The Crime Writers’ Association

ILP John Creasey (New Blood) Dagger

ILP John Creasey (New Blood) Dagger This Dagger is for the best crime novel by a first-time author of any nationality with their first novel of any kind published in the UK in English during the judging period.  ‘Best crime novel by a first-ti...


Yeovil Literary Festival

Crime events mostly take place in Yeovil Library and the Octagon Theatre and will include authors in conversation, a workshop and a pop-up reading group. Authors include Stephen Booth, Clare Donoghue, Mark Billingham, Chris Ewan, Christopher Fowler ...



Dagger in the Library 2017 Longlist Announced

The longlist of the CWA 2017 Dagger in the Library was officially announced on the evening of February 6th at the First Monday crime writing meeting in London. The Dagger in the Library is a prize for a body of work by a crime writer that users of li...


Two Vice Chairs for the CWA

In a move away from tradition, the Crime Writers’ Association (CWA) has appointed not one but two Vice Chairs for the year 2017-2018. This follows Martin Edwards’ assumption of the role of Chair after serving as Vice Chair since 2015. The two new...


12 Criminally Good Hints for Crime Writing by Laraine Stephens

by Laraine Stephens   Start with reading in the crime genre. You'll pick up how different authors approach their craft. You’ll learn to recognise good writing and bad writing. Also, there’s great advice in books and blogs about how to ...


Marketing your books

Marketing your Books The CWA’s mission is to promote the crime-writing genre, both fiction and non-fiction, and support our membership of professional authors. We offer our members a wide range of promotional outlets, and the help of our Bookselle...


Staffordshire Serial Thrillers

Sarah Rayne will be part of Stafford Library’s ‘Crime Night’ on Wednesday 1st May – a panel/discussion group of writers helping to celebrate the ‘Staffordshire Day’ celebrations for the county. Sarah has written over 25 books to date, in...


CWA Debut Dagger Competition Now Open

The Crime Writers’ Association have opened their popular Debut Dagger competition for 2018. The competition is for the opening of a crime novel and any writer who has never had a traditional publishing contract for a full-length novel can enter, ev...


Twisted Dagger

Twisted Dagger The Twisted Dagger celebrates psychological thrillers, dark and twisty tales that often feature unreliable narrators, disturbed emotions, a healthy dose of moral ambiguity, and a sting in the tail. Books in this category include psych...


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