[11] In September 1883, the novelist Walter Besant set up a working party with 12 fellow members of the Savile Club.
He was succeeded by author C. R. Hewitt (writing as "C. H. Rolph"),[17] and the journal is currently edited by James McConnachie.
[30] In August 2022 the Society described itself as "absolutely committed" to condemning personal attacks made against authors over issues of free expression.
This statement was made in response to an open letter signed by over 100 writers and industry members criticised what they saw as the Society's "abject failure to speak out on violent threats towards its members", following the stabbing of Salman Rushdie and a death threat against J K Rowling, connecting this to the group and its chair Joanne Harris having been "captured by gender ideologues".
[31] The group's November AGM saw a motion of no confidence against Harris, and another in favour of reviewing the society's stance on free speech.
[50] The society administers the literary estates of 58 authors (as of 2024[update]), and the income from this supports its work.
These authors include George Bernard Shaw, Virginia Woolf, Philip Larkin and Rosamond Lehmann.
[51] In 1969 the British Library acquired the archive of the Society of Authors from 1879 to 1968 consisting of six hundred and ninety volumes.