[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":11},["ShallowReactive",2],{"blog-post-childrens-book-writers-illustrators-group-conference-2012":3},{"_type":4,"body":5,"bodyHtml":6,"excerpt":5,"featuredImage":5,"publishedAt":7,"slug":8,"tags":9,"title":10},"blogPost",null,"Children's book writer and illustrator conferences are excellent ways of getting to find some of your favourite creators and try on their specs. \u003Cb>Can you guess whose specs these are?\u003C/b> All shall be revealed... \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/cwig12_sarah_TedD_specs-0d7e6944b0.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nSo a bunch of us from the \u003Ca href=\"http://www.societyofauthors.org/\">Society of Authors\u003C/a> committee, the children's book part, put on a conference this weekend. Actually, I didn't do much more than go to meetings, show up, help move around some chairs, show people to reception to pick up their room keys, and do a couple talks. I'm not very good at conference planning, it involves way too many logistics and remembering things. But I did draw this little logo image for it:\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/cwigconf_logo-047e11a514.gif\"> \\r\n\\r\n(You might notice a parallel between the group name, CWIG, and the book I'm working on with \u003Ca href=\"http://www.philipreeve.blogspot.co.uk/\">Philip Reeve\u003C/a>, \u003Ca href=\"http://jabberworks.livejournal.com/tag/seawigs\">\u003Cb>\u003Ci>Oliver and the Seawigs\u003C/i>\u003C/b>\u003C/a>. Yes, the idea for the Seawigs came from a conversation I had with Philip after a CWIG meeting, and I was saying how much I hate acronyms and am always trying to turn them into words. These monkeys will make an appearance, too.)  \\r\n\\r\nI ended up doing a lot of drawing during the conference, in the name of taking notes. And when I gave a talk about blogging and social networking, I mentioned that one thing that gets a bit boring to see on the Internet is conference photos showing people standing in rows, or people sitting at tables in conference rooms. So I tried to come up with some alternatives. Here's a CWIG committee meeting we had before everyone else arrived (\u003Cb>Enid Stephenson\u003C/b> and \u003Cb>Nicola Davies\u003C/b> are also on the team but just weren't in the room then). \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/cwig12_CWIG_meeting_sketch-98b90904df.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nIf I have to blog a summary of each session, I'll end up spending two days doing this, so I'll mainly just post images, and give links if anyone else has written up the talks. Here's a rather boring photo of people sitting at a table for the panel on Writers' Websites...\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/cwig12_writerwebsites_panel-b9f34cd6a8.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nBut here's what was ACTUALLY going on, as soon as the camera was put away. (Cameras always lie.)\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/cwig12_Writer_Web_panel-414c23603d.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nOh, and what do you know! Hot Key Books' \u003Cb>Sarah Benton\u003C/b> has blogged loads of things that were said at the panel and given speaker links, so you can \u003Ca href=\"http://hotkeyblog.wordpress.com/2012/09/17/cwigconf2012-writers-websites/\">hop over to her blog\u003C/a> to read about it. And \u003Cb>Katherine Woodfine\u003C/b> from \u003Ca href=\"http://www.booktrust.org.uk/\">Booktrust\u003C/a> has \u003Ca href=\"http://www.booktrust.org.uk/news-blogs-and-press/blogs/booktrust/444/\">blogged it here\u003C/a>! \\r\n\\r\nThe CWIG conference pulled in some of Britain's best writers, it was awesome. Here's the legendary \u003Ca href=\"http://www.geraldinemccaughrean.co.uk/\">Geraldine McCaughrean\u003C/a> with her god-daughter \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/theapy\">Teresa Heapy\u003C/a>, who was also at the conference as a writer. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/cwig12_TeresaH_GeraldineM-992719374f.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nAnd Geraldine spoke on a panel, 'Sequels and Prequels', with \u003Ca href=\"http://www.patrickness.com/\">Patrick Ness\u003C/a>, \u003Ca href=\"http://www.charliehigson.co.uk/\">Charlie Higson\u003C/a> and the Guardian's \u003Ca href=\"http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/juliaeccleshare\">Julia Eccleshare\u003C/a>. (My dad will read this and he may not know that song, so, Dad, here's a \u003Ca href=\"http://youtu.be/fJ9rUzIMcZQ\">video of the song reference\u003C/a>.)