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Royal Society of Literature



 
 
The Royal Society of Literature is the "senior literary
Literature

Literature is the art of written works. Literally translated, the word means "acquaintance with letters" . In Western culture the most basic written literary types include fiction and non-fiction....
 organisation in Britain
United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom , the UK or Britain,is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe....
". It was founded in 1820 by King George IV
George IV of the United Kingdom

George IV was the king of Kingdom of Hanover and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from the death of his father, George III of the United Kingdom, on 29 January 1820 until his own death ten years later....
, in order to "reward literary merit and excite literary talent". The Society's first president was Thomas Burgess
Thomas Burgess

Thomas Burgess was an England author, philosopher, Bishop of Saint David's and Bishop of Salisbury....
, who later became the Bishop of Salisbury
Bishop of Salisbury

The Bishop of Salisbury is the Ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Salisbury in the Province of Canterbury.The diocese covers much of the Counties of Wiltshire and Dorset....
. 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 FRSL.

Past Fellows include Coleridge
Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Samuel Taylor Coleridge was an England poet, critic and Philosophy who was, along with his friend William Wordsworth, one of the founders of the Romanticism in England and one of the Lake Poets....
, Yeats, Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

Joseph Rudyard Kipling was an English author and poet. Born in Mumbai, British India , he is best known for his works of fiction The Jungle Book , Kim , many short stories, including The Man Who Would Be King ; and his poems, including Mandalay , Gunga Din , and If? ....
, Thomas Hardy
Thomas Hardy

Thomas Hardy, Order of Merit was an England author of the naturalism movement, though he regarded himself primarily as a poet and composed novels mainly for financial gain....
, and George Bernard Shaw
George Bernard Shaw

George Bernard Shaw, was an Irish people playwright.Although Shaw's first profitable writing was music and literary criticism, his talent was for drama, and he wrote more than 60 plays....
; today's include Chinua Achebe
Chinua Achebe

Chinua Achebe , born Albert Chin?al?m?g? Achebe on 16 November 1930, is a Nigerian novelist, poet, professor and critic. He is best known for his first novel, Things Fall Apart , which is the most widely read book in modern African literature.....
, Antonia Fraser
Antonia Fraser

Lady Antonia Fraser, Order of British Empire , n?e Pakenham, is an English author of history and novels, best known as Antonia Fraser for writing biography and detective fiction....
, Athol Fugard
Athol Fugard

Athol Fugard is a South African playwright, novelist, actor, and director who writes in , best known for his political plays opposing the South African system of South Africa under apartheid and for the 2005 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film of his novel Tsotsi, directed by Gavin Hood....
, Doris Lessing
Doris Lessing

Doris May Lessing Order of the Companions of Honour, Order of the British Empire is a Zimbabwe-United Kingdom writer, author of works such as the novels The Grass is Singing and The Golden Notebook....
, V.S.






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Encyclopedia


The Royal Society of Literature is the "senior literary
Literature

Literature is the art of written works. Literally translated, the word means "acquaintance with letters" . In Western culture the most basic written literary types include fiction and non-fiction....
 organisation in Britain
United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom , the UK or Britain,is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe....
". It was founded in 1820 by King George IV
George IV of the United Kingdom

George IV was the king of Kingdom of Hanover and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from the death of his father, George III of the United Kingdom, on 29 January 1820 until his own death ten years later....
, in order to "reward literary merit and excite literary talent". The Society's first president was Thomas Burgess
Thomas Burgess

Thomas Burgess was an England author, philosopher, Bishop of Saint David's and Bishop of Salisbury....
, who later became the Bishop of Salisbury
Bishop of Salisbury

The Bishop of Salisbury is the Ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Salisbury in the Province of Canterbury.The diocese covers much of the Counties of Wiltshire and Dorset....
. 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 FRSL.

