In June 2017, Buff Kavelman was elected to the Board of the Authors Guild Foundation, the charitable and educational arm of the Authors Guild. Founded in 1912, the Guild is the nation’s oldest and largest professional organization for writers. Its 9,000+ members include include novelists, historians, journalists, and poets as well as literary agents and representatives of writers’ estates. The organization protects and supports writing as a profession and fosters a rich, diverse literary community.
The Authors Guild Foundation was founded in 1972 with the belief that an abundance of free literary expression is essential to our democracy and can only be achieved by protecting authors’ constitutional and moral rights to benefit from their work. Its programs are designed to foster an appreciation of the value of writers to society, promote the ability of writers to earn a livelihood, advocate for strong, effective property laws so that writing remains a viable profession, defend authors’ rights to free expression, and empower authors by educating and equipping them with the knowledge and tools they need to succeed. The Authors Guild Foundation’s founding members included Saul Bellow, John Hersey, Madeleine L’Engle, Sidney Offit, James A. Michener, Toni Morrison, Elizabeth Janeway, and Barbara Tuchman.