The shortlist has been announced for the inaugural CWA Dagger for the Best Crime and Mystery Publisher of the Year. The award is the first new Dagger category created in over a decade.

The Crime Writers’ Association (CWA) Daggers are regarded by the publishing world as the foremost British awards in crime writing, established in 1955.

Shortlist 2019

Faber & Faber

Harper Fiction (HarperCollins)

HQ (HarperCollins)

No Exit Press (Oldcastle Books)

Orenda Books
Pushkin Vertigo (Pushkin)

Raven (Bloomsbury)

Maxim Jakubowski, Honorary Vice-Chair of the CWA, said: “We’re delighted with the high quality nominees for this new Dagger, a category we felt was overdue in our award portfolio. Publishers play a vital role in driving the biggest selling genre and shaping our cultural landscape. The publicists, editors, designers and hard-working teams that support new and existing authors deserve this recognition.”

The shortlisted publishers and imprints were nominated by a representative group of leading book reviewers, booksellers, festival organisers, bloggers, literary agents and journalists.

The nominee criteria was the display of excellence and diversity in publishing. Factors taken into account include developing new authors and marketing and promoting crime fiction.

The winner will be announced at the prestigious Dagger Awards Dinner on October 24 at the Leonardo Royal Hotel London City (formerly known as Grange City) on Cooper’s Row, London.

For ticket details and to book a place, https://thecwa.co.uk/the-daggers/cwa-dagger-awards-gala-dinner-2019 or contact admin@thecwa.co.uk Discounts are available for tables of 10 or 12.

Notes to Editors

The Shortlist

Faber & Faber, one of the world’s most established publishing houses founded in 1929, publishes bestsellers in the genre alongside the novels of the legendary P.D. James.

HarperFiction, an imprint of one of the world’s largest publishing companies Harpercollins, publishes some of the best commercial writers around, including major crime and thriller authors.

HQ, a digital imprint of HarperCollins launched in 2016 with the ambition of publishing books that are ‘bold, brave and inclusive’ on the bestseller lists.

No Exit Press is one of the UK’s leading independent publishers of crime fiction. Over its 30 years of business, it’s published numerous award-winning titles and prides itself on uncovering new talent.

Orenda Books was established in 2014 by Karen Sullivan, the former managing editor of Arcadia Books, with a focus on literary and crime fiction. Orenda, a First Nations word, translates as ‘the mystical power that drives human accomplishment’.

The crime imprint Pushkin Vertigo was launched in 2015 by Pushkin Press, publishing crime classics from around the world.

Bloomsbury Books launched its imprint Raven Books in 2016, specialising in literary crime, thrillers and suspense, as ‘home of the best and the brightest in new writing for all those who love their books with a touch of the dark side.’

https://thecwa.co.uk/the-daggers