9 November 2015 Two novels, a collection of poetry, and a volume of interlinked short stories make up the shortlist for the £5,000 Sunday Times/Peters Fraser and Dunlop Young Writer of the Year Award. Works by Sarah Howe, Ben Fergusson, Sunjeev Sahota and Sara Taylor were chosen by judges Peter Kemp and Andrew Holgate of…
9 November 2015 A petition to the Scottish Parliament regarding the threat to Scottish school libraries was officially lodged on 16 October with a final total of 2,651 signatures and 170 comments. Librarian Duncan Wright, who put forward the petition, has been called on to appear in front of the Scottish Parliament on 24 November…
The SoA welcomes a new initiative from the Intellectual Property Office. Cracking Ideas provides information and free resources to teachers for classroom education on intellectual property across the key stages. The IPO explains the project: Is there a budding Branson or Dyson in your classroom? Know a future Bill Gates or J.K. Rowling? Or will…
22 October 2015 White Paper on Culture The SoA is preparing a submission for Government on the subject of culture. Ed Vaizey has announced the Government’s plans to produce a White Paper on Culture – the first in 50 years – and has called for public input. Simultaneously the Labour opposition has noted its own…
The SoA owns or manages more than 50 literary estates – Bernard Shaw and E. M. Forster among them – and uses the income from these to support all of its work. Our Literary Estates team is always busy managing and selling those rights. Through their efforts the British Library has recently released two classic…
The Conservative Party Conference has raised to the fore the issue of tax credits. Working Tax Credit, Jobseeker’s Allowance, Housing Benefit, Child Tax Credit, Employment and Support Allowance and Income Support are all currently being phased out, to be replaced by Universal Credit. The removal of Working Tax Credit in particular raises some worrying issues…
SoA members, in addition to holding panels, performances and workshops, pledged over £3,000 to Save the Children in aid of the refugee crisis in Syria. This was inspired by a fundraiser started by author and SoA member Patrick Ness, and the SoA efforts were led by John Dougherty, Chair of the Children’s Writers and Illustrators Group…
7 September 2015 Over the weekend John Dougherty, Chair of the Children’s Writers and Illustrators Group, led SoA members in a drive to raise money for the Syrian refugee crisis. The New Visions Conference for children’s writers and illustrators took place this weekend from 5-6 September and was attended by authors from all over the…
Council member Anne Sebba reflects on reading for pleasure. I fell asleep last night with a book in my hands. There were just 40 pages to go until the end but, after a long and tiring day, much as I was desperate to know who lived and who died, I just failed to make it…
31 July 2015 Four new members have been elected to serve on the Management Committee. The following have been elected by a ballot of all Members: Daniel Hahn (974 votes), Eric Clark (899 votes), Alex Klaushofer (724 votes) and Janet Laurence (665 votes). 1,607 Members voted (of 8,861). To view the Independent Scrutineer’s Report, please…
17 July 2015 The Earl of Clancarty has asked the Government ‘what steps they plan to take to improve the rights and income of professional authors and writers.’ The SoA welcomes the interest of the Peer who raised the issue of the rights and income of professional authors in the House of Lords this week. Baroness…
Nicola Solomon, Chief Executive of the Society of Authors, made a call for immediate action to protect creators from onerous contracts when she spoke last night to the All Party Writers Group Summer Reception. Following addresses from Pete Wishart MP, Chair of the All Party Writers Group, and John Whittingdale, Secretary of State for Culture,…
