 In 2014 Cleeves was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Letters by the University of Sunderland.In 2015, Cleeves was the Programming Chair for the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival & the Theakston's Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award.In 2015, she was shortlisted for the Dagger in the Library UK Crime Writers' Association award for an author's body of work in British libraries (UK) In February 2019 Ann Cleeves appeared on Desert Island Discs.