Tracy Chevalier FRSL is an American-British historical novelist who has written eight novels. Her second book, Girl With a Pearl Earring, won her the Barnes & Noble Discover Award and was adapted in 2003 into an Academy Award-nominated film. She served as Chair of the Management Committee from 2004 to 2008, and was a member and later…
Wendy Cope, OBE is an English poet. She has had four collections of poetry published including Making Cocoa for Kingsley Amis and Family Values. In 1987 she won the SoA’s Cholmondeley Award and in 1995 the American Academy of Arts and Letters Michael Braude Award. In 2007 she was a judge for the Man Booker Prize and in 2010…
Cressida Cowell is the author-illustrator of the How to Train Your Dragon and The Wizards of Once book series, and the current Waterstones Children’s Laureate (2019-2021). How to Train Your Dragon is also an Academy Award nominated film and TV franchise. Cressida is a trustee of World Book Day, a patron of Read for Good, and an ambassador for the…
Lindsey Davis is an historical novelist who has written twenty novels in her historical crime series, Falco, set in ancient Rome. She has served as Chair of the Management Committee, as well as the UK Crimewriters’ Association, and served as Honorary President of the Classical Association. In 2011 she was awarded the Crimewriters’ Association Diamond Dagger Award for…
David Donachie is an Edinburgh-born writer who has published over 50 novels in several genres, all in some sense historical. He is a passionate advocate of SoA membership, having had serious financial experience of the benefits of SoA backing in a publishing dispute. Having served as SoA Chair, he is proud to have led the…
Margaret Drabble, DBE is a novelist, biographer and critic. She has won the John Llewellyn Rhys Memorial Prize and James Tait Black Memorial Prize for her novels, and in 2011 was awarded the Golden PEN Award by English PEN. She is former Chairman of the National Book League and was appointed CBE in 1980 and DBE…
Maureen Duffy has written 31 works of fiction including poetry, non-fiction, screen and work for radio. She is a Fellow and Vice President of the RSL and President of Honour of the British Copyright Council and ALCS. In 1972 she co-founded the Writers Action Group and has campaigned extensively on Public Lending Right.
Clare Francis wrote three works of non-fiction about the sea and her experiences as a yachtswoman before turning to fiction. She has written eleven novels, the first of which, Night Sky, was number one in the Sunday Times bestseller list and reached the New York Times top 10. She served as Chair of the Management Committee…
Antonia Fraser, DBE writes history, biographies and detective fiction. She has been awarded the Franco-British Literary Prize, the Wolfson Prize, the James Tait Black Memorial Prize and the Crime Writers’ Association Non-Fiction Silver Dagger for her historical works, as well as the Biographers’ Club Lifetime Services to Biography Prize in 2013. In 2011 she was made…
Michael Frayn was born in London in 1933 and began his career as a journalist on the Guardian and the Observer. His eleven novels include Headlong, Spies and Skios. He has also published two works of philosophy, Constructions and The Human Touch; and a memoir, My Father’s Fortune. His seventeen plays range from Noises Off, recently chosen as one of the nation’s three favourite plays, to Copenhagen. He is…
Maureen Freely has written seven novels – including Sailing Through Byzantium, Enlightenment and The Other Rebecca. Also well known as a translator of the Turkish Nobel Laureate Orhan Pamuk, she has brought into English several classics and works by Turkey’s rising literary stars. For many years she worked as a journalist in London, writing about literature, social justice, and…
Neil Gaiman has written novels, comic books, graphic novels, audio theatre and films. He is best known for his comic book series The Sandman and for his novels Stardust, American Gods and Coraline. He is a Carnegie and Newbery Medal winner, and has been awarded four Hugo, two Nebula and four Bram Stoker awards. In 2013 his book The Ocean at the End…
