Summit fails to end age guidance row

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Posted by Kathy Lemaire on 16 Jul 2008 at 13:49

Publishers and authors have failed to find common ground over the thorny issue of age guidance on children's books, despite a summit meeting last week which was intended to resolve the high-profile and damaging conflict.

At last Thursday's meeting between the Publishers Association, the Society of Authors and Philip Pullman (on behalf of almost 3,000 signatories of the online statement which now include J K Rowling), both sides presented conflicting research into the issue. The SoA said that 77% of authors were against age guidance, while publishers insisted that 75% of authors have agreed to it.

The sticking point in the dispute remains whether authors should be able to refuse to have age banding on their books. Publishers have confirmed 'that there has been, and remains, no question of age guidance being added to a book without full consultation with the author'. But they added: 'The remaining point of difference, which is to be considered further, was that those speaking for authors feel strongly that authors should have the right to refuse to have age guidance on their books.'

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