CWA Dagger in the Library longlist announced

The longlist for the CWA Dagger in the Library has finally been announced. The Crime Writers’ Association awards various daggers to crime authors, and this one reflects the favourites as nominated by library users. Earlier in the year, we reported that the crime fiction genre is the most popular amongst book borrowers here in the UK, with James Patterson dominating the top 10.

The CWA’s longlist has quite a different complexion to the listing of the most borrowed crime books which we brought you however this dagger aims to reward an author for their body of work rather than for number of loans. Previous winners of the award include Lindsey Davis (1995), Stuart MacBride (2007), Ariana Franklin (2010), and most recently Mo Hayder (2011). Previously called The Golden Handcuffs, this dagger was first presented in 1994. Nominations were made by UK Libraries and readers groups, and the award will be judged by a panel of librarians.

This year’s nominees include:

Belinda Bauer
Simon Beckett
SJ Bolton
Frances Brody
Gordon Ferris
Elena Forbes
Nicci French
Elly Griffiths (pictured)
John Harvey
Susan Hill
Shona Maclean
Peter May (pictured)
Steve Mosby
Imogen Robertson
MJ Trow

Congratulations to all those longlisted and we look forward to the award ceremony in Harrogate later this year!