
Sarah Burton
Deputy Chief Executive
Head of the Advisory Team and Senior Publishing Contracts Advisor
Children’s Writers and Illustrators Group Coordinator
Sarah Burton is the Deputy Chief Executive at SoA. Sarah also leads the advisory team and advises members on all business aspects of the writing profession, including vetting contracts. She also works across the SoA’s list of literary estates, licensing rights in titles by authors such as Brendan Behan, Rose Macaulay and John Masefield. As co-coordinator of the Children’s Writers and Illustrators Group, she has a particular interest in industry issues affecting creators of children’s books.

Lisa Dowdeswell
Head of Literary Estates and Senior Publishing Contracts Advisor
Comics Creators Network coordinator
Lisa manages our literary estates and advises members on a wide range of publishing contracts and issues.
She is joint coordinator of the Comics Creators Network.

Sarah Baxter
Senior Publishing Contracts Advisor
Sarah is one of our Senior Contracts Advisors. She advises members on publishing contracts and issues as well as administering our grants for writers in need, including the PD James Memorial Fund. She also handles our literary estates, including print permissions and amateur stage licences.

Johanna Clarke
Senior Contracts Advisor
Outreach Lead
Poetry and Spoken Word Group coordinator
Johanna advises members on contracts and issues. She manages the SoA’s outreach programme as our outreach lead and is a co-host of The SoA Advisory Clinic podcast.
Johanna is also the coordinator for the SoA’s Poetry and Spoken Word Group.

Catherine Fuller
Senior Publishing Contracts Advisor
Translators Association coordinator
Catherine is a senior contracts advisor at the SoA and advises on translation contracts and issues.
She is joint group coordinator for the Translators Association.

Elizabeth Haylett Clark
Senior Publishing Contracts Advisor
Liaison for SoA Northern Ireland
Liz advises members on publishing contracts and issues.
She is the liaison for the SoA in Northern Ireland.

Theo Jones
Senior Publishing Contracts Advisor
Scriptwriters Group coordinator
Theo advises members on publishing contracts and issues.
He is joint coordinator of the Scriptwriters Group.

Ambre Morvan
Senior Policy and Public Affairs Manager
Contracts Advisor
Translators Association Coordinator
Ambre joined the SoA in October 2021. She advises members on publishing contracts and issues. She also works on the SoA’s public policy.
Ambre is joint group coordinator for the Translators Association.

Kate Pool
Consultant Publishing Contracts Advisor
Kate advises members on publishing contracts and issues.
Previous Manager of The Author.

Mathilde Zeeman
Publishing Contracts Advisor
Poetry and Spoken Word Group coordinator
Mathilde joined the SoA in 2022. She transferred from the Membership team to the Advisory team in November 2022 where she will continue her work advising members with publishing issues.
Mathilde is joint coordinator of the SoA’s Poetry and Spoken Word Group.