Library at One Birdcage Walk in London

Daggers update

The closing date for the 2012 CWA Daggers has now passed. Tickets for the first CWA Awards ceremony on July 5th are now on sale. CWA members have been emailed details about how to buy tickets. Publishers should visit www.thedaggers.co.uk where they can fill out a personalised form.

The longlists, shortlists and winners will be announced in two stages:

For the CWA International, Non-Fiction, Library, Short Story, Debut and Ellis Peters Historical Daggers, the shortlists will be announced at an event at Crimefest in Bristol on 25 May from 6:30pm to 7:30pm. Tickets for this event are available from Crimefest, not the CWA.

The winners of the above CWA Daggers will be announced at the CWA Awards Ceremony being held in London on 5th July. This event will also see the awarding of the CWA Diamond Dagger to Frederick Forsyth and the announcement of the longlists for the remaining three CWA Daggers, the Gold, Ian Fleming Steel, and John Creasey.

The shortlists for the CWA Gold Dagger, the CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger, and the John Creasey Dagger for a first novel will be announced later in the summer, and the winners will all be televised as part of the 2012 Specsavers Crime Thriller Awards in the autumn.

Dagger in the Library longlist announced

The fifteen authors on the longlist for the Dagger in the Library have now been announced. They are Belinda Bauer, Simon Beckett, S.J. Bolton, Frances Brody, Gordon Ferris, Elena Forbes, Nicci French, Elly Griffiths, John Harvey, Susan Hill, Shona MacLean, Peter May, Steve Mosby, Imogen Robertson and M.J. Trow.

The shortlist will be revealed at Crimefest on 25th May. Karen Fraser, the Chair of the judges, said “There are lots of exciting nominations this year including many who are new to this award.” The Dagger in the Library page has now been updated with more information about the contenders.

Can you write a crime story in fewer than 1000 words?

The CWA is pleased to be supporting a new crime-writing short story competition from Bloomsbury. The Short Sentence competition will take entries of up to 1,000 words with a crime theme, and the winner will be announced in National Short Story Week in November. You can enter a story each month until the closing date, and each month will have a different theme.

More details over on the Short Sentence website.

Frederick Forsyth wins the 2012 Diamond Dagger

Thursday February 16: The CWA has today announced the 2012 winner of its prestigious Diamond Dagger award, with the honour going to thriller writer Frederick Forsyth.

Chair of the CWA Peter James said, “Frederick Forsyth is a hugely deserving recipient and The Day of the Jackal remains one of the greatest thrillers of our times. He has set a new standard of research-based authenticity with his writing, which has had a major influence both on my work and on many of my contemporaries in the crime and thriller field. We are very thrilled that he has accepted this award.”

Frederick Forsyth, former RAF pilot and investigative journalist, defined the modern thriller when he wrote The Day of The Jackal, with its lightning-paced storytelling, effortlessly cool reality and unique insider information. Since then he has written ten further bestselling novels, most recently, The Afghan. He lives in Hertfordshire, England.

The Diamond Dagger recipient is chosen each year by the CWA committee, from a shortlist nominated by the membership. Shortlisted authors must meet two essential criteria: first, their careers must be marked by sustained excellence, and second, they must have made a significant contribution to crime fiction published in the English language, whether originally or in translation. The award is made purely on merit without reference to age, gender or nationality. The Diamond Dagger will be presented to Frederick Forsyth at an award ceremony later this year.

The Diamond Dagger was sponsored by Cartier from its inception in 1986 up to 2011. This page has more information about the earlier winners.