Children's Writers & Illustrators (CWIG)

Children’s Writers & Illustrators (CWIG)

Protecting and furthering the interests of children’s authors and illustrators.

We support and empower our community of children’s book creators by providing information, advice, networking and professional development opportunities. We monitor conditions within the children’s publishing industry and advocate for our members’ interests through our campaign work.

An elected committee directs the work of the group, and it is managed day to day by coordinators Sarah Burton and Hope Norman. You can find CWIG’s Terms of Reference here.

Stand for the CWIG committee

We have one vacancy on the CWIG committee for a three-year term beginning in January 2027. We warmly welcome nominations from any full member interested in joining the committee, however this year we are particularly encouraging nominations from illustrators and from under-represented groups, including people of colour, those from diverse communities, people who identify as working class, as disabled or LGBTQ+.

This is an opportunity to represent CWIG members and influence the direction of the group, including:
• the campaigns we pursue
• events and professional development opportunities offered to members
• identifying and addressing industry issues that are affecting children’s writers and illustrators.

If we receive more than one nomination for the vacancy, we will hold an online election in December and CWIG members will be asked to vote for their preferred candidate.

To nominate yourself, please send a candidate statement and photo to cwig@societyofauthors.org by 23 November 2026.

If you have any questions about what being on the committee involves, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with the CWIG coordinators, Sarah and Hope. For information about our existing committee members, click here.

Why join CWIG?

Regular Group events give members plenty of opportunity to socialise with peers and network with industry professionals such as publishers, librarians, booksellers, reviewers and many distinguished writers and illustrators.
Every Group member can give up to three Reading for Pleasure Awards a year to hard-working and imaginative schools for their promotion of reading for pleasure.
Group members will automatically receive newsletters and event details. You can also join our private CWIG Facebook Discussion Group – a lively discussion forum on professional matters. But remember, you can receive immediate or specialist professional advice from our advisory service.
We are able to facilitate a DBS check for our members. For full information click here.
The Society of Authors has close links with a number of companies and trade bodies where we discuss and lobby for better terms – including (but not limited to) Amazon, Association of Illustrators, Authors Licensing and Collecting Society, Design and Artists Copyright Society, Public Lending Right, Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators British Isles, The Publishers Association and many more.

In 2025 we launched our Ghosts are Real campaign. This aims to encourage publishers and agents to champion the ghostwriter’s role, making their contributions more evident and recognised.

CWIG developed and published a set of new guidelines, aimed at agents and publishers, and detailing processes for working with ghostwriters. The guidelines, with a cover illustration by illustrator and CWIG committee member Lydia Monks, invite publishers, agents, celebrities, and ghostwriters to help build a more transparent, collaborative, and celebratory culture in children’s publishing. Read more about the campaign here.

In 2026 we created a school visits toolkit to support and empower authors and schools to deliver impactful in-person school visits.

The toolkit contains advice both for authors undertaking in-person school visits, and school librarians and other staff responsible for organising these visits. It draws on the experience of children’s authors, teachers, booking agents and school librarians. For authors it covers areas such as preparation, payment, contracts, and the content of a visit, while for school staff the toolkit includes advice on what to do if budget is an issue, and tips to help pupils get the most out of an author visit.

Download the toolkit here.

If you are thinking of joining, take advantage of our offer code – CWIG20 – giving you 20% off a full first year’s subscription when you first join or re-join the SoA. This offer does not apply to renewals or to other discounted rates such as our student, youth or concessionary categories. Please visit our membership offer page and use the CWIG20 code to claim.

For all inquiries, please email cwig@societyofauthors.org.