\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/cwig12_GeraldinePatCharJul-b10eccc2e2.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\n\u003C!--more Click here for lots more drawings and photos under the cut!-->\\r\nPatrick Ness and Charlie Higson: \\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/cwig12_patrick_ness-bbe63afe78.jpg\" width=\"330\"> \u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/cwig12_charlie_higson-9589da13a5.jpg\" width=\"330\">\\r\n\\r\nI chaired a panel called 'Glittering Prizes and Literary Festivals' with this fabulous gang: \u003Ca href=\"http://www.bathkidslitfest.org.uk\">Bath Kid Lit Festival\u003C/a>'s \u003Cb>John McLay\u003C/b>, \u003Ca ref=\"http://www.cheltenhamfestivals.com/literature/book-it\">Book It! Cheltenham Festival\u003C/a>'s \u003Cb>Jane Churchill\u003C/b>, Observer Associate Editor \u003Ca href=\"http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/robertmccrum\">Robert McCrum\u003C/a> and the Southbank Centre's \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/TamsinAce\">Tamsin Ace\u003C/a>, who helps run the \u003Ca href=\"http://ticketing.southbankcentre.co.uk/imagine-childrens-festival/imagine-for-free\">Imagine Children's Festival\u003C/a>. (Thanks to the wonderful \u003Ca href=\"http://www.fionadunbar.com/\">Fiona Dunbar\u003C/a> for taking the photo!)\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/cwig12_Prizes_and_Festivals-b5c9a920f1.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nI didn't manage to chair the panel and draw at the same time, but I could see writer and illustrator \u003Cb>Shoo Rayner\u003C/b> (of \u003Ca href=\"http://www.shoorayner.com/\">Shoo Rayner's Drawing School\u003C/a> video fame) doodling me from the front row. Hooray! He didn't let me look until the next day, but I think the sketches are super-fab. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/cwig12_Shoo_sarahsketches-3f95df43b7.jpg\">\\r\n\u003Cfont size=\"1\">\u003Ci>Portrait sketches by Shoo Rayner\u003C/i>\u003C/font>\\r\n\\r\nI don't know if he made any videos during the weekend, but he brought his recording equipment, just in case. Here he is with his camera and his microphone Fluffy Thing.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/cwig12_shoo_rayner_fluffy-94f32d82e8.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nWe had most of our events in the big main lecture hall at appropriately-named Reading University (sadly, pronounced 'Redding'), in the Henley Business School, but we had two sessions where we could break off and chose to go to a range of smaller events. I'm a fan of the sparky \u003Ca href=\"http://www.vivianfrench.com/\">Vivian French\u003C/a>, so I went to her talk with \u003Ca href=\"http://www.davidhigham.co.uk/clients/Hooper.htm\">Meredith Hooper\u003C/a> and \u003Ca href=\"http://www.nicola-davies.com/\">Nicola Davies\u003C/a>, about researching material on the Internet, and about why it's still valuable for kids to have actual, finite books for doing their research. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/cwig12_vivmeredith_talk-773c841318.jpg\">\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/cwig12_WikiNonfiction_talk-2ec3fa5122.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nSome publishers sent sample copies of new books for us to give out as delegates arrived, and I was pleased as punch to see a teaser pack for my fab friend \u003Ca href=\"http://scribblehound.com/\">David O'Connell\u003C/a>'s upcoming book he's written and illustrated, \u003Ca href=\"http://www.amazon.co.uk/Monster-Chips-David-OConnell/dp/000749713X\">\u003Ci>Monster and Chips\u003C/i>\u003C/a>. Dave's published loads of indie comics and books, but this is his first book with a larger publisher, Harper Collins, and I don't normally say someone's going to be The Next Big Thing, but with Dave, he totally is The Next Big Thing. \u003Cb>\u003Ci>Monster and Chips\u003C/i>\u003C/b> launches on \u003Cb>28 Feb\u003C/b> of next year. Oo, I outed Dave on Twitter with these photos and now he's gone and \u003Ca href=\"http://scribblehound.com/?p=1180\">made an explanatory blog post\u003C/a>. Hurrah! (Here's a story we did together called \u003Ca href=\"http://www.jabberworks.co.uk/journal/airship/\">\u003Ci>Airship\u003C/i>, he's the editor of \u003Ca href=\"http://inkpluspaper.com/\">ink+PAPER\u003C/a>, the comics magazine to which I recently contributed, and he was one of our comic artists who took part in events at this summer's \u003Ca href=\"http://jabberworks.livejournal.com/489519.html\">Pop Up Festival\u003C/a>.)