The Crime Writers’ Association

Launch of MW Craven’s Fifth Washington Poe novel

Gold Dagger-winner M W Craven is launching The Botanist, the fifth Washington Poe novel, at the Old Fire Station, Carlisle on 1 June 2022. Starts at 7pm, bar opens at 6.30. Pop-up bookshop. Free entry, not-free bar. ‘Rattling along at breakn...


The CWA sends its sincere condolences to the staff of Charlie Hebdo

The CWA sends its sincere condolences to the staff of Charlie Hebdo. Your loss is our loss. Your fight is our fight. “Free speech is the whole thing, the whole ball game. Free speech is life itself.” Salman Rushdie  ...


Sam Blake – Murder ONE

Sam Blake is the founder of the Murder ONE International Crime Writing Festival – Ireland’s first designated crime festival, taking place in Dublin, a UNESCO City of Literature, in November 2018. For a first festival the line-up of crime writers...


Debut Dagger Deadline Draws Near

The deadline to enter the most hotly contended competition for aspiring crime novelists is fast approaching. Aspiring crime novelists have until the end of February to enter the Crime Writers’ Association (CWA) Debut Dagger, which is sponsored b...


About the CWA

About the CWA The Crime Writers’ Association was founded in 1953 by John Creasey (pictured). Our overall aim is to support, promote and celebrate this most durable, adaptable and successful of genres. The CWA’s everyday aim is to support writers...


Crime in the North East Festival

22 & 23 February 2019 Newcastle Centre for the Literary Arts, Newcastle University. Whodunnit? NCLA in the frame for crime fiction festival. One of the most popular and intriguing forms of fiction comes under suspicion at Newcastle Univ...


Murder in the Library!

Author Talk with Leye Adenle, Alison Bruce & James Carol Celebrate National Libraries Week with the launch of our new bi-monthly Crime Panel, where best-selling authors will visit Chiswick and Osterley Libraries. With the CWA Daggers due to be a...


ALCS Gold Dagger for Non-Fiction

ALCS Gold Dagger for Non-Fiction This Dagger is for any non-fiction work on a crime-related theme by an author of any nationality as long as the book was first published in the UK in English during the judging period. The Dagger encompasses, tho...


CWA Announces new Debut Dagger Sponsor

The Crime Writers’ Association has announced a new sponsor for its annual international writing competition for unpublished writers. The CWA Debut Dagger is to be sponsored by ProWritingAid, a platform that operates as a grammar checker, style edi...


Private: Into the River: how a last-minute decision led to an award-winning bestseller, by Mark Brandi

In a river, on the outskirts of an isolated country town, two young brothers discover a wheelie bin, partly submerged beneath a fallen tree. Curious, the older brother goes closer to investigate. He steps carefully across the tree’s smooth trunk, ...


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