Inside the Australian and New Zealand book industry

Image. Advertisement:

Robotham wins CWA Gold Dagger

Australian author Michael Robotham has won the 2015 UK Crime Writers’ Association (CWA) Gold Dagger for his novel Life or Death (Sphere).

Life or Death was one of seven books shortlisted for the award, which is presented for the best crime novel published in the UK. Also in the running were Stephen King’s Mr Mercedes (Hodder & Stoughton) and Robert Galbraith’s The Silkworm (Sphere).

Robotham is just the second Australian to win the Gold Dagger after Peter Temple won in 2007 for The Broken Shore (Text).

Robotham told Fairfax he was thrilled to receive the recognition from his peers. ‘For all the fact that it’s lovely to have commercial success, to sell lots of books, to be able to be a full-time writer, something like the Dagger makes you feel you have the respect of your peers and you are part of a long tradition of very fine writers.’

He added: ‘It’s nice to win any award but you often win for the one you don’t think is your best. The nice thing about this from my point of view is that I truly believe that Life or Death is the best one I’ve written.’

The award was announced in London on 29 September. Also announced were the winners of the Ian Fleming Steel Dagger, which was awarded to Karin Slaughter for Cop Town (Arrow), and the John Creasey New Blood Dagger, which went to Smith Henderson for Fourth of July Creek (William Heinemann).

See the full shortlists here.

 

Category: Local news