David Bishop
David Bishop

Mr David Bishop

Lecturer T&R

Biography

David Bishop is a creative writing lecturer at Edinburgh Napier University in Scotland. The author of more than twenty published novels and an award-winning screenwriter, he helped found the innovative MA Creative Writing programme at Edinburgh Napier in 2009. David is a founder member of the Creative Writing Studies Organisation, and a member of the Society of Authors (Great Britain), the New Zealand Society of Authors, the Crime Writers' Association and the Historical Writers' Association.

In 2017 he was awarded a Robert Louis Stevenson Fellowship by Creative Scotland and the Scottish Book Trust. In 2020 his Doctor Who audiobook The Elysian Blade won the Sir Julius Vogel Award for best dramatic presentation. His historical crime novel City of Vengeance (2021) won the NZ Booklovers Award for Best Novel (2022), while The Darkest Sin (2022) won the CWA Historical Dagger Award.

In 2021 he collaborated with with Dr Hope Christie [then the Global Challenges Research Fellow at the University of Edinburgh] on Dramatizing Trauma: Interdisciplinary Collaborative Research for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder [PTSD] through a radio play for the South African township of Khayelitsha. This saw three writers from the MA Creative Writing rpgoramme at Edinburgh Napier University working on the radio play with David Bishop as script editor. The project secured £1200 in public engagement funding from Edinburgh Napier University, while Dr Christie attained funding for latter stages of the project through her Global Challenges Research fellowship.

News

Events

Esteem

Advisory panels and expert committees or witness

  • Steering Committee for Society of Authors' Comics Creators Network
  • Higher Education Committee of the National Association of Writers in Education
  • Trustee for CYMERA: Scotland’s Festival of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Writing
  • Manuscript consultant for Grub Street [US non-profit organization]
  • Advisor for graphic novels strand at Edinburgh International Book Festival

 

Conference Organising Activity

  • Speaker at Gender & Sexuality Research Symposium
  • Conference panel: Catching up with Rian Hughes
  • Chairing panels at NAWE 2021 conference
  • Organised academic strand at Cymera 2019
  • Panel chairing at Crime Fiction(s): Victorian and Neo-Victorian Narratives of Crime and Punishment conference
  • AWP 2015 Panel: When Words Collide—How Creative Writing Programs Address Popular Fiction
  • Challenging the writing sample: a new approach to admissions for postgraduate creative writing

 

Editorial Activity

  • Guest editor for Writing in Practice: The Journal of Creative Writing Research
  • Mentoring student writing script for We Shall Fight Until We Win graphic fiction anthology
  • Mentored student writing abortion rights comic 'Life' for Engender website

 

External Examining/Validations

  • External Marker for International Institute of Modern Letters
  • External Examiner MA Writing at Liverpool John Moores University

 

Fellowships and Awards

  • 'Ritual of Fire' shortlisted for the 2024 NZ Booklovers Award for Best Adult Fiction
  • Ritual of Fire shortlisted for Bookmark Book Festival 2024 Book of the Year
  • Longlisted for the 2023 Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Novel - 'The Darkest Sin'
  • Longlisted for The CWA Gold Dagger Award 2022 - 'City of Vengeance'
  • Longlisted for the 2022 Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Novel - 'City of Vengeance'
  • Longlisted for The Crime Writers' Association Historical Dagger award - 'City of Vengeance'
  • Winner of the NZ Booklovers Award 2022 for best novel - 'City of Vengeance'
  • The Detective's Companion in Crime Fiction shortlisted for H.R.F. Keating Award
  • Shortlisted for Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Award 2021 - 'City of Vengeance'
  • Sir Julius Vogel Award for Best Dramatic Presentation - 'Doctor Who: The Elysian Blade'
  • Robert Louis Stevenson Fellowship

 

Invited Speaker

  • Guest speaker on 'Award-Winners' panel at Granite Nir 2024
  • In Conversation with Kate Foster & D V Bishop event
  • Noir at the Bar Edinburgh, January 2024
  • 'Writing & Publishing Genre Fiction' at Cymera Writers' Conference 2023
  • Noir at the Bar Edinburgh, March 2022
  • Invited speaker at Colin Dexter's Inspector Morse Day at University of Oxford
  • Creative Thursday - Theakston's Old Peculiar Crime Writing Festival
  • Panellist on Atmospheric Historical Thrillers at Aye Write Festival
  • Storytelling with D.V. Bishop: Exploring Intellectual Property and Different Mediums
  • Pride & prejudice panel at Harrogate Crime Writing Festival
  • UK Crime Book Club online event
  • Bloody Scotland Book Club May 2021
  • Guest speaker at ENU English Programmes event
  • The A-Z of Crime - Bloody Scotland 2021
  • In Conversation with Ayesha Harruna Attach & D. V. Bishop
  • Guest speaker at Scots Write conference 2017
  • Guest speaker on screenwriting for animation
  • Guest speaker on writing comics

