Eight candidates stood for four positions in our annual elections. 1405 members voted in this year’s election, administered by Electoral Reform Services.
Elected members of the Management Committee serve for three years, and oversee the strategic direction and governance of the Society of Authors.
Successful candidates and outgoing members
The successful candidates are:
- Ferdinand Dennis – an author, broadcaster, journalist and lecturer. He has written for the Guardian, Granta, Critical Quarterly and City Limits, and has authored three novels and two travelogues, one of which won the Martin Luther King Memorial Prize.
- David Donachie (re-elected) – current Chair of the Management Committee until January, and author of 47 novels, mostly historical nautical fiction.
- Mary Hoffman – an author of 120 books, largely for children and teenagers, and a former Chair of the Children’s Writers and Illustrators Group. She has campaigned for public and school libraries, is an Honorary Fellow of the Library Association (now CILIP), and is a member of the NUJ.
- Philip Womack – a journalist and fantasy author, he has written for the Daily Telegraph, the Times, The Spectator and the New Humanist. He also has a background in law and teaching.
They join Eric Clark, Daniel Hahn, Joanne Harris, Alex Klaushofer, Janet Laurence, Carol Lee, Charles Palliser and Celia Rees.
We bid farewell to Peter Groves and Lucinda Hawksley, and thank them for the experience and passion they have brought to these unpaid roles since 2014.
Download the scrutineers' report of the election