Society of Authors

The Society of Authors is a British writer union. It was founded in 1884 to protect and promote their interests, the rights of authors. Its first president was Alfred Tennyson, current President is PD James.

The Society is governed by a twelve-member committee of authors, which is elected every three years. Other members besides the chairman Lindsey Davis are currently inter alia, Juliet Gardiner, Anthony Horowitz, Graham Joyce and Sarah Waters. There is also a kind of supervisory board, which includes many well-known writers.

There are several specialized and regional sub-groupings - eg for Scotland, children's literature and translation - in the Society. They published since 1890 at least quarterly journal The Author, awards grants and gives several translators and literary awards, such as the Cholmondeley Award for Poetry, the Eric Gregory Award for poetry by young authors, the Elizabeth Longford Prize for Biography, the Somerset Maugham Award for young authors and the Betty Trask Prize also for young writers.