 

Media Activity

  • Guest writer for The Book Trail website
  • Guest author on UK Crime Book Club live Facebook channel
  • Guest on Writer's Routine Podcast Episode 293
  • 'Ritual of Fire' a Best Crime & Thrillers of 2023 selection for Good Reading magazine
  • Guest on Words From the Bubble podcast
  • Guest on The Power of 3 Podcast
  • Guest writer for The Spinoff website
  • Guest on The Writing Community Chat Show Youtube webcast
  • Interviewed in The Scots Magazine
  • Review of "The Darkest Sin" in Choice magazine
  • Interviewed by Imagining History website
  • Invited guest speaker on Sirens of Time YouTube Channel
  • Review of "The Darkest Sin" in NZ Listener
  • Guest on The Writer's Workshop podcast [Season 2, Episode 12]
  • Historia Magazine summer reads 2022 - The Darkest Sin
  • Interviewed by Shots Crime and Thriller Ezine
  • Interviewed by Good Reading Magazine, Australia
  • Guest on the Scottish Field podcast
  • Guest writer for Shots crime & thriller ezine
  • Invited guest on The Luke Deckard Show [YouTube]
  • Interviewed on The Girl With All The Crime Books blog
  • Interview on BBC Radio 4 Front Row
  • Guest speaker at UKCBC Spookfest 2022
  • Guest on The Great Dante Readthrough Podcast
  • Interviewed for Lucky 13 website
  • Guest contributor to Historia's Christmas Reading 2022 recommendations
  • Guest on Words & Nerds podcast
  • Guest writer for BBC History magazine's From Fact to Fiction column
  • Interview guest on Sirens of Time Sarah Jane Smith Series 1 special
  • Lancashire Evening Post reviews The Darkest Sin
  • Guest on "Getting Carried Away" YouTube show
  • Interviewed for BBC News website article
  • Guest of BBC Radio Oxford
  • Interview in Tripwire Magazine
  • Interview on Oban FM [2022]
  • Interview in Tripwire Magazine
  • Interview with Crime Watch fiction website
  • Evening Standard reviews 'City of Vengeance'
  • Interview profile in the New Zealand Herald newspaper and website
  • Interview for the Books From Scotland website
  • Guest on The Doctor Will See You Now YouTube channel
  • Live interview on Oban FM
  • Guest on Wardini Books Facebook video channel
  • Guest on the Blythe Tapes YouTube Channel
  • Interview in The Listener Magazine [New Zealand]
  • Guest on The Bestseller Experiment Podcast Episode 304
  • Interview with Write On! magazine
  • Dean Ormston: Working Class Superhero documentary
  • Literary Review reviews 'City of Vengeance'
  • Guest on BBC Radio 5 Live
  • Lancashire Evening Post reviews City of Vengeance
  • Guest on Words and Nerds podcast
  • YouTube tutorial on Comic Book Editing

 

Membership of Professional Body

  • Historical Writers' Assocation
  • Founding member of Creative Writing Studies Organization
  • Edinburgh Napier University Teaching Fellow
  • Society of Authors
  • Crime Writers' Assocation

 

Public/Community Engagement

  • Guest on 'Criminal Diversity' panle at Newcastle Noir 2023
  • Writing Historical Crime Fiction event at 2023 Wigtown Book Festival
  • Historical Thrillers panel at 2023 Portobello Book Festival
  • An Evening in Conversation with D.V. Bishop & Kate Foster, Linlithgow
  • Create Compelling Characters workshop at ChipLitFest
  • Guest panellist for the Blood Brothers' Big Book Blowout 2022 online book festival
  • Invited guest speaker for the Hurricane Book Club
  • Interviewed author Shaun Bythell at Outwith Festival 2022
  • Guest panellist at Lyme Crime festival, June 2022
  • Writing Workshop at Outwith Festival 2022
  • Invited guest of Dangerous Time panel at Bloody Scotland Festival
  • Interviewed author Ali Millar at Edinburgh Book public event
  • Portfolio review at Edinburgh Comic Art Fair 2022
  • Character building for series workshop, Granite Noir 2021
  • Creating Compelling Characters Workshop - Cymera 2021
  • Guest on the Page One Podcast, Season 7 Episode 5
  • Crime Fiction Friday podcast
  • Guest speaker for the Sunday Writers' Club
  • True Crime Fiction podcast
  • Scottish Field podcast
  • Plotting your story workshop, Cymera 2020
  • Mentoring New Writer Awardee for Scottish Book Trust
  • Plotting your story workshop, Cymera 2019
  • The Bestseller Experiment #197 podcast
  • X-Band: The Phantom #117 podcast
  • The Bestseller Experiment #189 podcast
  • Building your writing career, Cymera 2019
  • Working Comics podcast
  • Graphic Novel workshops at Wigtown, August 2018
  • Graphic novels workshop at HM Prison Low Moss
  • Mega-City Book Club #56 podcast
  • Plotting Your Novel workshops at Storycon 2018
  • Workshop for EIBF's ReimagiNation Festival in Cumbernauld
  • Book Week Scotland - Library Love Falkirk podcast
  • Geek's Guide to the Galaxy #267 podcast
  • Mega-City Book Club #49 podcast
  • Mega-City Book Club #25 podcast
  • 2000AD Thrillcast [Feb 2017] podcast
  • Writing workshop at HMP Glenochil
  • 11.22.63 Podcast [October 2016]
  • Primatech Files Podcast
  • Launched the graphic novels collection at Greenock Public Library

