The Red Herring awarded to Chris Simms (LHA, PeA 81 – 88)

Over the past sixty years, from time to time, the Crime Writers’ Association (CWA) has recognised valuable work of many different kinds with The Red Herring Award.

Although the Red Herring is not a literary award, many of the recipients have been writers (examples include Allan Prior, Gavin Lyall, and Reginald Hill), while others have included the literary critic F E Pardoe and the editor Elizabeth Walter. Each has given generously of their time and expertise, benefiting not only the CWA but the wider crime-writing community.

Chris said – ‘I served on the CWA committee for several years, during which time we established a new initiative called the Crime Readers’ Association (CRA) to make it easier for crime writers to connect with their audience. Part of that involved me creating and then editing an online magazine called Case Files which profiles new or forthcoming work from CWA members. Currently, almost 12,000 fans of crime writing subscribe to the magazine.’

Over the years, Chris has also been nominated for Daggers (the CWA’s literary award) and has had many short stories selected for CWA short story analogies.

While not writing novels, Chris works as a Consultant Fellow of the Royal Literary Fund and facilitates writing skills workshops at universities across the UK.

Thank you Chris for sharing your fantastic news.

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