24 September 2020

Autumn / Winter programme of online events kicks off on 1 October with an in-conversation session with Neil Gaiman to raise cash for the Authors’ Contingency Fund.

In May, at the height of lockdown, the Society of Authors launched an ambitious programme of free online events to help guide, inspire and entertain authors through the health crisis. We welcomed 5,100 attendees to sessions with Philip Pullman, Joanne Harris, Lemn Sissay, Sarah Waters, and others.

On Thursday 24 September, we open bookings for the second round of the SoA @ Home Festival, returning with a series of 36 live-streamed events focusing on professional development, industry discussion, wellbeing, and topical conversation.

In the first event of the Festival, at 2:30PM BST on Thursday 1 October, bestselling author Neil Gaiman will talk to the Guardian’s books reporter, Alison Flood, about how he has been working through lockdown. The event is a fundraiser for the Authors’ Contingency Fund, and will be open to anyone who makes a donation at societyofauthors.org/donate between now and the time of the event. Since March, the Contingency Fund has distributed £1 million in small grants to authors facing financial hardship due to the health crisis.

Running from 6 October to early December, the programme includes practical guidance on research skills, podcasting and marketing; panel discussions on imposter syndrome and author earnings; practical sessions focused on creativity and wellbeing; and in-conversations with Ian Rankin, Roger Robinson, Deborah Moggach, Daljit Nagra, Antonia Fraser, Dean Atta, Amrou Al-Kadhi and more.

All events are free for SoA members and most are free for everyone. We invite anyone attending a free event to make a small donation to the Authors’ Contingency Fund, if they can afford to, so we can continue to offer financial assistance to authors as the health crisis continues.

The Festival will culminate with an in-conversation with Margaret Atwood, in partnership with the Writers’ Union of Canada.

Bookings are open now for events in the first three weeks of the Festival. Tickets for future events will be released in October.

For more details and to book visit societyofauthors.org/soa-at-home.