Industry Insider – Imagining new funding futures

With the Scottish government recently confirming plans to pilot a basic income scheme for artists, this panel discussion will survey today’s funding landscape, imagine some more equitable future possibilities and begin to map out how we might get there.

Current discussions around funding across the publishing industry seem to suffer from a lack of imagination: there is both intense criticism of current situations and, in some cases, a desire to return to a past that is unlikely to return. But we are creative people! If anyone can help to imagine equitable and sustainable futures for workers in the books industry, surely it is the writers, translators and illustrators who make up the SoA.

While the conversation will have a particular focus on Scotland, the session is for any writers and book workers who would like to see a better funded publishing industry for everyone.

This event is in conjunction with the Society of Authors in Scotland (SoAiS). 

What will this session cover?

• Different visions for more equitable and sustainable publishing
• The role of trade unions such as the SoA in making these ideas a reality
• Current problems and how to solve them
• Testing new funding models, such as Universal Basic Income

Online Industry Insider events – free for all + donation

All donations made go towards the Society of Authors’ Access Fund. The fund is to help provide authors support for travel, subsistence, childcare or access needs for events, residencies, and retreats. If you would like to make a donation with your booking, please do so when registering for the event below.

Programme

• Welcome, introductions and housekeeping from Tom Jeffreys (3 mins)
• Panel discussion chaired by Tom Jeffreys, Sam Gonçalves and Jessica Gaitán Johannesson (60 mins)
• Comfort break (5 mins)
• Q&A with audience (20 mins)
• Summary and closing comments (2 mins)
• This event will be moderated by Elsa Robert – Executive Administrator, SoA

The Line-up

Tom Jeffreys

Tom Jeffreys is a writer who lives in Edinburgh. His work is mostly creative non-fiction in response to art and place, and he regularly collaborates with artists and cultural organisations.

Tom’s books include: Walking: Documents of Contemporary Art (Whitechapel Gallery and The MIT Press, 2024); To an island in a loch on an island in a loch, with Kirsty Badenoch (Mouldy Books, 2023); The White Birch: A Russian Reflection (Little, Brown, 2021); and Signal Failure: HS2 on Foot (Influx Press, 2017). He is represented by Zoe Ross at United Agents. 

Instagram: @tom__jeffreys | Website: https://www.tom-jeffreys.co.uk

Sam Gonçalves

Sam Gonçalves is a writer from Brazil, currently living in Glasgow. He is the author of How Does Change Happen?: Scenes from the Frontlines of Activism (2025).

Sam brings a background in community development and organising: he was the SoA’s Senior Policy Officer (Scotland) from 2024 to 2026, and previously worked with organisations like Creative Dundee, The Ferret, Hot Chocolate Trust, Greater Govanhill and others – both in the Third Sector and in the Creative Industries.

Jessica Gaitán Johannesson

Jessica Gaitán Johannesson is a writer and organiser based in Edinburgh. She’s the author of the Desmond Elliot Prize-nominated novel How We Are Translated (2021), and the essay collection The Nerves and Their Endings (2022). She’s the Programme Director for Edinburgh’s Radical Book Fair.

About Society of Authors in Scotland (SoAiS)

Members with a Scottish postcode are added to the group when they join the SoA. If you have not been added but would like to join this group, please contact us.

We offer a varied calendar of activities organised by a committee of volunteers and staff coordinator Elsa Robert. Group activities are reported in the SoA’s quarterly magazine, The Author.

Send us your questions

If you would like to send questions in advance, email ERobert@societyofauthors.org with ’New funding futures’ in the subject header. We will prioritise questions sent in advance and answer as many as we can from the audience on the day.

Accessibility

• Attendees will have the option to turn on the live transcript, to watch with subtitles
• If you require BSL interpretation for this event, please email events@societyofauthors.org

Booking

Please either use the form titled ‘Register – no donation’ or the option of the different ticket options with a donation amount depending on how much you would like to donate towards the Society of Authors Access Fund.