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Anthony Anaxagorou, Emma Dabiri and Anthony Joseph are among a raft of new fellow and honorary fellow appointments by the Royal Society of Literature (RSL).
At an event held at the Garden Museum on 12th July, the RSL announced 62 new appointments, including the second induction of writers elected to fellowship through the RSL Open initiative.
Launched as part of the bicentenary celebrations, the initiative has seen 60 new writers from communities, backgrounds and experiences currently under-represented in UK literary culture elected to fellowship.
From the 46 new fellows announced, 31 are writers elected to fellowship through this initiative, including Leila Aboulela, Jenni Fagan, Joseph Coelho, Patrice Lawrence, Kiran Millwood Hargrave, Patrick Ness, Laline Paull, Leone Ross and Sunny Singh. To be nominated as a fellow, a writer must have had published or produced two works of outstanding literary merit, and nominations must be made by two fellows or honorary fellows.
Readers and writers from across the UK recommended writers for nomination who were then considered by a panel made up of some of the UK’s most prolific writers. The panel was chaired by Damian Barr with Monica Ali, Nick Laird, Sabrina Mahfouz, Charlotte Mendelson, Daljit Nagra, Irenosen Okojie and Chibundu Onuzo.
Barr said: "Working with my fellow panellists on the Open committee has been a joy: I thank them for their dedication. We have been introduced to writers who have enriched our own reading – writers who may have been overlooked because their stories do not fit the historically narrow definition of ‘literature’. This is a list of powerful talents and pioneering trailblazers; gifted writers of all genres who lit the way and who continue to inspire us in darker times."
In addition, authors including Tash Aw, Bee Wilson and Karin Altenberg were announced this evening via the direct nomination process.
Meanwhile, the RSL’s honorary fellows are individuals who have made a significant contribution to the advancement of literature in the UK, or who have rendered special service to the Society. Among the 16 new honorary fellows announced at the event were literary agents Nelle Andrew and Emma Paterson, Chris Gribble and Peggy Hughes from National Centre for Writing and Aki Schilz, director of The Literary Consultancy.
At the event, the RSL also unveiled a first look at a redesign of their visual identity which will continue to roll out throughout the summer and into the autumn, as the RSL approaches its 203rd birthday. The RSL’s new website will host close to a hundred different recordings and articles from past events, selected from the RSL’s archive, with hundreds more being added in the lead-up to the launch of their autumn/winter programme in September 2023.
As part of the refresh, the RSL also announced a new "Illustrator in Residence" programme, which will see a different creative appointed each year, to work with the society in a celebration of the relationship between image and word. The inaugural illustrator in residence will be announced for the RSL’s 203rd birthday on 30th November.
This year marks the midway point of the RSL 200, a five-year festival championing the great diversity of writing and writers in the UK. As the two-year RSL Open initiative draws to a close, the society has announced a change to the election process by which new fellows and honorary fellows are appointed.
The society will further open up its fellowship by inviting readers and writers throughout the UK to recommend writers for it. Each year, a panel of RSL fellows, chaired by RSL chair Daljit Nagra, will review recommendations, read the writers put forward, and nominate a cohort of 30 writers for election.
These changes aim to "help to ensure the diversity of excellent writers in the UK continues to be celebrated within the RSL Fellowship, engage more RSL Fellows in the election process, and help form greater connections between writers and their readers".
This year, the Benson Medal has been awarded to Susan Roberts, director of Contains Strong Language festival of poetry, executive editor of Radio Drama at the BBC, and BBC Audio North head of culture, arts and music. Founded in 1916 by scholar, author and RSL Fellow A C Benson, the medal honours service to literature across a whole career.