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The Historical Writers’ Association helps traditionally published authors to connect with other writers, to find publicity opportunities and benefit from involvement in a thriving, supportive community. Interested in joining?

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HWA Crown Award Winners 2025

The winners are:Gold: The Heart in Winter by Kevin Barry (Canongate Books)Non-fiction: Moederland by Cato Pedder (John Murray)Debut: A Poisoner’s Tale by Cathryn Kemp (Bantam) Read more about the books and the shortlisted titles on...  more

Dorothy Dunnett / HWA Short Story Competition 2025

The winning and shortlisted stories! Huge congratulations to our winner, Sean Lusk, our Highly Commended writers, Alex Edwards and Joseph Dragovich, and the writers of our shortlisted stories, Liz Kershaw, Sopie Lenoir, and Elaine...  more

Dorothy Dunnett Society / HWA Short Story Competition Longlist

Many congratulations to the writers of our longlisted stories. The shortlist and winning stories will be announced on Friday 3 October! We ended up with nearly 150 stories this year and the standard was extremely high. Many thanks to our first...  more

author showcase

Historical Writers Association member - Luisa A. Jones
Before the Mountain Falls by HWA member Luisa A. Jones

Luisa A. Jones

Luisa A Jones lives in South Wales. She writes captivating and emotional fiction exploring the complex, messy truths of the human condition, with flawed, relatable characters readers root for from the first page. Her first historical novel, The Gilded Cage, was an Amazon Victorian Historical Romance bestseller in the UK and the USA. A sequel, The Broken Vow, was published in 2024. Her second series for Storm Publishing, set in Wales during...  more
Historical Writers Association member - Phillip Kerrigan
Treaty or Treason by HWA member Phillip Kerrigan

Phillip Kerrigan

Phillip Kerrigan is an Australian author of Irish descent and he lives in Lake Macquarie, Australia. Phillips’ background is in senior management of a cosmetics company and later proprietor of his own Apple computer business and Small to Medium Business Consultancy. His company won three Reseller awards with Apple in Australia and attended a number of Apple Inc conferences and many Mac World Expos in San Francisco. He sold his Reseller...  more
Historical Writers Association member - Jad Adams
Hideous Absinthe: A History of the Devil in a Bottle by HWA member Jad Adams

Jad Adams

In my non-fiction I write about radicals and nationalists internationally and characters from the English Decadence of the 1890s. My most recent big book is Decadent Women: Yellow Book Lives, the previously untold story of the women who contributed to the innovative 19th century journal.  It came out late in 2023. Other books include Women and the Vote: A World History and biographies of Tony Benn, Gandhi and Emmeline Pankhurst. My...  more
Historical Writers Association member - Fiona Forsyth
Death and the Poet by HWA member Fiona Forsyth

Fiona Forsyth

Fiona Forsyth taught Classics at The Manchester Grammar School for twenty-five years before a family relocation to the Middle East gave her the time to write. She is author of the Lucius Sestius books, and a stand-alone The Third Daughter, published by Sharpe Books in 2022. She is particularly fascinated by the years of tumult that took the Romans from Republic to Empire, and loathes the Emperor Augustus. Living in Qatar for several years...  more
Historical Writers Association member - Shelley Puhak
The Dark Queens by HWA member Shelley Puhak

Shelley Puhak

SHELLEY PUHAK is a former English professor who lives near Washington, D.C. Her second nonfiction book, The Blood Countess: Murder, Betrayal, and the Making of a Monster (Bloomsbury, 2026), is a work of true crime and feminist history about Elizabeth Bathory, the 16th century noblewoman alleged to be the world’s most prolific female serial killer. Shelley's nonfiction debut was The Dark Queens (Head of Zeus, 2022), the remarkable,...  more

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