Harris faces member vote on Society of Authors role amid call for free speech review

Joanne Harris is facing a vote by Society of Authors members on whether she should stand down as chair alongside demands for a review of how the organisation protects free speech.

A group of 10 members from the 12,000-member organisation, including Julie Bindel and Amanda Craig, have proposed a resolution for the society’s upcoming annual general meeting (a.g.m.), stating Harris’ comments and behaviour are “not compatible with the society’s goals of protecting free expression and their policy of dignity and respect” and she should leave her post.

Harris faced criticism earlier this year for a “flippant” poll she posted on Twitter after Salman Rushdie was stabbed. She later deleted it and admitted getting the tone wrong but it led to criticism of her position and views, including from J K Rowling. 

Bindel launched an open letter, eventually signed by around 340 people, calling for her to go. A rival letter in Harris’ defence has attracted around 640 signatures and the Chocolat author called the criticism a ”stunt” by “gender critical people” angry at her support for trans rights. 

An additional a.g.m. resolution from Bindel and others calls for the society to review “how to pursue its stated aim ‘to protect free speech’ and put in place a robust framework to do so, including a member and management committee working group that looks at how best to protect the fundamental right of all authors to express themselves freely within the law, and to uphold the impartiality expected of the society, including all who govern and work for it”. This should include a sub-committee of the management committee, the resolution states.

It follows a report compiled by Kate Clanchy whose book Some Kids I Taught and What They Taught Me (Swift Press) was accused last year of using racialised stereotypes of children. Clanchy, who has since parted ways with the book’s original publisher Picador, sent a 20-page report to the society in August claiming it and Harris had entered her dispute “when it should not have done” and sided with her book’s critics. “A de facto morality clause from my publisher was something the society might have campaigned against: instead they found themselves an important voice in calling for it,” she wrote. "This leaves the society with ongoing difficulties as they attempt to defend free speech."

The a.g.m. resolutions will be voted on by full members via an electronic poll at the meeting on 17th November.

A spokesman for the Society of Authors said: "The members’ resolutions will be heard and fully debated at the a.g.m. However, in relation to resolution six, Joanne Harris strongly denies that she has acted in ways that are incompatible ‘with the society’s goals of protecting free expression and their policy of dignity and respect’.  

"On resolution seven, we commented at length about our approach to freedom of expression on 15th August, 17th August and 19th August. This is quite aside from our ongoing work working against morality clauses and ‘strategic lawsuits against public participation’ (SLAPPs), as well as supporting the wider campaigns of free expression organisations such as English PEN."

Additionally, the society has proposed holding a consultation on the roles of its council, president and management committee, with recommendations made to the a.g.m. next year. It is proposed that the SoA council will not elect a new president until then.

Former president Philip Pullman announced he was standing down from his role earlier this year in the wake of the Clanchy controversy, saying he no longer felt free to express his own opinions. He has since called for an external review of the SoA. 

The society noted in its a.g.m. papers that Pullman’s initial resignation statement showed being the president “can put the incumbent in an awkward position”. It states: “We must ensure that we do not allow the continuance of a systemic difficulty for future presidents, council members, management committee or group committee members who serve us voluntarily and so well and do so much for the prestige of the SoA.”

Possible solutions being considered include removing the post of president altogether, reducing the president’s term or allowing members to remove the president or council by a majority vote.

Elections for four seats on the SoA’s management committee are also currently under way, with 14 candidates in the running, including Harriet Evans, Vaseem Khan and Sunny Singh. Singh has been nominated by Harris and was one of the critics of Clanchy’s book, suffering racist abuse in the aftermath.