The Authors Guild Foundation

The Authors Guild Foundation is the charitable and educational arm of the Authors Guild. It protects and supports writing as a profession, fostering a rich, diverse literary community across the United States. It does this by promoting an understanding of the value of writers, advocating for authors’ rights, litigating to protect authors’ interests, and educating authors in the business of writing. The Foundation believes that an abundance of free literary expression is essential to our democracy, and that can only be achieved by protecting authors’ constitutional and moral right to benefit from their work. It is the sole group of its kind dedicated to empowering all U.S. authors. Its founding members included Saul Bellow, John Hersey, Madeleine L’Engle, Sidney Offit, James A. Michener, Toni Morrison, Elizabeth Janeway, and Barbara Tuchman. Through its programs, it seeks to:

• Foster an appreciation of the value of writers to society
• Promote the ability of writers to earn a livelihood
• Advocate for strong, effective intellectual property laws and fair treatment of authors, so that writing remains a viable profession
• Defend authors’ rights to free expression, to prevent any erosion of the exchange of knowledge and ideas
• Empower authors by educating them in the business of authorship and equipping them with the knowledge and tools they need to succeed