 

Date


32 results

Brutna beten [Fantomen 5/2024]

Other
Bishop, D. (2024)
Brutna beten [Fantomen 5/2024]. [Printed comic]. Malmo, Sweden
The Phantom intervenes when poachers kill one elephant and wound another, causing the animal to run amok. This 22-page story written by David Bishop was illustrated by Anthony...

Dead Men Walking

Book Chapter
Finley-Day, G., Bishop, D., Davis, A., Willsher, B., & Cook, B. (2024)
Dead Men Walking. In Harry 20 on the High Rock + Dead Men Walking. London: Hachette
Issue 168: Harry 20 on the High Rock + Dead Men Walking

Stalingrad

Book Chapter
Bishop, D. (2023)
Stalingrad. In Fiends of the Eastern Front (48-95). Oxford: Rebellion
A graphic fiction serial by David Bishop and Colin MacNeil, published in Fiends of the Eastern Front Volume 1.

The truth about nuns in 16th-century Florence

Other
Bishop, D. (2022)
The truth about nuns in 16th-century Florence. [https://www.historiamag.com/truth-about-nuns-16th-century-florence/]. London
For The Darkest Sin, DV Bishop’s latest novel set in 16th-century Florence, he needed to find out about life behind the closed doors of Italian convents. He unveils the truth ...

The Darkest Sin

Book
Bishop, D. (2022)
The Darkest Sin. London: Pan Macmillan
The Darkest Sin is an atmospheric historical thriller by D. V. Bishop, set in Renaissance Florence and is the sequel to City of Vengeance: Florence. Spring, 1537. When Cesar...

‘World’s long on academics, Morse, but woeful short of good detectives’: Lewis, Hathaway and Endeavour: The changing roles of Colin Dexter’s sidekick

Book Chapter
Bishop, D. (2021)
‘World’s long on academics, Morse, but woeful short of good detectives’: Lewis, Hathaway and Endeavour: The changing roles of Colin Dexter’s sidekick. In L. Andrew, & S. Saunders (Eds.), The Detective's Companion in Crime Fiction: A Study in Sidekicks (237-259). Cham: Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-74989-7
Bishop offers the first comprehensive analysis of the many variations of sidekick found in Colin Dexter’s Inspector Morse novels, and in the three television drama series base...

D. V. Bishop on deception and lies in his explosive debut historical thriller, City of Vengeance

Other
Bishop, D. (2021)
D. V. Bishop on deception and lies in his explosive debut historical thriller, City of Vengeance. https://www.panmacmillan.com/blogs/crime-thriller/d-v-bishop-city-of-vengeance
D. V. Bishop’s thriller City of Vengeance is set in sixteenth-century Florence, a city of intrigue, lies and political machinations. Here he discusses the lies men tell in the...

City of Vengeance

Book
Bishop, D. (2021)
City of Vengeance. London: Pan Macmillan
Florence. Winter, 1536. A prominent Jewish moneylender is murdered in his home, a death with wide implications in a city powered by immense wealth. Cesare Aldo, a former sold...

Walking in the footsteps of Florentine history

Other
Bishop, D. (2021)
Walking in the footsteps of Florentine history. http://www.historiamag.com/walking-footsteps-florentine-history/
DV Bishop tells Historia how valuable it is to get your feet on the street when doing historical research, as he found while writing his novel, City of Vengeance, set in Flore...

An alternative to the peer review workshop

Presentation / Conference
Bishop, D. (2019, November)
An alternative to the peer review workshop. Paper presented at National Association of Writers in Education 2019 Conference, York, United Kingdom
The peer review workshop has been called ‘the signature pedagogy’ of creative writing as an academic discipline. This presentation offers an alternative to that model. David B...

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