Lee Child Awarded CWA Diamond Dagger for 2013

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Crime Writers’ Association Diamond Dagger goes to Lee Child

The Crime Writers’ Association is delighted to announce that the 2013 Diamond Dagger will be awarded to Lee Child.

The Diamond Dagger is voted for by members of the CWA and celebrates an author with an outstanding body of work in crime fiction. Past winners include Val McDermid, Ian Rankin, and Elmore Leonard. In 2012 the award went to Frederick Forsyth.

Chair of the CWA Peter James said: ‘I am delighted that the CWA has chosen Lee Child as this year's recipient. Lee is one of the few British crime thriller authors to have become a global brand name; he is also an extremely charming and open person and a tireless promoter of our genre.’

The diamond-studded Dagger will be awarded to Lee Child at a gala dinner in the summer.

2013 is also the Crime Writers’ Association Diamond Jubilee. The organisation was started in 1953 by prolific author John Creasey, and it now provides support for published crime writers and promotes the genre, as well as running the prestigious Dagger awards, the oldest literary awards in the UK.

The CWA will be celebrating its Diamond Jubilee with a special conference, a gala Daggers award dinner, and other events celebrating crime fiction. More information on the CWA and the Dagger awards can be found at www.thecwa.co.uk

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The Crime Writers’ Association has been running since 1953 and is most famous for the Dagger Awards; the longest-established literary awards in the UK. Bestselling author Peter James is the current Chair.

Lee Child is one of the world’s leading thriller writers. His novels consistently top the bestseller lists on both sides of the Atlantic. It is estimated that he has sold some 60 million copies of his seventeen thrillers worldwide, all of which feature Jack Reacher, the former military cop and maverick drifter.

Born in Coventry in 1954, Lee now divides his time between New York and the South of France.

In 2011, Lee won the prestigious Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Writing Award for 61 Hours. In 2012, A Wanted Man was named Crime Book of the Year at the Specsavers National Book Awards. In 2012, Lee’s novel One Shot was filmed as Jack Reacher and starred Tom Cruise.