Please find below, the press release detailing the winners of this year's CWA Dagger Awards. I've highlighted the translated authors.
The shortlists can be found here.
CWA Dagger Awards Announced
Chris Whitaker, Michael Robotham, Vaseem Khan and Peter May win 2021 CWA Daggers.
The winners of the 2021 CWA Daggers, which honour the very best in the crime writing genre, have been announced.
The
prestigious Crime Writers’ Association (CWA) Daggers are the oldest
awards in the genre and have been synonymous with quality crime writing
for over half a century.
Winner of the CWA Gold Dagger, which is awarded for the crime novel of the year, goes to Chris Whitaker for We Begin at the End. Past winners of the Gold Dagger include John le Carré,
Reginald Hill and Ruth Rendell.
Praised as ‘truly memorable’ by the CWA judges,
We Begin at The End has been a Waterstones Thriller of the Month
and sold in 17 territories, with screen rights snapped up by Disney.
Chris Whitaker was first recognised by the CWA as a debut author, when
he received the
John Creasey (New Blood) Dagger in 2017 for Tall Oaks.
Chris
has said writing ‘saved his life’ twice. He began writing as a
therapeutic response to being mugged, and stabbed, aged 19, then later
falling into serious debt in his job as a city trader.
Quitting his finance job in London aged 30, he moved to Spain to write
his debut novel.
Maxim
Jakubowski, Chair of the Crime Writers’ Association, said: ‘This year’s
Gold Dagger shortlist featured remarkable books, but
We Begin at the End is an astoundingly beautiful and moving
achievement in storytelling. Chris’s talent shone through when we
awarded him the John Creasey Dagger in 2017. It’s inspiring to see him
now take Gold, and I’m delighted that the CWA judges
recognised this now acclaimed author from the very start.’
S A Cosby for
Blacktop Wasteland and Nicci French with House of Correction were also Highly Commended in the Gold Dagger category.
Michael Robotham, who won the Gold Dagger in 2015 and 2020, wins this year’s Ian Fleming Steel Dagger for best thriller, for
When She Was Good.
The
Ian Fleming Steel Dagger is sponsored by Ian Fleming Publications Ltd,
the Fleming family-owned company that looks after the James Bond
literary brand. CWA judges praised the novel as ‘an
urgent, poignant and terrifying thriller’.
Born in Australia, Michael worked as a journalist in Australia, America and the UK – as senior feature writer for the
Mail on Sunday – before becoming a ghost writer collaborating
with politicians and show business personalities to write their
autobiographies. Since his first psychological thriller,
The Suspect, caused a bidding war at the London Book Fair in
2002, his novels have won numerous awards and been translated into 25
languages.
The
much-anticipated John Creasey (New Blood) Dagger highlights the best
debut novels. This year the accolade goes to Eva Björg Ægisdóttir for
The Creak on the Stairs. The Icelandic author wrote her debut
while working as a flight attendant and juggling being a mother, writing
the first draft in just nine months. It was a bestseller in Iceland
before being picked up in the UK by Orenda Books.
Vaseem Khan wins the Sapere Books Historical Dagger for
Midnight at Malabar House, set in 1949/1950 Bombay. Born in
London, Vaseem spent a decade in India as a management consultant. Since
2006 he has worked at University College London’s Jill Dando Institute
of Security and Crime Science.
The Crime Fiction in Translation Dagger goes to South Korean author Yun Ko-eun for
The Disaster Tourist, translated by Lizzie Buehler, praised by the CWA judges as a
‘wildly entertaining eco-thriller’.
The ALCS Gold Dagger for Non-Fiction is awarded to forensic pathologist, Sue Black, for
Written in Bone praised by the CWA judges as a ‘humane, wise book’.
The
CWA Daggers are one of the few high-profile awards that honour the short
story. Clare Mackintosh wins the award with her short story ‘Monsters’
in
First Edition: Celebrating 21 Years of Goldsboro Books. The judges praised it for its powerful twist.