\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/cwig12_monster_and_chips-97f55be271.jpg\" width=\"340\">\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/cwig12_monster_and_chips_2-3979fc4b3c.jpg\" width=\"340\">\\r\n\\r\nOo, and look who I saw when I was doing the Meeting and Greeting thing! It's \u003Ca href=\"http://patriceaggs.com/\">Patrice Aggs\u003C/a>, with a copy of \u003Ca href=\"http://www.thephoenixcomic.co.uk/\">The Phoenix comic\u003C/a>, with her new strip launching its first episode! \u003Ca href=\"http://www.thephoenixcomic.co.uk/subscribe/\">Go subscribe\u003C/a> to The Phoenix weekly comic magazine, it's FABULOUS. And don't miss \u003Ci>Zara's Crown\u003C/i>, created by Patrice and her son, \u003Cb>John Aggs\u003C/b>.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/cwig12_patrice_aggs-425564e8ff.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nOne of the highlights of the festival was a talk by beloved British writer \u003Ca href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Janet_and_Allan_Ahlberg\">Allan Ahlberg\u003C/a>. Even if you don't know anything about children's books, you'll probably have seen or read at least one of his stories, including \u003Ci>Each Peach Pear Plum, Peepo!\u003C/i> and \u003Ci>The Jolly Postman\u003C/i>. In America, I grew up reading and loving \u003Ci>Burglar Bill\u003C/i> and \u003Ci>Mr Tick the Teacher\u003C/i>. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/cwig12_Allan_Ahlberg_sketch-ac99ca985b.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nI didn't manage to write down the names of some of the books he read from, but I got a good look after the talk:\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/cwig12_ahlberg_books-7d48180ab9.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nAllan also brought several teddy bears, including Mr Tum: \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/cwig12_Allan_Ahlberg_MrTum-2371b26899.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\n...whom I kidnapped when everyone else was getting their books signed: \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/cwig12_Sarah_Ahlberg_teddy-fc97ef4a03.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nHere's some of the CWIG committee with Mr Tum: \u003Ca href=\"http://www.balirai.co.uk\">Bali Rai\u003C/a>, me, our fabulous CWIG chair \u003Ca href=\"http://www.helena-pielichaty.com/\">Helena Pielichaty\u003C/a> and \u003Ca href=\"http://www.bloomsbury.com/author/nicola-smee\">Nicola Smee\u003C/a>. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/cwig12_committee-06137d590f.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nWe also had a great talk by writer-illustrator friends \u003Ca href=\"http://www.janeray.com/\">Jane Ray\u003C/a> and \u003Ca href=\"http://www.rosasquith.co.uk/\">Ros Asquith\u003C/a>:\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/cwig12_JaneR_RosA_notes-c5fd977910.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nI loved seeing some of their early work, including Ros's drawings for \u003Ci>'Magazine for Horses, written by horses... (including Horsoscopes and 'Stallion of the Month')\u003C/i>, and this bear by Jane:\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/cwig12_Jane_Ray_bear-c86b2ec83e.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nHere's Ros with a doodling \u003Ca href=\"http://www.wormworks.com/tedpages/tdhome.htm\">Ted Dewan\u003C/a>. You can read \u003Ca href=\"http://www.rosasquith.co.uk/blog/?p=234\">Ros's blog post about the weekend here\u003C/a>! \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/cwig12_RosAsquithTedDewan-ce66f4d0ba.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nAnd Jane at lunch with \u003Ca href=\"http://www.eleanorupdale.co.uk/\">Eleanor Updale\u003C/a> and \u003Ca href=\"http://www.kevincrossley-holland.com/\">Kevin Crossley-Holland\u003C/a>:\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/cwig12_JaneR_EleanorU_KevCH-4c3c26858b.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nHere are my notes from Kevin's talk:\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/cwig12_KevinKH_notes-7636ccc840.