Dagger shortlists announced Get tickets for the awards ceremony.
Oxfam Bookfest, 4th-18th July
Overview Gold International Steel Non-Fiction John Creasey Library Short Story Debut Dagger forum
Diamond Dagger Historical
New CWA Anthology ID:Crimes of identity
More recent books from CWA members.
These pages are sponsored by Goldsboro Books, specialists in first edition, signed books.
Margaret Murphy, who chairs the CWA, welcomes you to our web site
More about these and other appearances by crime writers
A date for your diary: on 15 July, the Crime Writers’ Association will announce the winners of four of the daggers in contention this year, plus the shortlists for the other three. The announcements will be made at a drinks reception to be held at the Tiger Tiger nightspot in London on the evening of July 15. Tickets are still available; see here to book yours.
The CWA Dagger Awards are the longest established literary awards in the UK and are internationally recognised as a mark of excellence and achievement, and celebrate the very best in crime and thriller writing in 2009. When nominations closed on 17 April, 988 entries had been put forward for the seven daggers in contention this year.
This year the Daggers are being announced in two stages. On 6 June, shortlists were announced for the International, Short Story, Library and Debut Daggers. It is the winners of these four that will be announced at a drinks reception held at the Tiger Tiger nightspot in London on the evening of July 15 (see here for tickets). At that event, the shortlists will also be announced for the other three daggers: the Gold, John Creasey (New Blood) and Ian Fleming Steel Daggers. The winners in this second group will be announced in the autumn.
CWA Chair Margaret Murphy said: “The strength of the Daggers shortlists, and even those writers who missed out, shows that crime writing remains in good shape.”
We have now opened the Dagger forums, so you can comment on the books in contention this year.
Full details of the shortlists so far announced are on the 2009 CWA Dagger pages.
The Crime Writers' Association, the organisation of the finest crime authors in the land and perpetrators of many hundreds of murders (albeit fictitiously!), is joining forces with Oxfam to promote their Bookfest, a fortnight's nationwide programme of events to raise money to help alleviate poverty and suffering around the world.
Some of Britain's best loved crime writers will be visiting Oxfam bookstores across the country to give talks about their work and sign copies of their books. Many of their publishers are donating free copies to help try to raise as much money as possible. The individual events are listed on our events page.
Photo: © 2008 Caroline Silverwood Taylor
Tuesday April 28: Andrew Taylor was today presented with the 2009 Cartier Diamond Dagger, at a ceremony held at the Gore Hotel in Kensington, London. The Diamond Dagger, awarded for sustained excellence in crime writing, was presented by Arnaud Bamberger, the Managing Director of Cartier UK.
In acceptinmg the award, Andrew Taylor said: “I am hugely honored to receive this award. It’s the sort of award that validates an entire career. What makes it particularly special is that I have been chosen by my fellow crime writers.” He concluded by thanking his wife, Caroline, for her support — and the fact that she had made it possible for him to write full time. His speech was greeted with a round of warm-hearted applause.
Andrew Taylor is the best-selling author of the Richard-and-Judy choice The American Boy and the highly-acclaimed Bleeding Heart Square, which was shortlisted for the 2008 Ellis Peters Historical Award.
More about this award on the Cartier Diamond Dagger page.
The CWA has more than 450 members, all of us writers of fiction and non-fiction. Our criterion of membership is that an author must have had at least one book published by a bona fide publisher. The Association was formed over fifty years ago as a body committed to the support of professional writers. We organise social events so that writers can meet kindred spirits and have some fun together, while at the same time exchanging their thoughts and ideas, but we also help writing groups, festivals and literary events with specialist teams of writers who can talk about every aspect of the life of a modern novelist.
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