Abbreviation RSL Type Learned society | Formation 1820 Patron Queen Elizabeth II | |
The Royal Society of Literature (RSL) is a learned society. It was founded in 1820 by King George IV to "reward literary merit and excite literary talent".
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The society's first president was Thomas Burgess, Bishop of St David's (who was later translated as Bishop of Salisbury). The society maintains its current level of about 500 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, Chinua Achebe, Robert Ardrey, and P.J. Kavanagh. Present Fellows include Margaret Atwood, David Hare, Kazuo Ishiguro, Hilary Mantel, Paul Muldoon, Zadie Smith, Nadeem Aslam, Sarah Waters 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 T.S. Eliot's fountain pen, which replaced Dickens's quill in 2013.
The society publishes a biannual magazine, The Royal Society of Literature Review, and administers a number of literary prizes and awards, including the RSL Ondaatje Prize, the RSL Jerwood Awards for Non-Fiction, the RSL Encore Award for best second novel of the year and the V. S. Pritchett Memorial Prize for short stories. 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 runs a membership scheme and offers a varied programme of events to members and the general public. The RSL also runs a schools outreach programme in collaboration with the literacy charity First Story.
The society is a cultural tenant at London's Somerset House.
Awards and prizes
The RSL administers two annual prizes, two awards, and two honours. Through its prize programmes, the RSL supports new and established contemporary writers.
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.
List of Presidents
Fellows
The Royal Society of Literature comprises up to 500 fellows. They include most of the best novelists, short-story writers, poets, playwrights, biographers, historians, travel writers, literary critics and scriptwriters at work today.
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. 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.