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nAnd we also had a talk by \u003Ca href=\"http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/biographies/biogs/controllers/joe_godwin.shtml\">\u003Cb>Joe Godwin\u003C/b>\u003C/a>, Director of BBC Children's TV. I'd drawn so many panel speakers by that time, and I was sitting pretty far back, so I drew a squid instead.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/cwig12_Joe_Godwin_BBC_talk2-dcd8c1ec7f.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nMost of the deletes were human, but we had one small furry canine companion named \u003Cb>Lola\u003C/b>, who's very clever and can sniff out changes in blood sugar levels. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/cwig12_lola_dog-09f93ca5c5.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nOne more panel, here's \u003Ca href=\"http://terenceblacker.com/\">Terence Blacker\u003C/a>, library campaigner \u003Ca href=\"http://www.alangibbons.com/\">Alan Gibbons\u003C/a>, Random House Children's Books MD \u003Ca href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippa_Dickinson\">Philippa Dickinson\u003C/a> and \u003Ca href=\"http://www.foyles.co.uk\">Foyles\u003C/a> CEO Sam Husain. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/cwig12_StateOfIndustry_1-a4464f40cb.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nAnd my doodle notes:\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/cwig12_State_of_Industry-04ba5031a8.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nTerence is a talented musician and played for us with his music partner \u003Cb>Derek Hewlitson\u003C/b> at an evening event called \u003Ci>Taboo Be Do\u003C/i>, which flew very close to the wire and upset some people. It was a walk through the history of songs which just can't be sung anymore, and some people thought it would have been more acceptable if it had been a more academic setting with discussion afterward. And it would have been a bit more academic if we'd held it in the lecture theatre, like we'd originally planned to do. But everyone had been in the theatre all day and were very happy in the bar area with their drinks, so the change of venue gave the event more of a cabaret feel. (No one knew if that would be a good idea, but it was all done with the best of intentions.)\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/cwig12_blacker_hewlitson-eb08a0b983.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nI wasn't quite sure what I thought about all that (and I was way at the back, mucking about drawing pictures with Shoo Rayner). \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/cwig12_Shoo_Rayner_sketch-55657f6a24.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nBut Terence joined us later in the bar and played \u003Ci>The City of New Orleans\u003C/i> for me when I asked, and he and \u003Ca href=\"http://www.visitingauthor.com/Home.html\">John Dougherty\u003C/a> had a great session on their guitars, with a bunch of us singing along. Actually, John brought his guitar to the bar both nights. Here he is, the night before: \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/cwig12_JohnDougherty_guitar-345cb0c8ec.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nI am quite a bad singer, but that didn't stop me from wailing away with the most excellent \u003Ca href=\"http://www.sallynicholls.com/\">Sally Nicholls\u003C/a>.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/cwig12_sarah_sally_singing-353a3c4b9a.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nIt was great seeing some comics people there: Patrice Aggs, Ros Asquith, Ted Dewan, Steve Skidmore, and here's \\r\n\u003Ca href=\"http://taves.co.uk/\">http://taves.co.uk/\u003C/a>Octavia Raitt\u003C/a>, whom I met for the first time at Thought Bubble comics festival, at a table with \u003Ca href=\"http://kriskicorp.blogspot.co.uk/\">Kristyna Baczynski\u003C/a>. She'd heard about the conference through my blog (or Facebook?) and her mum had signed her up for it as a birthday present. How awesome is that? (Thanks, Octavia's mum!)\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/cwig12_sarah_octavia_raitt-843fcdcd4b.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nAnd a few more photos... Oh, look, it's \u003Ca href=\"http://www.malorieblackman.co.uk/\">Malorie Blackman\u003C/a>! (And she's as surprised as I am!) John Aggs is just starting to create the artwork for a graphic novel version of her \u003Ci>Noughts and Crosses\u003C/i> and I CAN'T WAIT to see it.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/cwig12_Sarah_MalBlackman-04dd5d5922.