SoA Management Committee Elections: Ballot Open

2 October 2017 The election ballot for vacancies on the SoA’s Management Committee is now open until noon on 25 October and we urge all Full Members to exercise your democratic right. Full Members* of the SoA should soon receive ballot papers and candidates’ statements for the 2017 Management Committee elections with your copy of…

Ahmet Altan: ‘No one has the power to keep me in prison,’ writes the imprisoned Turkish author on the eve of his trial

18 September 2017 On the eve of Ahmet Altan’s trial, the SoA and English PEN simultaneously published a specially commissioned article by Altan, translated by Yasemin Çongar, while scores of authors including Joanne Harris, Neil Gaiman, Philippe Sands QC and A L Kennedy have sent words of support. Facing the prospect of a life sentence,…

Picador, OUP and Jenny Brown Associates offer 1-2-1 sessions to authors at ScotsWrite

11 September 2017 The Society of Authors in Scotland has arranged for agents Jenny Brown (Jenny Brown Associates), Louise Lamont (LBA) and Philip Patterson (Marjacq Scripts); and commissioning editors Lori Herber (Editor, Bastei Lübbe), Francesca Main (Publishing Director, Picador) and Clare Whitston (Senior Commissioning Editor, Children’s, OUP) to hold individual meetings with delegates at the…

UK’s biggest prize fund to celebrate literature in 2018 – Society of Authors awards open for entries

8 September 2017 The Society of Authors is inviting entries for its 2018 Authors’ Awards. Run by authors for authors, the prizes make up the UK’s biggest literary prize fund. A total of £94k was awarded in 2017. At a ceremony next summer, this unique range of prizes will celebrate the work of more than…

Authors’ Foundation announces the Antonia Fraser Grant and the Eric Ambler Award

25 August 2017 We are excited to announce two new awards which will be distributed amongst our annual £250,000 Authors’ Foundation grants. All applicants for grants for work in progress will now be considered automatically for the Eric Ambler Awards, offered in memory of the spy thriller writer, and for the Antonia Fraser Grants, open…

Brian Aldiss

22 August 2017 Brian had been a member of the SoA for more than 50 years, serving as distinguished Chair of our Management Committee in 1978, and subsequently for many years on our Council. He was a huge, prolific talent, deservedly recognised as a towering figure in science fiction since the 1960s, and settling firmly…