
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.