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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Entertainment
Vanessa Thorpe Arts & media correspondent

Poison pens: leading writers call for overhaul of UK’s Society of Authors

From left: Joanne Harris, Kate Clanchy, Philip Pullman and JK Rowling
From left: Joanne Harris, Kate Clanchy, Philip Pullman and JK Rowling – key figures in the debates swirling around the Society of Authors. Composite: Alamy; Murdo MacLeod; Getty; Shutterstock

It is a literary row that threatens to consume the very organisation set up to protect authors’ rights. And, in spite of the involvement of three prominent names in children’s books, it has already prompted outbursts of unmistakably adult fury.

Harry Potter creator, JK Rowling, Philip Pullman, author of His Dark Materials, and the poet Kate Clanchy, are among the cast members of the drama that continues to rock the Society of Authors, not to mention Joanne Harris, author of the bestselling novel Chocolat, who chairs the society’s management committee.

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