Award-winning scriptwriters Robin Mukherjee, Trish Cooke and award-winning narrator Imogen Church are the most recent recruits to the SoA’s Scriptwriters Group (SWG) committee, which lobbies on behalf of UK scriptwriters. (Above: Imogen Church (left), Robin Mukherjee (centre), Trish Cooke (right) The Scriptwriters Group represents writers and makers across digital, broadcast, AV and theatre. It supports members and…
The SoA seeks urgent feedback on the new requirement that claimants must look more widely for jobs after four weeks of benefits. The Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) can now make claimants receiving Universal Credit (UC) start to look for any job after four weeks of receiving benefits. Previously claimants had been permitted…
25 March 2022 Winners announced by Trish Cooke at the BBC Audio Drama Awards ceremony Playwright and children’s writer Trish Cooke presented Faebian Averies with the 2022 Imison Award for the best original script by a writer new to radio, and to producer Róisín McBrinn (on behalf of Sonya Hale) with the Tinniswood Award for…
25 March 2022 A joint statement from the Society of Authors, the Authors with Disabilities and Chronic Illnesses network, Inklusion, and the SoA’s Poetry and Spoken Word Group Illustration © Antonio Rodriguez One of the few positive impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic has been that as events and festivals were shifted to an online format, they…
24 March 2022 Society of Authors’ President, Sir Philip Pullman, has today (24 March 2022) publicly announced, with great regret, his resignation from the role he has held since 2013. He will remain a member of the SoA’s Council. In a letter to the SoA’s Management Committee and Chief Executive, Nicola Solomon, earlier this month,…
24 March 2022 Anietie Isong, Roger Robinson and Caroline Brothers among the judges awarding prizes in our first in-venue SoA Awards in three years Celebrating literary works from fiction, to poetry, to children’s books, the 2022 Society of Authors’ Awards will return to Southwark Cathedral on 1 June 2022 for our first in-venue ceremony since…
17 March 2022 #PayTheCreator The Creators’ Rights Alliance (CRA) has launched Pay the Creator, calling for authors and other creative practitioners to be paid professionally and promptly, and to be given the same considerations enjoyed by other workers in the areas of pay, business support and policy making. How you can help As an author or…
10 March 2022 A joint statement from the SoA and Children’s Writers and Illustrators Group in support of Simon Green and the LGBTQ+ author community. The SoA and Children’s Writers and Illustrators Group oppose the cancellation of a school talk by Simon Green, an author of LGBTQ+ young adult fiction. Simon had been due to…
The creator of the Alfie books and Dogger was an active member and supporter of the SoA for over half a century. We were deeply saddened to hear of the death of acclaimed writer and illustrator Shirley Hughes, at the age of 94. The much-loved author of over 50 books and illustrator of more than…
1 March 2022 The Society of Authors welcomes Heather Parry in the newly created role of Senior Policy and Liaison Manager for Scotland. The Society of Authors has launched a pilot project to represent authors in Scotland, thanks to financial support from Creative Scotland. Heather Parry joined the SoA on 7 February 2022 to lead…
3 March 2022 As the government unveils its ‘Living with Covid’ plan, almost all respondents to our latest Authors in the Health Crisis survey report ongoing concerns over the impact of Covid-19. Key findings Almost all respondents (93%) expressed a continued concern over the impact of Covid-19 in 2022. Almost half of all respondents (45%) reported…
1 March 2022 Author of Chocolat stands unopposed for second two-year term as chair of the SoA’s management committee Photograph © Kyte Photography The novelist Joanne Harris has been re-elected chair of the Society of Authors’ management committee – the SoA’s member-elected board of directors and charity trustees – at their January 2022 meeting. She…
