Literary Fellows in disarray over public say on future members

THE Royal Society of Literature (RSL) has become embroiled in a row over plans to open up nominations to the public.

Next month, a council meeting of its members will address a string of resignations and complaints amid clashes over the direction of the organisation.

Its president, Bernardine Evaristo, the Booker-prize-winning author of Girl, Woman, Other, and the poet Daljit Nagra, chairman of its leadership council, have promised to focus on modernising it and making it inclusive.

However, a revolt among longerterm fellows critical of the move to ask the public to recommend writers is threatening to destablise the society, according to The Observer.

Dame Marina Warner, the English historian, art critic, mythographer, and recent RSL president, told the newspaper: “There is a lot of turbulence. It is a question of a lack of respect for older members and a loss of institutional history … something fellows cherished.”

But a new fellow, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the RSL should not be a group for “older, rather entitled people, however distinguished”.

The RSL, founded by King George IV in 1820 to “reward literary merit and excite literary talent”, is also a charity aimed at advancing literature and has some 600 Fellows elected from the best writers working in any genre.

Fellows are nominated by their peers and elected by the RSL’S governing board. It is a lifetime honour.

However, the RSL’S plans for 2024 include changing the way Fellows are elected. Previously they were recognised for writing a minimum of two distinguished books. Instead, the public will be asked to recommend writers.

A series of election panels will then consider their recommendations. Amanda Craig, the novelist and critic, is among those who disagree. She said that it used to be an “enormous honour” to become a Fellow, adding: “But when people are just starting their writing careers, it is not the same.”

Anne Chisholm, a former chairman of the society, also told The Observer: “Of course the RSL, like all venerable institutions, has an imperfect past: it needed to change with the times. My worry is that the pace and style of change has lately been alienating too many Fellows and disrespecting the RSL’S history.”

In a speech last year, Ms Evaristo argued that the RSL was “very forward-looking, very progressive and committed to inclusion at every level”.

In July it announced 62 new Fellows who included writers from “different parts of the UK, from different communities, different demographics”. Half were elected through the second year of the RSL’S Open initiative, which aims to recognise writers from under-represented backgrounds.

The RSL did not respond to request for comment.

‘There’s a lot of turbulence. It is a question of a lack of respect for older members and a loss of … history’