The Crime Writers’ Association

The submission deadline for the CWA DEBUT DAGGER is the 31st January 2015.

The submission deadline for the CWA DEBUT DAGGER is the 31st January 2015. For 15 years the CWA has been encouraging new writing with its Debut Dagger competition for unpublished writers. The submissions are judged by a panel of top crime editors and...


Librarians Asked to Nominate Authors for CWA Dagger in the Library 2019

Libraries are now voting for the winner of the Dagger in the Library 2019, after Martin Edwards carried off the award in 2018. The CWA’s Dagger in the Library is a prize for a body of work by a crime writer that users of libraries particularly admi...


Alibis in the Archive

The world-renowned Gladstone Library on the North Wales/Cheshire border is to host a splendid feast of juicy crime writing dishes: Alibis in the Archive. The programme runs from the evening of Friday 9 June to Sunday 11 June 2017 and kicks off with ...


“Killing People for Fun and Profit” a guest lecture by Val McDermid

The Literary Leicester Festival welcomes bestselling author Val McDermid cto Leicester discuss her writing, her inspirations and the fatal attraction of crime fiction. CWA Diamond Dagger recipient, Val McDermid, has sold over 15 million books to d...


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...


CWA Dagger in the Library 2015

Eleven authors have today been longlisted for the CWA 2015 Dagger in the Library award, thanks to your votes. The longlist was compiled by YOU right and we’re thrilled that so many of you stopped by to vote for your three favourite authors. The res...


Crime #1 at Havering Literary Festival

Charlie Flowers was born in Eastern Europe sometime in the late Sixties and arrived with his family in Britain in 1975. After training as a journalist in London he had a varied career as reporter, roadie, truck driver and record label boss. In the la...


CWA Dagger Awards – Shortlist

The Crime Writers’ Association has unveiled the shortlisted authors for five categories in the 2015 Dagger awards during an official reception at this year’s CRIMEFEST in Bristol.   Authors, publishers and delegates assembled to hear the Dag...


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...


My Debut Dagger Experience, by Biba Pearce

I first found out about the CWA Debut Dagger several years ago from a writing group on Facebook. I'd been writing for a long time, an embarrassingly long time, with not much to show for it. Granted, I'd been juggling motherhood with a full-time job...


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