The Crime Writers’ Association

CWA Debut Dagger Open for Submissions

Entries are being invited from uncontracted writers for the coveted CWA Debut Dagger Award.   Authors shortlisted for the Debut Dagger come to the direct attention of interested literary agents and publishers. M W Craven who won the 2019 Gold Da...


A fond farewell to M C Beaton, by Barry Forshaw

Barry Forshaw, author of Crime Fiction: A Reader’s Guide, on MC Beaton (aka Marion Chesney), the creator of Agatha Raisin and Hamish Macbeth, who has died at 83. Although many crime novels fit more or less comfortably into a clearly defined categor...


CWA Debut Dagger Writing Competition 2021 Now Open for Entries

Aspiring authors are invited to submit the opening of their novel to the coveted Crime Writers’ Association (CWA) Debut Dagger competition 2021. The international writing competition opened for entries on October 1. Entrants must send in their firs...



12 Criminally Good Hints for Crime Writing by Laraine Stephens

by Laraine Stephens   Start with reading in the crime genre. You'll pick up how different authors approach their craft. You’ll learn to recognise good writing and bad writing. Also, there’s great advice in books and blogs about how to ...


Alibis in the Archives

Back by popular demand, Alibis in the Archive (in association with the Crime Writers’ Association and The Detection Club) returns for a third year to bring some of the UK’s best-loved crime writers to Hawarden. Over a weekend of talk sessions and...


CWA Margery Allingham Short Mystery Competition

The Crime Writers’ Association (CWA) is on the hunt to find the best unpublished short mystery story. Entries are being invited for the 2021 CWA Margery Allingham Short Story competition, with just weeks before deadline closes on 26 February for th...


Kemptown Bookshop

Cathy Hayward of Kemptown Bookshop talks to Elly Griffiths Cathy Hayward is only the third owner of Kemptown Bookshop, Brighton’s oldest independent bookstore. She was a long-time fan of the shop, which has been on St George’s Road since 1976,...


CWA Announce Longlists for Prestigious Crime Writing Daggers

The Crime Writers Association announced the much anticipated longlists for the annual Dagger awards at a reception during CrimeFest in Bristol on the evening of Friday 19 May. The Chair of the CWA, Martin Edwards, author of The Golden Age of Murder, ...


Debut Dagger Checklist

Have you followed the rules? This is the easy bit, so don’t risk disqualification by exceeding the word limit (don’t do this, not by even a few words) or forget to take your name off the manuscript. Word count for the entry form is that o...


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