User:NoorStores/sandbox

Sir Philip Pullman was president of the society when Harris became chair, but resigned in 2022, stating that he 'would not be free to state his opinion' if he remained in position and later criticising Harris for her 'facetious and flippant public comments'. In August 2022, shortly after the knife attack on author Salman Rushdie, Harris placed a poll about death threats on Twitter/X for fellow authors which some found inappropriate. Harris changed the wording of the poll and, following criticism to the contrary, stated that it had 'nothing to do with JK Rowling'. Rowling then stated that Harris was more widely failing to defend authors, citing the cases of 'cancelled' writers Gillian Phillip/Erin Hunter and Rachel Rooney. In response, Harris stated that this was a 'fabricated' row based on animus about her views. Following continued discussion including comments from former Chair Antony Beevor, and author Kate Clanchy, and criticism  of Harris for failing to support free speech ,  a motion was created for the Annual General Meeting of November 2022 asking Harris to resign. This motion was defeated.