Midnight on Sunday, October 8 is the deadline for booking tickets to the CWA gala dinner on Thursday 26 October when the CWA Daggers will be awarded. Tickets should be booked by contacting admin@thecwa.co.uk . Full details are to be found on www.thecwa.co.uk/dinner . Tickets are available to the general public so readers of crime and aspirant crime writers are very welcome to attend.

All 10 winners of this year’s CWA Daggers will be presented at the glittering black-tie occasion at the Grange City Hotel in Cooper’s Row, London at 6.30pm for 7pm on October 26. Everyone is welcome and many of the crime writing world’s most notable authors, literary agents and publishers will be in attendance. This year, Pan Macmillan kindly sponsors the event.

The CWA Daggers, which are probably the British awards crime writers and publishers alike most wish to win, are awarded every year in 10 categories. The CWA Diamond Dagger, for a career’s outstanding contribution to crime fiction as nominated by CWA members, was announced earlier in the year and has been awarded to favourite author Ann Cleeves, creator of the books behind TV series Vera and Shetland, who will receive the amazing Diamond Dagger at the awards dinner and who is published by event sponsors Pan Macmillan.

The other nine CWA Daggers are as follows: Gold – for the best crime novel of the year; Ian Fleming Steel – for the best crime thriller of the year; John Creasey New Blood – for the best debut crime novel; Endeavour Historical – for the best historical crime novel; Gold Dagger for Non-Fiction – for non-fiction crime; Short Story – for a short crime story published in the UK; International – for crime fiction translated into English and published in the UK; Dagger in the Library – for the author of the most enjoyed collection of work in libraries, this year to be awarded to Mari Hannah, and the Debut Dagger sponsored by Orion Books – for the opening of a crime novel by a writer with no publishing contract. Last year’s winner, Australian Mark Brandi, now has a publishing contract with HarperCollins Australia.

The after-dinner speaker is Robert Thorogood, creator and writer of TV’s Death in Paradise, and Master of Ceremonies is the erudite and witty crime fiction expert Barry Forshaw, author of Brit Noir and many other titles. The event is open to everyone to attend and costs £108 to non-CWA members, with special deals for tables of 10. Tickets are close to being sold out; please contact admin@thecwa.co.uk to book and before the deadline of midnight October 8.

Nominations are now open for all Dagger Awards 2018 including the Debut Dagger, with the exception of the Dagger in the Library, which will open later in the year.