Who We Are

The International Association of Crime Writers is an organization of professional writers who have formed national branches in order to encourage communication among writers of all nationalities and to promote crime writing as an influential and significant art form. We support the translation of crime writing into other languages and we speak with a strong voice to defend authors against censorship and other forms of tyranny.

National organizations are organized in their own ways and administered according to their own constitutions and rules. At various times, branches have been formed in England, Italy, Spain, Russia, Scandinavia, Bulgaria, Germany, Mexico, Cuba, The Czech Republic, France, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Romania, and other countries. In some nations, IACW is affiliated with a larger local organization as Das Syndikat (German language crime writers). The North American branch, which covers both Anglophone Canada and the United States, has about 200 members. Membership world-wide is about 1,000.

What We Do

IACW participates in a number of conferences around the world and has relationships with a number of international writers' organizations.

We also annually award the prestigious Hammett Prize for Literary Excellence in Crime Writing to a work of fiction or nonfiction by a U.S. or Canadian author.

We also publish a brief weekly newsletter with announcements by members and links to articles of interest to crime writers.