The Crime Writers’ Association of South Asia was launched today at the Jaipur Literature Festival by leading novelists Kishwar Desai, Namita Gokhale and Jørn Lier Horst.

“A wave of crime writing is better than a wave of crime”, said Namita Gokhale, co-Director of the ZEE Jaipur Literature Festival and founding member of the Crime Writers’ Association of South Asia, as she spoke to the press.

Kishwar Desai, another founding member of the Association said, “The CWASA will be a platform for crime writers to connect with agents and publishers. We are also in the process of planning a weekend Festival of crime writing in Delhi this September.”

The Association is also supported by NORLA, (Norwegian Fiction and Non-Fiction Abroad). NORLA is a government-funded, non-commercial foundation which promotes Norwegian literature to other countries. Ms Margit Walsø, Director, NORLA, congratulated the founding members and said that she hoped to see even greater translation between the popular Norwegian crime writers and Indian languages.

Jørn Lier Horst, celebrated Norwegian author of the William Wisting series of novels commented that crime writing is one most important and popular forms of fiction, and echoed the need for greater translation, particularly when writing in a country with a population of 5 million people.

The Crime Writers’ Association South Asia is linked to the Crime Writers’ Association in the UK, which was set up by prolific author John Creasey in 1953. It is also building links to other countries which have a strong base in crime writing, both fiction and non-fiction.

More information can be found here: http://crimewritersassociationsouthasia.org/home.html