Past Fellows include Coleridge
Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Samuel Taylor Coleridge was an England poet, critic and Philosophy who was, along with his friend William Wordsworth, one of the founders of the Romanticism in England and one of the Lake Poets....
, Yeats, Kipling
Rudyard Kipling

Joseph Rudyard Kipling was an English author and poet. Born in Mumbai, British India , he is best known for his works of fiction The Jungle Book , Kim , many short stories, including The Man Who Would Be King ; and his poems, including Mandalay , Gunga Din , and If? ....
, Thomas Hardy
Thomas Hardy

Thomas Hardy, Order of Merit was an England author of the naturalism movement, though he regarded himself primarily as a poet and composed novels mainly for financial gain....
, and George Bernard Shaw
George Bernard Shaw

George Bernard Shaw, was an Irish people playwright.Although Shaw's first profitable writing was music and literary criticism, his talent was for drama, and he wrote more than 60 plays....
; today's include Chinua Achebe
Chinua Achebe

Chinua Achebe , born Albert Chin?al?m?g? Achebe on 16 November 1930, is a Nigerian novelist, poet, professor and critic. He is best known for his first novel, Things Fall Apart , which is the most widely read book in modern African literature.....
, Antonia Fraser
Antonia Fraser

Lady Antonia Fraser, Order of British Empire , n?e Pakenham, is an English author of history and novels, best known as Antonia Fraser for writing biography and detective fiction....
, Athol Fugard
Athol Fugard

Athol Fugard is a South African playwright, novelist, actor, and director who writes in , best known for his political plays opposing the South African system of South Africa under apartheid and for the 2005 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film of his novel Tsotsi, directed by Gavin Hood....
, Doris Lessing
Doris Lessing

Doris May Lessing Order of the Companions of Honour, Order of the British Empire is a Zimbabwe-United Kingdom writer, author of works such as the novels The Grass is Singing and The Golden Notebook....
, V.S. Naipaul, Peter Dickinson
Peter Dickinson

Peter Malcolm de Brissac Dickinson is an England author and poet who has written a wide variety of books, notably children's books and detective stories, over a long and distinguished career....
, and Tom Stoppard
Tom Stoppard

Sir Tom Stoppard Order of Merit , Order of the British Empire, FRSL is a British screenwriter and playwright. He has written plays such as The Coast of Utopia, Arcadia , Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead, and Rock 'n' Roll ....
. A newly created Fellow inscribes his or her name on the official roll using either Byron's pen or Dickens
Charles Dickens

Charles John Huffam Dickens, Royal Society of Arts , pen-name "Boz", was the most popular English people novelist of the Victorian era, as well as a vigorous Reform movement....
' quill.

The Society has an annual magazine, RSL, and administers a number of literary prizes and awards, including the Ondaatje Prize
Ondaatje Prize

The Royal Society of Literature Ondaatje Prize is an annual literary award given by the Royal Society of Literature. The ?10,000 award is given for a work of fiction, non-fiction or poetry which evokes the "spirit of a place", and which is written by a citizen of the Commonwealth of Nations or the Republic of Ireland....
, the Jerwood Awards, and the V. S. Pritchett
V. S. Pritchett

Sir Victor Sawdon Pritchett Order of the Companions of Honour Order of the British Empire , was a British writer and critic. He was particularly known for his short stories, collected in a number of volumes....
 Memorial Prize. It can confer the honour of Companion of Literature for writers of particular note. It also awards the Benson
Edward Frederic Benson

Edward Frederic Benson was an England novelist, biographer, memoirist and short story writer, known professionally as E.F. Benson. His friends called him Fred....
 Medal for lifetime service in the field of literature
Literature

Literature is the art of written works. Literally translated, the word means "acquaintance with letters" . In Western culture the most basic written literary types include fiction and non-fiction....
.

The Society is based at Somerset House
Somerset House

Somerset House is a large building situated on the south side of the Strand, London in central London, overlooking the River Thames, just east of Waterloo Bridge....
 in London
London

London is the capital of both England and the United Kingdom, and the most populous municipality in the European Union. An important settlement for two millennia, History of London goes back to its founding by the Roman Empire....
.

Presidents

  • 1820–1832 Thomas Burgess
    Thomas Burgess

    Thomas Burgess was an England author, philosopher, Bishop of Saint David's and Bishop of Salisbury....
  • 1832–1833 Lord Dover
    George Agar-Ellis, 1st Baron Dover

    George James Welbore Agar-Ellis, Baron Dover , England man of letters, was the only son of the Henry Welbore Agar-Ellis, 2nd Viscount Clifden. He was educated at Westminster School and at Christ Church, Oxford....
  • 1834–1845 The Earl of Ripon
    Frederick John Robinson, 1st Viscount Goderich

    Frederick John Robinson, 1st Earl of Ripon Privy Council of the United Kingdom , Frederick John Robinson until 1827, The Viscount Goderich 1827–1833, and The Earl of Ripon 1833 onwards, was a United Kingdom statesman and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom ....
  • 1845–1849 Henry Hallam
    Henry Hallam

