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?
The Historical Writers Association
The official website of the HWA
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
Vaseem Khan
Vaseem Khan is a former Chair of the UK Crime Writers' Association and the author of several award-winning crime series including the Baby Ganesh Agency novels, set in modern Mumbai, and the Malabar House historical crime series, set in 1950s Bombay. His debut, The Unexpected Inheritance of Inspector Chopra, was selected by the Sunday Times as one of the 40 best crime novels published in 2015-2020, and has been translated into 17... more
Carmella Lowkis
Carmella Lowkis grew up in Wiltshire and has a degree in English literature and Creative Writing from the University of Warwick. After graduating, she worked in libraries, before moving into book marketing. Carmella lives in North London with her fiancée. She can be found online on Instagram, X and Threads. Spitting Gold is her first novel. Her second novel, A Slow and Secret Poison, is publishing in early... more
Paul StJohn Mackintosh
“Paul StJohn Mackintosh is one of those writers who just seems to quietly get on with the business of producing great fiction.” – Paul Michaels, This is Horror Paul StJohn Mackintosh is a Scottish poet, writer of imaginative and historical fiction, historical studies and roleplaying games, translator and journalist. Born in 1961, he was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, has lived and worked in Asia and Central Europe, and... more
L J Trafford
L.J. Trafford is the author of three non-fiction books: How To Survive in Ancient Rome, a guide for the discerning visitor to the city in the year 95 CE, Sex and Sexuality in Ancient Rome and Ancient Rome’s Worst Emperors. She is also the author the Four Emperors’ series of novels. The series comprises four books – Palatine, Galba’s Men, Otho’s Regret and Vitellius’ Feast – which cover the dramatic fall of Nero and the chaotic... more
