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…
Robert Zipser writes about the challenges of navigating the sales of film and TV rights
Robert Zipser writes about the challenges of navigating the sales of film and TV rights
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…
4 August 2017 Neil Gaiman, Philip Pullman, Joanna Trollope, Lemn Sissay and Joanne Harris are prepped to inspire poses and donate signed books next week in a five day ‘yoga challenge’, organised by The Society of Authors to raise awareness of the importance of authors looking after themselves and each other. Illustration © Anna Marinova…
28 July 2017 We have written an open letter to all publishers, raising authors’ concerns about special sales practice, and urging seven simple steps to ensure that special sales do not damage authors’ overall earnings or the market for full-price sales. Dear publishers, Please reassure authors by taking seven simple steps to ensure that special…
21 July 2017 The British Library is planning a range of improvements to Public Lending Right, the system by which authors are paid when their books are taken out of libraries, and they are accepting comments and suggestions until next Friday (28 July). Our members are strong supporters of PLR and we lobbied hard for…
20 July 2017 Ofcom has entirely removed quotas for radio comedy, drama and readings in their first draft Operating Licence (OL) for the BBC. BBC programming was previously defined in Service Licences set by the BBC Trust which gave a commitment to a minimum of 790 hours a year across BBC Radio 3 and 4….
17 July 2017 We started July with a total membership of 10,051. The 10,000 milestone will be celebrated on Tuesday 18 July at the SoA’s Summer Party at Waterstones Piccadilly, with an address from SoA council member Antonia Fraser dedicated to ‘Member 10,000’, the ten authors whose sign-up in June took membership numbers into five…
The SoA’s advisors warn about misleading websites and unsolicited emails
21 June 2017 The Society of Authors’ Translators Association (TA) announces a new prize for debut literary translation, funded by translator Daniel Hahn, with backing from The British Council. We are thrilled to announce the launch of the TA First Translation Prize, which will be run alongside the Society of authors’ nine other translation awards….
Following our Prizes consultation and approval from the Charity Commission, we are delighted to announce that the changes proposed to the eligibility criteria for three of our annual Authors’ Awards have now been approved. From September to November 2016 we ran a public consultation on prize eligibility with the goal of making our awards more…
