The Crime Writers’ Association

Lindsey Davis talks online about latest Flavia Albia novel A Comedy of Terrors

A Cardiff Library Open Space event on Thursday 9 November. How does a writer bring to life ancient Rome with all its grime and grandeur, scheming and backstabbing? Hear from award-winning novelist Lindsey Davis as she joins us online to chat about n...


Awards & competitions

Awards & Competitions The CWA hosts a number of awards and competitions. Many of these are for books nominated by publishers and selected by independent judging panels, others are awards made by the CWA or other bodies, such as libraries. Yet ot...


Time to Get Crime Writing for Prestigious CWA Competitions

Two crime writing competitions are open now. 1)The CWA Margery Allingham Short Story Competition Not to be missed for lovers of short-story writing – and being shortlisted for this renowned competition brings attention and prestige to the writing C...


The CWA Daggers

Congratulations to the 2024 Winners! On 4 July, the 2024 Daggers winners were announced at the annual Dagger Awards' Dinner in London at the Leonardo Royal Hotel London City. To learn more about each award and its 2024 winner, please click on the...


Margery Allingham Short Mystery Competition

The Margery Allingham Short Mystery CompetitionHow to Write a Winning Story We asked Martin Edwards, the inaugural winner of the CWA/Margery Allingham Short Story competition for 6 great tips and here they are: Read the great short stories (not...


Opening Windows, by John Kennedy

A certain writer, arguably lauded for the wrong things but at the same time often underrated, once said something about writing behind closed doors and rewriting with the window open. Well, for me, the Debut Dagger competition opened that window. Get...


How to win £1,000

Enter the CWA’s Margery Allingham short story competition! This is open to published authors as well as unpublished ones. The maximum word count is generous too at 3,500. The deadline is still attainable even if it is a little bit close: March ...


Debut Dagger

Emerging Author Dagger (Debut Dagger) Announcements Congratulations to our 2024 Longlist Authors! See below for details. Shortlist: CrimeFest, Bristol on Friday 10 May, early evening Winner: Dagger Awards Dinner, evening of Thursday 4 Jul...


Tell us about a new book

Tell us about a new book Fill out this form to tell us about your upcoming book, for inclusion in Red Herrings’ Hot Off the Press feature and our social media ‘Publication Day’ posts. Submit your book at least one week before its publicat...


What Happened When I Won the Debut Dagger by Shelley Burr

When I entered the Debut Dagger, my wild dream was to make the longlist so I would have something to put in my almost bare author bio.The day I won was surreal. Despite the CWA’s urging I didn’t fly from Australia to London for the ceremony, as I...


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