    Henry Hallam was an England historian....
  • 1849–1851 Lord Northampton
    Spencer Compton, 2nd Marquess of Northampton

    Spencer Joshua Alwyne Compton, 2nd Marquess of Northampton , known as Lord Compton from 1796 to 1812 and as Earl Compton from 1812 to 1828, was a British nobleman and patron of science and the arts....
  • 1851-1856 Earl of Carlisle
    Earl of Carlisle

    Earl of Carlisle is a title that has been created three times in the Peerage of England. The first creation came in 1322 when the soldier Andrew Harclay, 1st Earl of Carlisle was made Earl of Carlisle....
  • 1856-1874 Lord Bishop of St. David's
  • 1874-1876 Bishop of Thirlwall
  • 1876-1885 His Royal Highness, Prince Leopold
  • 1885-1893 Sir Patrick de Colquhoun
  • 1893-1920 Lord Halsbury
  • 1921-1946 Marquess of Crewe
  • 1946-1947 Earl of Lytton
    Earl of Lytton

    Earl of Lytton, in the County of Derby, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1880 for the diplomat and poet Robert Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Earl of Lytton....
  • 1947-1982 Lord R. A. Butler, MP
    Rab Butler

    Richard Austen Butler, Baron Butler of Saffron Walden, Order of the Garter Order of the Companions of Honour Deputy Lieutenant Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council , who invariably signed his name R....
  • 1983-1988 Sir Angus Wilson
    Angus Wilson

    Sir Angus Frank Johnstone Wilson was an England novelist and short story writer. He was awarded the 1958 James Tait Black Memorial Prize for The Middle Age of Mrs Eliot and later received a knighthood for his services to literature....
  • 1988-2003 Lord Jenkins
  • 2003-Present Sir Michael Holroyd
    Michael Holroyd

    Sir Michael De Courcy Fraser Holroyd, Order of the British Empire is a biography...


Current Fellows

Fellow Year of election
*Julia Abel Smith 2008
Dannie Abse
Dannie Abse

Daniel Abse, better known as Dannie Abse , is a Wales poet....
1983
Chinua Achebe
Chinua Achebe

Chinua Achebe , born Albert Chin?al?m?g? Achebe on 16 November 1930, is a Nigerian novelist, poet, professor and critic. He is best known for his first novel, Things Fall Apart , which is the most widely read book in modern African literature.....
1983
Peter Ackroyd
Peter Ackroyd

Peter Ackroyd CBE is an England novelist and biographer with a particular interest in the history and culture of London. His works are comparable to Martin Amis, John Banville and Sebastian Barry....
CBE
1984
Richard Adams
Richard Adams

Richard Adams , a non-conforming England Presbyterian divine, author of various sermons and other writings in divinity, was the grandson of Richard Adams, the rector of Woodchurch, in the part of Cheshire which is called the hundred of Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, and son of Charles Adams , who, with his brother Randall Adams, was brought...
1975
Donald Adamson
Donald Adamson

Donald Adamson is a French literature critic, biographer and historian. He has written thirteen books including Blaise Pascal: Mathematician, Physicist, and Thinker about God....
1983
Fleur Adcock
Fleur Adcock

Fleur Adcock, New Zealand Order of Merit, Order of the British Empire is a poet and an editor of English and Northern Irish ancestry, who has lived much of her life in England....
OBE
1984
Diran Adebayo
Diran Adebayo

Diran Adebayo is an acclaimed British novelist, critic and broadcaster best known for his vivid portrayals of modern London life and his distinctive use of language....
2006
John Agard
John Agard

John Agard is a playwright, poet and children's writer from Guyana, who moved to UK in 1977. He worked for the Commonwealth Institute from 1978 to 1985, alongside other Commonwealth artists including the Maltese author Saviour Pirotta....
2007
Brian Aldiss
Brian Aldiss

Brian Wilson Aldiss, Order of the British Empire, is a prolific England author of both general fiction and science fiction. His byline reads either Brian W....
OBE
1990
Keith Alldritt 1978
Fergus Allen CB 2000
*David Altaras 1996
Martin Amis
Martin Amis

Martin Louis Amis is an England novelist, essayist, professor, and short story writer, and the son of the novelist and poet Kingsley Amis. His works include such novels as Money , London Fields and The Information ....
1983
Mark Amory 1996
Carole Angier 2002
The Marquess of Anglesey DL FSA FRHistS Hon FRIBA 1969
John Arden
John Arden