The
Dagger in the Library is voted on exclusively by librarians, chosen for
the author’s body of work and support of libraries. This year it goes to
Peter May. The Scottish author has become
well recognized for his work both as a novelist and in film and
television. His books have sold several million copies worldwide and
have won awards in the UK, the USA, and France.
Chair
of the judges, Sue Wilkinson, said: ‘Peter May infuses his books with a
real sense of place, whether it be China, France or the Hebrides. His
books are tense, atmospheric and complex but
always utterly absorbing.’
One
of the anticipated highlights of the annual Daggers is the Debut Dagger
competition, open to unknown and uncontracted writers. The competition
for unpublished writers can lead
to securing representation and a publishing contract. This year the
winner is Hannah Redding for
Deception.
The judges said: ‘Deception has all the ingredients of a compelling mystery,
complete with unreliable narrators, a cut-off location and a nicely compact time frame.’
Fiona McPhillips was also Highly Commended for
Underwater. Praised as being ‘full of intrigue… The issues of class, sexuality and power explored were very well done.’
The
Best Crime and Mystery Publisher of the Year Dagger, which celebrates
publishers and imprints demonstrating excellence and diversity in crime
writing, goes to the independent publisher, Head
of Zeus. Established in 2012, Head of Zeus went from start-up to a
multi-million-pound business and positioned itself at the forefront of
the eBook revolution.
Maxim
said: “These awards testify to the wealth of great books and diversity
within the crime genre. The Daggers are assuredly the best and most
accurate reflection of what's happening on the
crime and mystery writing front, with all judges independent of the CWA
and renewed on a regular basis.”
The winners were announced at a virtual ceremony on I July, Daggers Live! dubbed the ‘Oscars of the crime genre’.
The
evening was hosted by leading crime expert, Barry Forshaw with guest
speaker, Abir Mukherjee, who won last year’s CWA Sapere Books Historical
Dagger for his novel
Death in the East.
Martina
Cole also featured at the awards event as the recipient of the 2021
Diamond Dagger for lifetime achievement, the highest honour in British
crime writing.
One of
the UK’s most prominent societies, the CWA was founded in 1953 by John
Creasey; the awards started in 1955 with its first award going to
Winston Graham, best known for
Poldark. They are regarded by the publishing world as the foremost British awards for crime-writing.
Dagger Winners 2021
CWA GOLD DAGGER
Winner:
Chris Whitaker: We Begin at the End (Zaffre, Bonnier)
Highly Commended
S A Cosby: Blacktop Wasteland (Headline, Headline Publishing Group); Nicci French: House of Correction (Simon & Schuster)
CWA IAN FLEMING STEEL DAGGER
Michael Robotham: When She Was Good
(Sphere, Little, Brown Book Group)
CWA JOHN CREASEY (NEW BLOOD) DAGGER
Eva Björg Ægisdóttir:
The Creak on the Stairs (Orenda), Translator: Victoria Cribb
CWA SAPERE BOOKS HISTORICAL DAGGER
Vaseem Khan:
Midnight at Malabar House (Hodder & Stoughton)
CWA ALCS GOLD DAGGER FOR NON-FICTION
Sue Black: Written in Bone (Doubleday, Penguin)
CWA CRIME FICTION IN TRANSLATION DAGGER
Yun Ko-eun:
The Disaster Tourist, translated by Lizzie Buehler (Serpent's Tail)
CWA SHORT STORY DAGGER
Clare Mackintosh: ‘Monsters’ in
First Edition: Celebrating 21 Years of Goldsboro Books (The Dome Press)
CWA DAGGER IN THE LIBRARY
Peter May
CWA PUBLISHERS DAGGER
Head of Zeus
CWA DEBUT DAGGER
(Competition for an unpublished novel)
Winner:
Hannah Redding – Deception
Highly commended: Fiona McPhillips – Underwater
