festival
The Edinburgh Women’s Fiction Festival is back for 2025!

This year's festival will take place on Friday 26th and Saturday 27th September 2025, in our lovely new venue of Christ Church Morningside - just five minutes walk from Bruntsfield Links and a short bus ride from the city centre.

The Edinburgh Women's Fiction Festival is a literary festival celebrating writing for, by, and about women. We are an inclusive event and welcome everyone who finds joy in reading women's fiction - commercial, romance, historical, literary, book club and beyond. Our festival showcases authors of genres that are often overlooked, and our aim is to give readers the opportunity to connect with their favourite writers.

2025 Programme
Details of our full programme can be found on our website.

Tickets
General ticket sales will begin on 4th July 2025

Our festival strongly believes in paying our authors, chairs, and workshop leaders the fee recommended by the Scottish Book Trust, which has increased (which is wonderful for our authors!). This has meant an increase in ticket prices, but we are certain you’ll think it’s worth it!

Concession tickets — Where applicable, are available to students, registered disabled (plus one companion), registered unemployed, under 16s, Young Scot card holders and sponsors. Proof of entitlement will be required.