John Arden is an award-winning English people playwright from Barnsley . His works tend to expose social issues of personal concern. He is a member of the Royal Society of Literature....
2000
Simon Armitage
Simon Armitage

Simon Armitage is a UK poet, playwright, and novelist. Before finding success with his poetry he worked as a probation officer, an undertaker's assistant and a supermarket shelf stacker....
2004
Karen Armstrong
Karen Armstrong

Karen Armstrong is a British author of numerous works on comparative religion, who first rose to prominence with her highly successful A History of God....
2005
Bruce Arnold OBE 1994
Geoffrey Ashe
Geoffrey Ashe

Geoffrey Ashe is a British cultural historian, a writer of non-fiction books and a few novels....
1963
Michael Asher
Michael Asher

Michael Asher is a conceptual artist, described by The New York Times as "among the patron saints of the Conceptual Art phylum known as Institutional Critique, an often esoteric dissection of the assumptions that govern how we perceive art." Rather than designing new art objects, Asher typically alters the existing environment, by reposi...
1996
Rosemary Ashton OBE FBA 1999
Diana Athill
Diana Athill

Diana Athill Order of the British Empire is a United Kingdom literary editor, novelist and memoirist who worked with some of the most important writers of the 20th century....
OBE
2001
Sir Alan Ayckbourn CBE 1991
Paul Bailey
Paul Bailey

Paul Bailey is a British writer....
1999
Dame Beryl Bainbridge 1978
Michael Baldwin 1984
John Banville
John Banville

John Banville is an Ireland novelist and journalist. His novel, The Book of Evidence , was shortlisted for the Booker Prize, and won the Guinness Peat Aviation award....
2007
Richard Barber
Richard Barber

Richard William Barber is a prominent United Kingdom historian who has been writing and publishing in the field of medieval history and literature ever since his student days....
1971
Juliet Barker
Juliet Barker

Juliet R. V. Barker is a United Kingdom historian, specialising in the Middle Ages and literary biography. She is the author of a number of well-regarded works on the Bront?s, William Wordsworth, and medieval Tournament ....
2001
Sebastian Barker
Sebastian Barker

Sebastian Barker, born in 1945, is a British poet, son of George Barker and Elizabeth Smart. He has been on the executive committee of P.E.N. and was the Chairman of the Poetry Society from 1988 to 1992....
1997
Pat Barker
Pat Barker

Pat Barker is an England writer and historian. She published her first novel, Union Street , in 1982 and has since won critical acclaim for her World War I series, the Regeneration trilogy, a fictionalised account of the wartime experiences of the poets Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfred Owen, the psychiatry W....
CBE
1995
Frank Barlow CBE FBA FRHistS
Frank Barlow (historian)

Frank Barlow CBE British Academy FRSL is a British historian, known particularly for biographies of medieval figures. He has been Emeritus Professor of History, since 1977, at the University of Exeter....
1971
Correlli Barnett
Correlli Barnett

Correlli Douglas Barnett Order of the British Empire FRSL is an English military historian, who has also written extensively on the United Kingdom's "industrial decline"....
CBE
1964
Stan Barstow
Stan Barstow

Stan Barstow is an England novelist....
1999
Jacques Barzun
Jacques Barzun

Jacques Martin Barzun is a France-born United States historian of history of ideas and cultural history. His areas of expertise are far-ranging including "French and German literature, music, education, ghost stories, detective fiction, language, and etymology."...
1994
Susan Bassnett
Susan Bassnett

Susan Bassnett is a noted scholar of comparative literature. She serves as pro-vice-chancellor the University of Warwick and teaches in its Centre for Translation and Comparative Cultural Studies, which she founded in the 1980s....
2007
Jonathan Bate
Jonathan Bate

Jonathan Bate Order of the British Empire Royal Society of Arts Royal Society of Literature is a British academic, biographer, critic, broadcaster, novelist and scholar of Shakespeare, Romanticism and Ecocriticism....
CBE FBA
2004
Nina Bawden
Nina Bawden

Nina Bawden CBE is a popular United Kingdom novelist and children's writer. Her mother was a teacher and her father a Marine .When World War II broke out she spent the school holidays at a farm in Shropshire along with her mother and her brothers, but lived in Aberdare, Wales, during term time....
CBE
1970
Martin Bax
Martin Bax

