ROYAL SOCIETY OF LITERATURE

'The Royal Society of Literature' is the "senior literary organisation in Britain." It was founded in 1820 by George IV, with the aim to "reward literary merit and excite literary talent." The first president of the society was Thomas Burgess, who later became the Bishop of Salisbury. There are 450 Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature (generally 14 new Fellows are named annually), who earn the privilege of using the post-nominal letters "F.R.S.L."
Past Fellows include Coleridge, Yeats, Kipling, Thomas Hardy and George Bernard Shaw; today's include V.S. Naipaul, Harold Pinter, Tom Stoppard, Doris Lessing, Athol Fugard, Antonia Fraser and Chinua Achebe. A newly created Fellow inscribes his or her name on the official roll using either Byron's pen or Dickens' quill.
The Society has an annual magazine, ''RSL'', and administers a number of literary prizes and awards, including the Ondaatje Prize, the Jerwood Awards and the V. S. Pritchett Memorial Prize. It can confer the honour of Companion of Literature for writers of particular note. It also awards the Benson Medal for lifetime service in the field of literature.

Contents

Address

Presidents

External links

Address

: The Royal Society of Literature
: Somerset House
: Strand
: London WC2R 1LA
: United Kingdom

Presidents

★ 1820–1832 Thomas Burgess

★ 1832–1834 Lord Dover

★ 1834–1845 The Earl of Ripon

★ 1845–1849 Henry Hallam

★ 1849–1851 Lord Northampton

External links

★ The Royal Society of Literature website

★ RSL annual magazine

★ Literary Prizes and Awards