Val McDermid

Kate Watson (Cardiff University)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.3: Scottish Writing and Culture, 400-present.
Vol. editors: Kate Ash-Irisarri (University of Edinburgh), Daniel Cook (University of Dundee), Gina Lyle (University of York), J. Derrick McClure (University of Aberdeen), Andrew Radford (University of Glasgow)

Dates

Born 4 Jun 1955
Activity 1987-ongoing

Places

Born in Scotland
Active in Scotland

Genres and Modes

Crime and Detective

Activities

Primary

Novelist

Resources

McDermid's Works

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Val McDermid was born in Kirkcaldy, Fife, Scotland on June 4th 1955. In her early life she found not only her interest in literature – especially in crime fiction – by reading and re-reading a copy of Agatha Christie’s

Murder at the Vicarage

(1930) at her grandparents’ house in the school holidays; but also at school, excelling in English from an early age. She spent a good deal of her childhood with her grandparents in the mining village of East Wemyss. As a child, McDermid was part of an experiment in her final year of primary school, one which was based upon IQ test results and which was to prepare and prime the children for University. They received extra tuition in separate classes from the rest of their peers. Gordon Brown (Prime Minister at time of publication - 2008) was…

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1760 words

Citation: Watson, Kate. "Val McDermid". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 21 March 2008 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=12033, accessed 27 November 2024.]