Martin Bax is a United Kingdom consultant paediatrician, who, in addition to his medical career, founded the Arts magazine Ambit in 1959. He lives in London and continues to practice, and edit Ambit, along with Kate Pemberton and Geoff Nicholson....
2002
John Bayley
John Bayley

Professor John Bayley Order of British Empire, British Academy, Royal Society of Literature is a United Kingdom literary critic and writer....
CBE FBA
1967
Sir Christopher Alan Bayly FBA FRHistS 2005
Dame Gillian Beer FBA 2006
Antony Beevor
Antony Beevor

Antony James Beevor is a United Kingdom historian, educated at Winchester College and Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. He studied under the famous historian of World War II, John Keegan....
1999
Rosalind Belben 1999
Anne Olivier Bell 1984
Bernard Bergonzi
Bernard Bergonzi

Bernard Bergonzi is a British literary scholar, critic and poet. He is Emeritus Professor of English at the University of Warwick and an expert on T.S.Eliot....
1984
Elizabeth Berridge 1997
Christopher Bigsby
Christopher Bigsby

Christopher Bigsby is a United Kingdom literary analyst and novelist, with more than forty books to his credit. Earlier in his writing career, his books were published under the name C....
2000
*Robert Binyon 2000
Dea Birkett
Dea Birkett

Dea Birkett is a British writer. She was awarded the Somerset Maugham Award in 1993 for Jella....
2000
Julia Blackburn
Julia Blackburn

Julia Blackburn is a British author of both fiction and non-fiction. She is the daughter of poet Thomas Blackburn and artist Rosalie de Meric....
2002
Ronald Blythe
Ronald Blythe

Ronald Blythe is an English writer and editor, best known in his native England for his Akenfield: Portrait of an English Village , a portrait of agricultural life in Suffolk from the Fin de si?cle to the 1960s....
, Benson Medallist
1970
James T. Boulton FBA 1969
William Boyd
William Boyd (writer)

William Boyd, Order of the British Empire is a Scotland novelist and screenwriter....
CBE
1982
Melvyn Bragg
Melvyn Bragg

Melvyn Bragg, Baron Bragg, Royal Society of Literature, Royal Television Society is a United Kingdom author and broadcaster....
 (Baron Bragg)
1971
Raymond Briggs
Raymond Briggs

Raymond Redvers Briggs is an England illustrator, cartoonist, graphic novelist, and author who has achieved critical and popular success among adults and children....
1993
Robin Briggs 1999
Michael Brock CBE FRHistS 1983
Hugh Brogan
Hugh Brogan

Denis Hugh Vercingetorix Brogan , known as Hugh Brogan, is a United Kingdom historian and biographer....
1987
Anita Brookner
Anita Brookner

Anita Brookner CBE is an English language novelist and art historian who was born in Herne Hill, a suburb of London....
CBE
1982
Alan Brownjohn
Alan Brownjohn

Alan Charles Brownjohn is an England poet and novelist.He was born in London and educated at Merton College, Oxford. He taught until 1979, when he became a full-time writer....
1999
James Buchan
James Buchan

James Buchan, born June 11, 1954, is a British novelist and journalist....
2001
Brian Burland 1999
John Burnside
John Burnside

John Burnside is a Scottish people writer, born in Dunfermline.Burnside studied English and European Languages at Cambridge College of Arts and Technology....
1999
Marilyn Butler
Marilyn Butler

Marilyn Butler is a British literary criticism. She was Rector of Exeter College, Oxford from 1993 to 2004, and was King Edward VII Professor of English Literature at the University of Cambridge, from 1986 to 1993....
FBA
1989
A.S. Byatt (Dame Antonia Duffy) 1983
David Cairns 2001
Sir David Cannadine FBA FRHistS 1999
John Carey FBA 1982
Peter Carey 1989
Sir Raymond Carr FBA FRHistS 1977
Justin Cartwright 2002
David Caute 1998
Glen Cavaliero 1986
Hugh Cecil 1997
Tracy Chevalier 2008
Anne Chisholm 1989
Rupert Christiansen 1997
Gillian Clarke 2000
John Clay 1998
Morton N. Cohen 1996
Isabel Colegate 1981
Linda Colley CBE FRHistS FBA 2004
Tony Connor 1972
Robert Conquest CMG OBE 1972
P.J. Conrad 1974
David Constantine 2007
Wendy Cope 1992
John Cornwell 1985
Jim Crace 1999
Kevin Crossley-Holland 1998
Tony Curtis 2000
David Dabydeen 2000
William Dalrymple
William Dalrymple

