Founded in July 1949, the organization was initially named the China National Literature Workers Association.

In April 2012, the organization changed its translated name to China Writers Association.

[1] The first CWA Chair was Mao Dun, under the leadership of the then CFLAC Chairman Guo Moruo.

[3] Other successive Associate Chairs include Ding Ling, Feng Xuefeng, Lao She, Ke Zhongping, Shao Quanlin and Liu Baiyu.

[5] In 2017, two vice presidents of the Suzhou branch of the CWA publicly resigned as a protest to what they perceived as the Chinese Communist Party's tightening of control on writers.