Emerging Author Dagger Rules
Rules and Submission Guidelines Emerging Author Dagger The Emerging Author Dagger (formerly the Debut Dagger), an international competition for the opening of an adult/YA crime novel and synopsis, is aimed at debut writers. The CWA defines a de...
Associate membership
Join the CWA - Associate membership Thank you for your interest in joining the CWA. Membership is subject to meeting the membership criteria and completing the application form does not guarantee membership. Please fill in your details below and a m...
Corporate membership
Join the CWA - Corporate membership Thank you for your interest in joining the CWA. Membership is subject to meeting the membership criteria and completing the application form does not guarantee membership. Please fill in your details below and a m...
Northern Ireland is Set for NCRM 2024
PRESS RELEASE The Crime Writers Association, National Crime Reading Month NI Crime Writers team up with Libraries NI and local bookstores to celebrate National Crime Reading Month with a host of events across the province throughout June. Fo...
CWA Margery Allingham Short Mystery Competition – Winner Announced
The Crime Writers’ Association (CWA) has announced the winner of its Margery Allingham Short Mystery Prize. Camilla Macpherson beat strong competition with her short story, ‘Heartbridge Homicides’. Camilla lives in The Hague in the Nether...
Join the CWA
Join the CWA Who can join? We offer full membership for those in the UK and overseas who have had published a full length work of crime fiction or non-fiction, and provisional membership for those who have a contract from a recognised publishing ho...
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...
Escaping from Lockdown with JC Briggs
Much I have I travelled in the realms of gold … So wrote John Keats in his sonnet On First Looking into Chapman’s Homer, which book took him to ‘goodly states and kingdoms.’ Reading took him to far-flung places where he would never go, and im...
Crime Writers in Residence – at home with Jim Eldridge
The CRA: Please tell us a little about yourself and the books you write. I have been a writer for almost 50 years, the first 30 as a scriptwriter, then writing children's books, and - since 2016 - writing historical crime fiction for adults. My curr...
Slaughter in Southwold
The Friends of Southwold Library present: Slaughter in Southwold, the Southwold Library Crime Writers Festival. Enjoy talks from authors including Reverend Richard Coles, Jane Casey, Nicci French, Elly Griffiths, Tom Hindle, Cara Miller, Jacquelin...
Join the CWA
Become part of a thriving community of successful crime writers with invaluable support, expertise and marketing opportunities for all our members.
