Daggers Drawn: a few reflections and photos from this year's CWA Daggers evening

Craig every second Tuesday.

Kia ora and gidday everyone. I hope you're all having a lovely July thusfar, whether you're sweltering in the summer heat of the UK, North America, and Europe, or snuggled up inside with a good book in the wintry south. 

What have you been reading lately? 

Recently, a prominent magazine asked me for my 'top few' reads of 2025 so far. It was very tough, as there have been a lot of good and great new releases, every month. Especially when you look more widely than just the most-publicised or biggest names (though some of the biggest names are putting out great stuff too, of course). 

I've also once again this year been doing lots of awards judging in several countries for a variety of major crime and thriller prizes, so just reading a lot, lot, lot of the cream of the crop. Very hard to narrow down a few faves. 

Taking a step back, I personally feel like crime and thriller fiction is in a new platinum age, with many authors raising the bar in various ways. That's on show in various ways, including last Thursday evening in London when I joined several hundred others to celebrate some of the best of the past year, at the CWA Dagger Awards dinner. 

Catching up with fellow Kiwi and
2x Dagger shortlistee DV Bishop

While writing and reading are both rather solitary pursuits in the actual doing of them, as many of you reading this will know, the books community itself - and the crime/thriller family in particular - is a very collegial place. Our shared love of these rather individual pastimes brings us together, connects us, and creates all sorts of wonderful times. 

With summer in full swing in the UK (eg the strawberries and cream are flowing - along with the champagne and Pimms - just down the road beside the grass courts of the All England club in Wimbledon), there are lots and lots of cool books events happening. Last month it was Capital Crime in London, next week I'll be up in Harrogate for the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival, a fortnight later it's Bute Noir, a fabulous festival on a Scottish island, then there's Bloody Scotland and Chiltern Kills, etc. 

As Kiwi character Fred Dagg used to say, 'We don't know how lucky we are'. 

The CWA Daggers event on Thursday was a good chance to catch up with some great people from the crime and thriller community, while celebrating some great storytelling. 

Awards can be fickle things - I say this as someone who's been involved as a judge, organiser, and in other roles in 40+ iterations of various prizes in several countries. But they're marvellous things too; spotlighting some great talents across longlists, shortlists, and winners, and hopefully bringing greater attention to great books and authors, along with being career milestones, or perhaps stepping stones. 

Renowned critic Ayo Onatade and superb
Northern Irish author and CWA
Steel Dagger shortlistee Stuart Neville

I was thinking about this quite a bit on Thursday evening, and it cropped up in a few conversations too, as you can imagine. Not only because we were there to witness some prizes being given out, but because I was involved as a judge in one of the CWA Dagger categories. So I knew one winner ahead of time, but had no idea of any of the others.

Awards can be fickle things; some are easily decided, others are a real bunfight. At the 'pointy end' you're often splitting hairs between several great books. I truly believe the longlisting/shortlisting is the mark of merit for authors, like an Oscar nomination. If you're a multiple-time Oscar nominee, then that showcases a great career, whether you've won a particular year or not. Our category this year, the Ian Fleming Steel Dagger, was certainly tough, with some fabulous contenders, and I'm sure the judges in many other categories felt the same way. 

Before the silverware was handed out, however, we enjoyed a drinks reception and sit-down dinner plus some speeches from CWA hosts and dignitaries, including the marvellous Vaseem Khan, the first-ever writer of colour to be Chair of the CWA in the august institution's 70+ year history, passing on the baton (or in this case the Creasey bell) as Chair to the wonderful Nadine Matheson. 

The 'face' of British crime writing is evolving, and that's great to see, with increased diversity and a greater range of voices being heard and stories being told. 

"The King is dead, long live the Queen!" - Vas passed
the Creasey Bell and CWA Chair duties on to Nadine

It's been terrific in the ten years now I've been in the UK (wow, time flies) to see the likes of Vaseem, Abir Mukherjee, AA Dhand, Amer Anwar (RIP), and others come to the fore of British crime writing, followed by a further influx of crime writers of colour including Nadine, Tariq Ashkanani. Like the work of Kellye Garrett and the Crime Writers of Color group based out of the USA, the value of role models for budding crime writers cannot be overstated, especially if your background hasn't been one commonly seen in publishing over the decades.

As he passes the bell (well rung by Nadine during the handover) to Nadine, Vas leaves a fine legacy with the CWA, including the creation of two new Daggers to shine a light on psychological thrillers (the Twisted Dagger) and traditional/cosier mysteries (Whodunnit Dagger). Fittingly each was presented for the first time on Thursday night.

Mick Herron readies to be 'stabbed in the back' with 
the prestigious Diamond Dagger prize

Before then, however, we enjoyed a stirring after-dinner speech from the fabulous Ruth Ware about the importance of human connection in an age of AI, and how storytelling was much more than words on a page, then feted the brilliant Mick Herron, who was this year's recipient of the Diamond Dagger, effectively the CWA's 'lifetime achievement' or 'Grand Master' equivalent prize. A popular honouree, Mick was typically humble in his speech. 

From there, it was a whirlwind of awards presentations, some to authors in the room, some to authors absent. This year the CWA had prearranged acceptance speeches from those who couldn't be there, which was a nice touch. 

I won't run through all the winners here, but here's a few highlights of the evening, for me: 

Karen Sullivan of Orenda Books accepts the Best Crime & Mystery
Publisher Dagger from Kiwi Dagger winner DV Bishop 

Akira Otani and her translator Sam Bett scoop the Crime Fiction in Translation
Dagger, much to the delight of the Japanese TV crews in attendance

Lou Berney being unsure if his video acceptance was just an elaborate prank setup,
as his brilliant DARK RIDE scooped the Steel Dagger from an ultra-strong shortlist

The wonderful, still slightly overwhelmed Anna Mazzola, with her Gold Dagger Award
(another very strong category) for the brilliant THE BOOK OF SECRETS 

All in all, it was a lovely evening celebrating some great crime writing. Of course there are lots of fabulous books out there that don't scoop prizes, but it is lovely to shine a light on some of the brilliance of this genre we love. Kudos to Heather Fitt, Mike Stotter, Vaseem, Nadine, hosts Victoria Selman and Imran Mahmood, Ruth Ware, and all involved with this year's CWA Daggers Dinner. And congratulations to all the winners, shortlistees, and longlistees. 

Until next time, ka kite anō.

Whakataukī of the fortnight: 

Inspired by Zoe and her 'word of the week', I'll be ending my fortnightly posts by sharing a whakataukī (Māori proverb), a pithy and poetic thought to mull on as we go through life.

“Nāu te rourou, nāku te rourou ka ora ai te iwi”

(with your basket and my basket, the people will thrive)