Sir Philip Pullman was president of the society when Harris became chair, but resigned in 2022,[1] stating that he 'would not be free to state his opinion' if he remained in position[2] and later [3] criticising Harris for her 'facetious and flippant public comments'.[4][5] In August 2022, shortly after the knife attack on author Salman Rushdie,[6] 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'.[7] Rowling then stated[8] that Harris was more widely failing to defend authors,[9] citing the cases of 'cancelled' writers Gillian Phillip/Erin Hunter and Rachel Rooney.[10] In response, Harris stated that this was a 'fabricated' row based on animus about her views.[11] Following continued discussion including comments from former Chair Antony Beevor,[12] and author Kate Clanchy[5],[13] and criticism[14][15] of Harris for failing to support free speech[16], a motion was created for the Annual General Meeting of November 2022 asking Harris to resign.[4] This motion was defeated.[17]