Staff
Our small team is based in our office at Somerset House, London.
Office Team
Molly Rosenberg, Director, has worked at the RSL for 10 years and, as Director since the end of 2017, oversees the Society’s business and creative strategy. She is celebrating the RSL’s bicentenary festival RSL 200 – with readers and writers across the UK and beyond – through a number of new programmes, showing that literature is for everyone. Molly has previously worked at the Royal Opera House and Southbank Centre, and as an independent researcher. She has studied at King’s College London, University of California Berkeley, and Trinity College Dublin.
Molly is currently reading Sterling Karat Gold by Isabel Waidner, and listening to Ian Wright’s memoir A Life In Football.
Lily Blacksell, Public Events and Partnerships Manager, joined the RSL in April 2022 and also works as a Literature Programmer at Southbank Centre. Alongside these roles, Lily is a poet. She teaches for the Poetry School and runs a poetry and music night called Canon Fodder. Lily is a trustee for Quay Arts on the Isle of Wight.
Lily is currently reading The Voice in My Ear by Frances Leviston and Amnion by Stephanie Sy-Quia.
Amanda Demwell, Engagement and Participation Manager, joined the RSL in April 2022. She has managed events and learning programmes in the cultural sector for the past 14 years. A former teacher, she is passionate about the power of reading to transform lives.
Amanda is currently reading Mary Ann Sate, Imbecile by Alice Jolly
Martha Stenhouse, Head of Operations, joined the RSL in 2016. She studied French & Philosophy at the University of Leeds and has worked in diverse roles in both the public and private sector including a five-year stint working with animals. She is a member of too many book clubs, her favourite being focused on post-apocalyptic works. Her responsibilities at the RSL include looking after Membership and Fellows, as well as awards, finance, governance and office administration.
Martha is currently reading The Silent Companions by Laura Purcell
Laura Sibbald, Administration Manager, joined the RSL in December 2022 after previously working at Tate Publishing for five years as Publishing Coordinator for their Exhibition, Arts and Children’s titles. She has a bachelor’s degree in English Literature from the University of Leeds and undertook a year of study at Freie Universität Berlin, Germany. She has a particular interest in female-led and feminist works of fiction.
Laura is currently reading Indelicacy by Amina Cain.
Ailinn Santos, Marketing and Administration Assistant, joined the RSL in February 2023. Originally from Boston, she obtained a master’s degree in Art History and Visual Cultures at Richmond, the American University in London. Considering her passion for art and sharing stories, Ailinn has worked in a variety of museums including the Wallace Collection and the Science Museum London. She mostly enjoys reading fantasy and art historical nonfiction books.
Ailinn is currently reading Sargent’s Women: Four Lives Behind the Canvas by Donna Lucey.
Freelance Staff
Maggie Fergusson, Literary Adviser, has worked for the Royal Society of Literature since 1992, and combines her work here with her own writing. She edits the RSL Review magazine and is the prize winning author of biographies of George Mackay Brown and Michael Morpurgo.
Maggie is currently reading The Slowworm’s Song by Andrew Miller.
Paula Johnson, Associate Director, Awards joined the RSL in 2004 to run the new RSL Ondaatje Prize and RSL Jerwood Awards. In addition to work on the RSL’s prizes, she curates the annual Clapham Book Festival. She has been a publishing editor and a journalist and was Literary Editor of the Mail on Sunday for 17 years and is a former Trustee of the Royal Literary Fund.
Paula is currently reading The Bookseller’s Tale by Martin Latham and The Liar’s Dictionary by Eley Williams.
Photos of Molly, Annette, Martha and Maggie by Adrian Pope.
