Author Philip Pullman will succeed PD James as the president of the Society of Authors - the "ultimate honor" awarded by the British writer's body.

Award-winning author of children's fantasy trilogy "His Dark Materials" and the fictionalized biography of Jesus, "The Good Man Jesus" and the "Scoundrel Christ", Philip Pullman will succeed PD James as the president of the Society of Authors. The author will take up his position as president Aug. 3.

Paying tribute to James as a "magnificent president, whose knowledge and wit and wisdom will be very hard to follow", Pullman described himself as "both honoured and excited" to be taking on the role. "The Society of Authors has been representing and supporting the work of writers for 130 years, and now that we're in the middle of one of the greatest revolutions in printing and publishing and reading there has ever been, the society's experience will be needed more than ever," he said.

Pullman also voiced his opinion on supporting the petition against Amazon to pay its "fair share of tax."

"Independent booksellers are an immensely valuable resource not only to the communities in which they exist but to the wider community of writers who create the books they sell," Pullman said. "A vast corporation like Amazon, able to (I must be careful with the word here) avoid tax in this country by paying it in Luxembourg, or whatever they do, is a threat to the survival of independent booksellers, who do pay their full UK tax in a socially responsible way, and it needs to be countered."

Pullman said that as president, he will also continue the trend of paying authors when their e-Books are borrowed from libraries. "I think PLR on eBooks would be a very good thing" - and will maintain the pressure authors have been putting on local authorities to keep libraries open. "Libraries benefit everyone. In fact it's hard to think of anyone who'd be harmed by the existence of a library," said Pullman. "The benefit of having a library in your neighborhood, or a mobile library that comes to your village (as one does to mine), is enormous."