Crime novelist Val McDermid's story projected on to landmarks

Three young writers have joined crime author Val McDermid to see their work projected onto landmarks and buildings as part of Edinburgh's Hogmanay celebrations.

Scottish Crime Writer Val McDermid (second left) with Maisie Dalton (left), 12, Lucy Hutcheon, 11 and Jemma Glover (right), 16, outside the Signet Library in Edinburgh's Parliament Square. Picture: PA

Visitors can take a literary journey to read New Year’s Resurrection, a new short story by McDermid, which is being projected onto locations around the city each day from 5pm to 10pm until January 25.

The story for the Message from the Skies project was commissioned by Edinburgh’s Hogmanay and Edinburgh International Book Festival.

Three local young writers also won a short story writing competition to have their work projected onto buildings for an hour from 4pm before New Year’s Resurrection.

Scottish Crime Writer Val McDermid in front of words and images form her book New Year Resurrection, which is being projected onto the walls of the Writers Museum in Edinburgh. Picture: PA

Lucy Hutcheon, 11, Maisie Dalton, 12, and Jemma Glover, 16, joined McDermid in Parliament Square, the starting point for the story, on Tuesday.

A spokeswoman for Edinburgh’s Hogmanay said: “Message from the Skies encourages residents and visitors to explore Edinburgh’s iconic locations in a new light - streets and buildings which have inspired some of the world’s finest authors over the centuries, from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Robert Louis Stevenson to J K Rowling and Muriel Spark - and the streets and buildings which McDermid and her other collaborators have been inspired by, and to which all the artists respond in this unique piece of work, made especially for Edinburgh.

“The project is inspired by the 19th century tradition of publishing novels chapter by chapter - readers must go from location to location to read the whole story, simultaneously exploring both this piece of new work and the city.”