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cb>Steve Skidmore\u003C/b> (of \u003Ca href=\"http://the2steves.net/\">The Two Steves\u003C/a>) with the Society of Authors' \u003Cb>Jo McCrum\u003C/b>:\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/cwig12_SteveSkid_JoMcCrum-d0480e2aac.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nJo with \u003Ca href=\"http://www.nicholasallan.co.uk/\">Nicholas Allan\u003C/a> (of \u003Ci>The Queen's Knickers\u003C/i>): \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/cwig12_JoMcCrum_NickAllen-1096fe0144.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\n\u003Ca href=\"http://www.ilovesweethearts.co.uk/\">Jo Cotterill\u003C/a> with bookmarks for her group blog \u003Ca href=\"http://girlsheartbooks.com/\">Girls Heart Books\u003C/a>.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/cwig12_Jo_Cotterill-c1b6835da0.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nHere's \u003Cb>Clare Whitstone\u003C/b>! Clare's one of my two editors at Oxford University Press, working on \u003Ci>Oliver and the Seawigs\u003C/i>. \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/cwig12_ClareWhitston_Sarah-4ff6a04b92.jpg\"> \\r\n\\r\n\u003Ca href=\"http://www.vrombaut.co.uk/\">An Vrombaut\u003C/a> and \u003Ca href=\"http://www.karen-ball.com/\">Karen Ball\u003C/a>\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/cwig12_AnVrombautKarenBall-169fd33dcb.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nA big thanks to all the people who made this weekend happen! Enid, Jo, Helena, the CWIG committee (including \u003Ca href=\"http://www.michaelamorgan.com/\">Michaela Morgan\u003C/a> whom I hadn't yet linked), the speakers, Reading University staff, Marilyn Brocklehurst from Norfolk Children's Book Centre and her book shop team, and \u003Cb>Jessica Atkinson\u003C/b> and \u003Cb>Anna Ganley\u003C/b> from the Society of Authors, who tweeted the whole conference from \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/Soc_of_Authors\">@Soc_of_Authors\u003C/a>. If you go onto the conference hash tag, \u003Ca href=\"https://twitter.com/search/realtime/?q=%23CWIGConf2012&src=hash\">#CWIGConf2012\u003C/a>, you'll most likely seeing more blog links pop up. And a big thanks to tech guy \u003Cb>Mark Taylor\u003C/b>, who had some technical hitches to deal with but handled them swiftly and gracefully. It was a big relief having him around.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/cwig12_MarkTaylor-d84b8e3966.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nHey, another blog post just up! Read an account of the weekend by CWIG Chair \u003Ca href=\"http://www.helena-pielichaty.com/blog/2012/09/what-a-weekend/\">Helena Pielichaty here\u003C/a>. Ah, she's done it again; here's her \u003Ca href=\"http://www.helena-pielichaty.com/blog/2012/09/more-from-the-joined-up-reading-conference/\">second blog post\u003C/a>. And another post by writer \u003Ca href=\"http://the-history-girls.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/ferreting-about-celia-rees.html\">Celia Rees here\u003C/a>.\\r\n\\r\nSo did you guess whose specs I was wearing at the beginning of the blog post? Well, they belong to the fabulous \u003Cb>Ted Dewan\u003C/b>, whose work you may remember from The DFC comic magazine and whose \u003Ca href=\"http://www.bingbunny.com/\">Bing Bunny\u003C/a> is about to come to television screens near you. Keep an eye on this guy!  \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/cwig12_sarah_ted_dewan-3ebdba66b8.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cb>If you're a published writer or illustrator, do considering joining the Society of Authors. It's the closest thing we have to a union, looks out for and campaigns for issues that affect us, helps out with contracts, and puts on fab events!\u003C/b> Membership costs £95 per year, or £68 if you are under 35. Find out more on the \u003Ca href=\"http://www.societyofauthors.org/\">Society of Authors website\u003C/a>.\\r\n\\r\n\u003Ca href=\"http://www.societyofauthors.org/\">\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/society_of_authors-aac3217323.jpg\">\u003C/a>\\r\n\u003Cfont size=\"1\">\u003Ci>Society of Authors door photo by Karen Ball, on her blog \u003Ca href=\"http://www.karen-ball.com/2009/09/cwig-ing-out.html\">here\u003C/a>\u003C/font\u003C/i>","2012-09-17T14:41:00.000Z","childrens-book-writers-illustrators-group-conference-2012",[],"children's book writers & illustrators group conference 2012",1776628724204]