The Crime Writers’ Association

After 20 years, would-be crime novelists find it more rewarding than ever to enter the CWA Debut Dagger Competition

Amended 8.12.17 The CWA Debut Dagger for the opening of a crime novel, established in 1998, is renowned within the crime writing world as a way for unpublished authors to get known, with former winners and shortlisted entrants going on to win publish...


William Shaw: Deadland

William Shaw is one of the great rising talents of UK crime fiction – Peter James Taut, terrifying and timely – Val McDermid, on Salt Lane A modern crime master – Sun Dungeness is a splendid backdrop for a troubled detective – Daily Mail ...


Crime Writers in Residence – at home with JG Harlond

The CRA: Please tell us a little about yourself and the books you write. After many years living and working in different parts of Europe I am now settled in a rural Andalucía with my Spanish husband. Ten years ago I gave up a safe and successful ...


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...


Debut Dagger

Emerging Author Dagger (Debut Dagger) Announcements Congratulations to our 2024 Shortlist Authors! See below for details. Winner: Dagger Awards Dinner, evening of Thursday 4 July, Leonardo City Hotel, London. All announcements will also appe...


Chilterns Heritage Festival. Author Talk – Dave Sivers: ‘Chiltern Thrills – Making Crime Pay’.

Dave Sivers, crime fiction author, will take you on his journey from lifelong scribbler to minor bestseller, the seismic changes in the publishing industry in the past ten years and the challenges of setting gritty crime fiction in a pleasant rural a...


Dagger in the Library 2022

Shortlisted


Cath Staincliffe


Alis Hawkins’ Indie Bookshop Tour: Crickhowell

Bookish, Crickhowell : Alis Hawkins is celebrating National Crime Reading Month and the publication of In Two Minds, the second in her Teifi Valley Coroner historical crime series by visiting all of Wales’s independent bookshops.   Alis ...


Dagger in the Library 2022

Shortlisted


Lin Anderson


CWA 2024 Conference, Brighton

CWA CONFERENCE 2024, BRIGHTON 19-21 APRIL This year’s conference takes place in beautiful Brighton and brings together our CWA community for a weekend of learning-centred activity in one of the UK’s most visited tourist hotspots. The 2024 con...


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