Morgen Witzel

Morgen Witzel is a writer whose career spans journalism, academic publishing, advertising, and fiction. He has written for the Financial Times, the South China Morning Post and several Indian publications, as well as producing and editing textbooks, encyclopaedias, and dictionaries. Alongside his late wife, Marilyn Livingstone, he managed a publishing services business for more than a decade. He is also the author of fifteen published novels.

Over the past 15 years, he has served as a trustee or non-executive director for a number of organisations, including Libraries Unlimited, which manages the library service in Devon, and the Crime Writers’ Association. He has contributed to books on governance, conducted research in the field, and teaches leadership and ethics at the University of Exeter Business School.

AJ West

AJ West is a novelist, media trainer, and presenter. A former BBC journalist and charity communications director, he has written widely on the challenges facing authors in a changing publishing landscape. His debut novel was published without an agent, while his second, The Betrayal of Thomas True, became a Sunday Times bestseller and won the 2025 CWA Historical Dagger Award.

AJ co-founded The Book Party, a reader-writer event series that has grown from a one-off gathering into regular large-scale celebrations of the book community, connecting traditionally published and independent authors with audiences around the country.

He also works with authors to develop skills in public speaking and interviews. AJ has toured extensively in support of independent bookshops, and he remains an active advocate for the role of booksellers in sustaining the literary ecosystem.

Ian Giles

Ian Giles is a literary translator specialising in Scandinavian languages based in Edinburgh. He has translated more than 35 books across a wide range of genres and is Chair of the Translators Association. His work in translation has given him direct insight into the challenges of authorship in an evolving industry.

Ian has experience of leading small membership organisations and brings a focus on practical skills development for authors, including rights negotiation, income diversification, and working responsibly with technology.

Ian has been active in promoting professional recognition for translators and authors alike and has ‘championed translators individually and collectively in the face of these same challenges’.

Lucinda Hawksley

Lucinda Hawksley is an author of fiction and non-fiction. Over the course of her career, Lucinda has written more than twenty books on social history and art literature, including biographies of Lizzie Siddal, Princess Louise, and Kate Perugini (née Dickens). Lucinda has campaigned for fair pay and better recognition of authors’ contributions to publishing.

Lucinda lectures widely in the UK and abroad, appears on television and radio, and contributes to literary festivals and museum programmes. A great-great-great-granddaughter of Charles Dickens, her work with heritage organisations includes events with the Charles Dickens Museum and other institutions devoted to nineteenth-century culture.

As a member of the Society of Authors for 20 years, Lucinda notes that there have been several times in her writing career when she has run into difficulty and every time the Society of Authors has helped find a solution.  A regular commentator on authors’ professional conditions, Lucinda is a

‘firm advocate that everyone should be paid – and paid fairly – for their work and expertise’.

Jen Calleja

Jen Calleja is an author, translator, and publisher. She has published seven books of fiction, poetry, and non-fiction, and has translated around 20 books from German into English for both large and small publishers.

Jen was the inaugural Translator in Residence at the British Library and has judged and been shortlisted for the Society of Authors Translation Prizes.

She co-runs a small press dedicated to Maltese literature in translation and has a background in cultural communications and campaign work.

Jen is particularly engaged with issues around fair pay, professional acknowledgement, and the role of translation in the publishing industry, as she has personally had translations stolen for the use of training artificial intelligence and seen the decline in pay for authors.

Matt Abbott

Matt Abbott is a poet, lyricist, and educator whose work combines literature with social engagement. He began performing poetry in 2006 and has been a full-time poet since 2013, publishing collections of poetry, contributing to anthologies, and writing commissioned work for organisations and campaigns. Alongside this, Matt has established himself as a lyricist, collaborating across projects that bring together poetry and music.

Since 2014, Matt has produced and hosted spoken word and poetry events across the UK, working with festivals, venues, and community organisations. These events provide platforms for established and emerging writers, with a particular emphasis on supporting new and diverse voices.

In addition to his creative work, Matt draws on almost two decades of professional experience in digital marketing. Committed to mentoring and writer development, Matt continues to focus on creating sustainable opportunities for writers and expanding access to live literature.

Polly Atkin

Polly Atkin is a poet, nonfiction writer, editor, and bookseller based in Cumbria. Her writing includes biography, memoirs, and nature writing, and she has been active in the literary and academic worlds for more than two decades. She co-owns a long-established independent bookshop and has organised and hosted arts events across the UK.

Polly has taught literature and creative writing in schools and universities and has been an active member of the Society of Authors ADCI group for Disabled and Chronically Ill Authors since it was founded in 2020.

She is particularly engaged with issues of accessibility and equity in the arts and has been a consistent advocate for disabled, deaf, and neurodivergent writers.

Mohamed Tonsy

Mohamed Tonsy is an Egyptian writer and bookseller based in Edinburgh. His debut novel was developed through Maslaha’s MFest Short Story Competition. He has been active in literary networks, including the Scottish BPOC Writers Network.

Mohamed contributes to events programming and to conversations about equity and access in publishing – particularly for ethnic minority writers and for diasporic voices. His perspective as a diaspora writer informs his interest in promoting equity and accessibility within the literary sector.

Alongside his literary work, Mohamed maintains a ceramics practice, often exploring the same themes of memory, migration, and ritual that inform his fiction.

Hetty Saunders

Hetty Saunders is a writer and editor with a background in English literature and academic publishing. Hetty studied at Cambridge and Edinburgh universities before training as an academic editor at the University of London.

Her academic research examines the urgent questions posed by the climate crisis, the role of writers in articulating these difficult topics, and the feelings around them. In 2023, she co-edited Speculative Nature Writing: An Anthology with the University of East Anglia, exploring the space between utopian and dystopian writing. She continues to focus on sustainability, inclusivity, and environmental responsibility within the industry.

Hetty became a member of the Society of Authors in 2017, finding in it a supportive community at the start of her career. She believes confidence and creativity are best nurtured through collaboration and connection, rather than solitary work, and sees face-to-face events as vital to professional development.

Hetty has judged major literary prizes, run creative writing workshops, and taught Romantic poetry at university level. Her work often focuses on the intersections of literature, the environment, and inclusivity in publishing.