William Dalrymple, Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature is a historian and writer....
1995
Richard Davenport-Hines 2003
Lionel Davidson 1997
Andrew Davies 1996
Paul Davies 1999
Stevie Davies 1998
Dick Davis 1981
Richard Dawkins
Richard Dawkins

Clinton Richard Dawkins, Royal Society#Fellowship, Royal Society of Literature is a United Kingdom ethology, evolutionary biology and popular science author....
 FRS
1997
*Jill Balcon (Mrs C. Day-Lewis) 1972
Louis de Bernières 2006
Anita Desai
Anita Desai

Anita Mazumdar Desai is an Indian novelist and Emeritus John E. Burchard Professor of Humanities at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She has been shortlisted for the Booker prize three times....
, Benson Medallist
1978
Peter Dickinson 1999
David Dilks FRHistS 1986
Jenny Diski 1999
Maura Dooley 2006
Roddy Doyle 2003
Dame Margaret Drabble CBE 1973
Carol Ann Duffy CBE 1999
Maureen Duffy 1985
Ian Duhig 2006
Katherine Duncan-Jones 1991
Helen Dunmore 1997
Jane Dunn 1999
Douglas Dunn OBE 1981
Nell Dunn 2004
Geoff Dyer 2005
*Umberto Eco
Umberto Eco

Umberto Eco is an Italy medievalist, Semiotics, philosopher, Literary criticism and novelist, best known for his novel The Name of the Rose , an intellectual mystery combining semiotics in fiction, biblical analysis, medieval studies and literary theory....
1992
David Edgar 1985
Max Egremont (Lord Egremont DL) 2001
Anne Enright 2008
Richard J. Evans FBA 1999
Bernardine Evaristo 2004
Ruth Fainlight 2007
Julian Fane 1974
U.A. Fanthorpe CBE 1988
Moris Farhi MBE 2001
Sebastian Faulks
Sebastian Faulks

Sebastian Faulks Commander of the Order of the British Empire Royal Society of Literature is an acclaimed England novelist....
 CBE
1994
Elaine Feinstein 1981
James Fenton 1983
Maggie Fergusson 2007
Orlando Figes 2003
Anne Fine OBE 2003
Tibor Fischer 2003
Roy Fisher 2005
Michael Foot 1988
Margaret Forster 1974
Roy Foster FBA FRHistS 1992
Dick Francis CBE 1999
Lady Antonia Fraser CBE 2003
Robert Fraser
Robert Fraser

Robert Fraser was a noted London art dealer of the 1960s and beyond....
2007
Michael Frayn
Michael Frayn

Michael Frayn is an England playwright and novelist. He is best known as the author of the farce Noises Off and the dramas Copenhagen and Democracy ....
 C Lit
1969
Brian Friel 1998
Athol Fugard 1986
John Fuller 1980
P.N. Furbank 1992
Paul Fussell 1977
Mavis Gallant CC 1989
Jane Gardam OBE 2005
*Anthony Gardner 2004
Philip Gardner 1986
Timothy Garton Ash CMG 2005
Bamber Gascoigne
Bamber Gascoigne

Bamber Gascoigne is a United Kingdom television presenter and author....
1976
Norman Gash CBE FBA FRHistS 1973
*Lord Gavron CBE 1996
Maggie Gee, Vice-President 1994
Sir Martin Gilbert CBE 1977
Sir David Gilmour Bt 1990
Lesley Glaister 1994
Victoria Glendinning CBE, Vice-President 1982
Julian Gloag 1970
*Martyn Goff CBE 2002
Magdalen Goffin 1980
Nadine Gordimer
Nadine Gordimer

