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news and features
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... moreauthor showcase
Nina Wachsman
Nina Wachsman is the author of the Venice Beauties Mysteries is set in 17th Century Venice, The Gallery of Beauties, The Courtesan's Secret and The Courtesan's Pirate, all of which have been finalists for top awards in mystery: Agatha, Anthony and Silver Falchion. Her short stories and novels often have an art theme, shaped by her studying illustration with Maurice Sendak and a career as an art director. Due to her interest in art, she is a... more
Lucy Ashe
Lucy Ashe writes historical, psychological, and crime novels. Her debut novel, Clara & Olivia (Magpie, Oneworld publications, UK)/ The Dance of the Dolls (Union Square & Co, US) was shortlisted for the CWA Historical Dagger. Her second novel, The Sleeping Beauties was published in 2024 and her third novel, The Model Patient in April 2026. Lucy trained at The Royal Ballet School for eight years, first as a Junior Associate and then at... more
Angus Donald
Angus Donald is the author of the Outlaw Chronicles, a bestselling series of 12 novels featuring the legendary hero Robin Hood, and set in the 12th and 13th centuries. He is also the author of the Blood trilogy, a 17th-century series featuring unusual but brilliant artillery officer, Holcroft Blood, son of the notorious Crown Jewels thief Colonel Thomas Blood. He has penned five Viking Fire Born novels, beginning with The Last Berserker, and he... more
Paul Clammer
I'm a writer and editor. I spent 20 years writing guidebooks for Lonely Planet and Bradt Travel Guides, and by day I'm now the editor for an Antarctic travel website. My first history book, 'Black Crown: Henry Christophe, the Haitian Revolution and the Caribbean's Forgotten Kingdom' was published in 2023 by Hurst Publishers. It was based on deep archival research in the UK, the USA and the Caribbean, as well as field work carried out in Haiti... more
