From the RSL event 'On Shakespeare's sonnets' with Gillian Clarke, Imtiaz Dharker, Jackie Kay, Mimi Khalvati, Paul Muldoon, Bernard O'donoghue, Ruth Padel, Don Paterson, Fiona Sampson, Jo Shapcott and Margreta de Grazia
What we do
A world-class events programme
Organising over 25 events each year, we offer an unparalleled opportunity to explore literature’s rich past and engage with the authors shaping its future.
See our upcoming events.
Cultivate and celebrate literary excellence
The RSL invests in the authors of today and tomorrow, supporting them through a number of awards and grants.
Learn about our awards and prizes.
Inspire literacy and creativity
The RSL’s outreach programme works to secure young people’s access to literature. We produce resources to encourage and support young readers and writers, and send Fellows into state schools across the UK, providing students with the opportunity to meet some of the country’s greatest writers.
Learn more about our education programme.
A word from our President
I am deeply honoured to take on the role of the new President of the Royal Society of Literature. Although founded two hundred years ago, the Society is boldly embracing the Twenty-first Century as a great champion of the possibilities of a more egalitarian culture for literature.
Storytelling is embedded in our DNA as human beings – it is sewn into the narrative arc of our lives, it is in our relationships, desires and conflicts, and it is the prism through which we explore and understand ourselves and the world in which we live. Literature is not a luxury, but essential to our civilisation.
I am so proud, therefore, to be the figurehead of such an august and robust literature organisation that is so actively and urgently committed to being inclusive of the widest range of outstanding writers from every demographic and geographical location in Britain, and to reaching marginalised communities through literature projects, including introducing young people in schools to some of Britain’s leading writers who visit, teach and discuss their work with them. I look forward to the next four years as the figurehead of such a wonderfully impressive organisation.
Bernardine Evaristo, RSL President
November 2021
