The Crime Writers’ Association

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...


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...


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...


Crime Writers in Residence – at home with John Dean

The CRA: Please tell us a little about yourself and the books you write. A journalist by trade, I worked as a crime reporter on newspapers for part of my career, which gave me ample material for my crime novels. I ran my own business for 21 years, s...


Crime Writers in Residence – at home with GJ Minett

Hi! My name is GJ Minett and my fourth novel, which will be published on July 9 by Bonnier Zaffre, is called The Syndicate. The CRA: Please tell us a little about yourself and the books you write. For several years I taught in an 11-18 comprehen...


It’s All In the Point of View by Jared Cade

If you ask most people what point of view is, they will probably answer along the lines: ‘It’s whether you write in the first person (I thought he looked ill) or third person (She thought he looked ill). It’s a little more complicated than that...


Crime and the City Talk

Duncan Campbell – Crime and the City - City of London Police Museum, Guildhall Library December 8th, 6pm, Drinks reception 7pm From Thief-taker General to the Krays, from the world’s first crime reporter to the trial of the News of the World pho...


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...


Trying Again, by Sherry Rankin

I do not have a risk-taking personality. The whole idea of attempting to find an agent and get published always seemed so daunting to me that, for decades, I was afraid even to try. I always loved to write, however. So a few years ago, I took stock o...


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