The Crime Writers’ Association

Bookshop of the Month – September 2021: Cogito Books

This month, author and co-Booksellers Champion, Vaseem Khan, writes about Cogito Books in Hexham, run by Claire Grint. Cogito Books is based in the rural market town of Hexham, in the beautiful county of Northumberland, home to castles and a nearb...


Bookseller of the Month: October 2022 – Richard Reynolds

As part of the new CWA Bookshops Champion initiative, we want to celebrate bookshops and booksellers, because we believe they don’t just sell our books – they bring our streets alive. This month there’s a special CWA Bookseller of the Month ...


Bookseller of the Month: November 2022 – Bert’s Books

As part of the new CWA Bookshops Champion initiative, we want to celebrate bookshops, because we believe bookshops don’t just sell our books – they bring our streets alive. This month, William Shaw introduces us to Bert's Books in Swindon. Ber...


The Third February Film Festival – A Festival of Crime – featuring films chosen by actors and authors including Elly Griffiths

Dust off those detective skills and help stave off those winter blues. The Venue in Holt, North Norfolk will be hosting a Festival of Crime, in conjunction with The Holt Bookshop, and supported by The Sir John Hurt Film Trust. The festival will inclu...


Social media guide

Social media guide Between Twitter and Facebook the CWA has close to 30,000 social media followers, and also runs a Facebook group with more than 2,000 members. We encourage all members to take advantage of this reach! Twitter The CWA accoun...


Bookshop of the Month – July 2021: The Steyning Bookshop

Every month, as part of the new CWA Booksellers Champion initiative with bestselling author Elly Griffiths, we want to celebrate a bookshop because we believe bookshops don’t just sell our books – they bring our streets alive. Kicking this off is...


Crouch End Literary Festival

Celebrate writing with the first ever Crouch End Literary Festival in London! This is part of the Crouch End Arts Festival, and most events will be free! More information here....


Crime Picks of the Month!

To finish off a fantastic month of all things crime, Love Reading’s Picks of the Month for June are all crime books. They include Deadline by Holly Watt, winner of the CWA Ian Fleming Steel Dagger in 2019, House of Lamentations by double CWA Histor...


Notes on Word Count for CWA Writing Competitions

Different competitions have different rules – and different levels of rigour in the way they apply them. For the Debut Dagger we are super-strict. We ask for entries not to exceed 3,000 words (1,500 words for the synopsis) by even a word. The ti...


Notes on Word Count for CWA Writing Competitions

Different competitions have different rules – and different levels of rigour in the way they apply them. For the Debut Dagger we are super-strict. We ask for entries not to exceed 3,000 words (1,500 words for the synopsis) by even a word. The ti...


Join the CWA

Become part of a thriving community of successful crime writers with invaluable support, expertise and marketing opportunities for all our members.


Advertise with us