The Royal Society of Literature (RSL) is a learned society and the "senior literary organisation in Britain". It was founded in 1820 by King George IV, in order to "reward literary merit and excite literary talent".
The society's first President was Dr Thomas Burgess, Bishop of St David's (who was later translated as Bishop of Salisbury). The society maintains its current level of about 450 Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature: generally 14 new Fellows are elected annually, who are accorded the privilege of using the post-nominal letters FRSL.
Past Fellows include Samuel Taylor Coleridge, J. R. R. Tolkien, W. B. Yeats, Rudyard Kipling, Thomas Hardy, George Bernard Shaw, Arthur Koestler and Chinua Achebe. Present Fellows include Antonia Fraser, Athol Fugard, Doris Lessing, V. S. Naipaul, Peter Dickinson, Tom Stoppard, Helen Dunmore and J. K. Rowling. A newly created Fellow inscribes his or her name on the society's official roll using either Byron's pen or Dickens's quill.
The society publishes an annual magazine, The Royal Society of Literature Review, and administers a number of literary prizes and awards, including the Ondaatje Prize, the Jerwood Awards and the V. S. Pritchett Memorial Prize. From time to time it confers the honour and title of Companion of Literature to writers of particular note. Additionally the RSL can bestow its award of the Benson Medal for lifetime service in the field of literature.
The RSL also runs a membership scheme (RSLM) and offers a varied programme of monthly lectures to members and their guests.
The Society is a cultural tenant at London's palatial Somerset House.
Awards and prizes
The RSL administers three annual prizes and two honours. Through its prize programmes, the RSL supports new and established contemporary writers.
- The Jerwood Award (1902) â€" three annual awards, one of £10,000 and two of £5,000, to authors engaged on their first commissioned works of non-fiction.
- The Ondaatje Prize (1882) â€" an annual award of £10,000 for a distinguished work of fiction, non-fiction or poetry, evoking the spirit of a place.
- The V.S. Pritchett Memorial Prize â€" an annual prize of £1,000 for the best unpublished short story of the year.
- The Benson Medal â€" awarded to those who have done sustained and outstanding service to literature.
- Companion of Literature â€" the highest honour that the Society can bestow upon a writer.
Council and presidents
The Council of the Royal Society of Literature is central to the election of new fellows and directs the RSL's activities through its monthly meetings.
Patron Queen Elizabeth II
President Colin Thubron CBE
President Emeritus Sir Michael Holroyd CBE FRHistS C Lit
Chair of Council Anne Chisholm
Vice-Presidents Maureen Duffy
Dr Maggie Gee OBE
The Hon Victoria Glendinning CBE
Sir Ronald Harwood CBE
Baroness James of Holland Park OBE JP
Dame Hilary Mantel DBE
Philip Pullman CBE
Claire Tomalin
Council
Peter Parker, Vice Chair
Robert Binyon, Hon Treasurer
Dr Aminatta Forna
David Harsent
Deborah Moggach
Caroline Moorehead OBE
Professor Blake Morrison
Andrew O'Hagan
Dr Fiona Sampson
Dr Kamila Shamsie
Tamsin Simpson
Dr Ali Smith
Jenny Uglow CBE
Timberlake Wertenbaker
Dr Frances Wilson
Presidents
- 1820â€"1832 Bishop Thomas Burgess
- 1832â€"1833 The Lord Dover
- 1834â€"1845 The Earl of Ripon
- 1845â€"1849 Henry Hallam
- 1849â€"1851 The Marquess of Northampton
- 1851â€"1856 The Earl of Carlisle
- 1856â€"1876 The Rt Revd Connop Thirlwall (Bishop of St David's until 1874)
- 1876â€"1885 The Prince Leopold (The Duke of Albany from 1881)
- 1885â€"1893 Sir Patrick Colquhoun
- 1893â€"1920 The Earl of Halsbury
- 1921â€"1946 The Marquess of Crewe
- 1946â€"1947 The Earl of Lytton
- 1947â€"1982 The Lord Butler of Saffron Walden
- 1982â€"1988 Sir Angus Wilson
- 1988â€"2003 The Lord Jenkins of Hillhead
- 2003â€"2008 Sir Michael Holroyd
- 2008â€"present Colin Thubron
Fellows
The Royal Society of Literature comprises upto 500 Fellows: they include most of the very best novelists, short-story writers, poets, playwrights, biographers, historians, travel writers, literary critics and scriptwriters at work today. Nominations: new Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature are elected by its current Fellows. To be nominated for Fellowship, a writer must have published two works of literary merit and nominations must be seconded by an RSL Fellow. Council Vote: all nominations are presented to members of the Council of the Royal Society of Literature, who vote biannually to elect new Fellows. Nominated candidates who have not been successful are reconsidered at every election for three years from the year in which they were proposed. Newly elected Fellows are introduced at the Society's AGM and summer party. While the President reads a citation for each, they are invited to sign their names in the roll book which dates back to 1820, using either T. S. Eliot's fountain pen or Byron's pen. In 2013, Charles Dickens's quill was retired and replaced with Eliot's fountain pen.
Current fellows
The * before the name denotes an Honorary Fellow. The list is online at the RSL website.
References
External links
- The Royal Society Of Literature website
- RSL annual magazine
- Literary Prizes and Awards