Nadine Gordimer is a South African writer, political activist and Nobel laureate.Her writing has long dealt with moral and racial issues, particularly apartheid in South Africa....
, Benson Medallist
1975
Lyndall Gordon 2002
Warwick Gould 1997
Grey Gowrie (The Earl of Gowrie) 2003
*Gunter Grass 1993
A.C. Grayling 2006
Peter Green 1956
Lavinia Greenlaw 2004
John Gribbin 1999
John Gross 1992
Romesh Gunesekera 2004
Abdulrazak Gurnah 2006
John Haffenden FBA 1986
John Halperin 1985
Georgina Hammick 2001
Christopher Hampton CBE 1976
Barbara Hardy FBA 1997
Sir David Hare 1985
Claire Harman 2006
Richard Harries (The Rt Rev Lord Harries of Pentregarth) 1996
Robert Harris 1996
Wilson Harris 2007
Tony Harrison 1984
David Harsent 1999
Ronald Harwood CBE, Vice-President 1974
Sir Max Hastings 1996
Lady Selina Hastings 1994
Roy Hattersley
Roy Hattersley

Roy Sydney George Hattersley, Baron Hattersley, Privy Council of the United Kingdom, is a United Kingdom British Labour Party politician, published author and journalist from Wadsley, Sheffield, England, England....
 (Lord Hattersley)
2003
*Vaclav Havel
Václav Havel

V?clav Havel is a Czechs playwright, writer and politician. He was the tenth and last List of Presidents of Czechoslovakia of Czechoslovakia and the first List of presidents of the Czech Republic ....
1993
Cameron Hazlehurst 1973
Shirley Hazzard 1998
Tim Heald 2000
Edna Healey (Lady Healey) 1993
Denis Healey (Lord Healey CH MBE) 1993
*Seamus Heaney
Seamus Heaney

Seamus Heaney is an Irish people poet, writer and lecturer who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1995. He currently lives in Dublin....
 C Lit
1991
*Drue Heinz DBE 2002
Philip Hensher 1998
Dominic Hibberd 2002
Geoffrey Hill 1972
Reginald Hill 1999
Bevis Hillier 1997
Tim Hilton 1993
Barry Hines 1977
Russell Hoban 1988
Eric Hobsbawm CH FBA 2006
Mary Hocking 1977
Eva Hoffman 2007
Richard Hoggart 2003
Alan Hollinghurst 1995
Richard Holmes
Richard Holmes

Richard Holmes may refer to:* Richard Holmes , American actor* Richard Holmes , British biographer* Richard Holmes , British soldier and military historian...
 OBE FBA
1975
Sir Michael Holroyd CBE C Lit FRHistS, President 1968
Park Honan 1998
Hugh Honour FBA 1972
Christopher Hope 1990
Nick Hornby
Nick Hornby

Nick Hornby is an England novelist and essayist. He was brought up in Maidenhead and was educated at Maidenhead Grammar School and Jesus College, Cambridge....
1996
Sir Alistair Horne CBE 1968
Elizabeth Jane Howard CBE 1991
Philip Howard 1987
Kathryn Hughes FRHistS 2006
Shirley Hughes OBE 2000
Roland Huntford 2001
Aamer Hussein 2004
Angela Huth 1978
Samuel Hynes 1978
Robert Irwin 2001
Kazuo Ishiguro OBE 1989
Dan Jacobson 2007
P.D. James (Baroness James of Holland Park OBE JP), Vice-President 1987
Deborah Jay 2005
Alan Jenkins 2002
Elizabeth Jenkins OBE 1970
Sir Simon Jenkins 2003
Liz Jensen 2005
Ruth Prawer Jhabvala
Ruth Prawer Jhabvala

Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, Order of the British Empire is a Booker Prize novelist, short story writer, and two-time Academy Awards screenwriter. She is perhaps best known for her long collaboration with Merchant Ivory Productions, made up of film director James Ivory and the late producer Ismail Merchant....
 CBE
1974
*Paula Johnson 2008
Jenny Joseph 1999
Gabriel Josipovici FBA 1997
Alan Judd 1990
P.J. Kavanagh 1986
Jackie Kay 2002
Jonathan Keates 1992
H.R.F. Keating 1990
Sir John Keegan OBE FRHistS 1986
Laurence Kelly 2003
Linda Kelly 2003
Thomas Keneally 1973
A.L. Kennedy 1999
Sir Ludovic Kennedy 1998
*HRH The Duke of Kent 1978
Sir Frank Kermode FBA 1958
Thomas Kilroy 1972
Francis King CBE 1952
Matthew Kneale 2003
Shiv K. Kumar 1978
Hanif Kureishi CBE 2008
John Lanchester 2002
Robin Lane Fox 1974
Lee Langley 1996
Bryony Lavery 2002
Zachary Leader 2007
Hermione Lee CBE FBA 1992
Brendan Lehane 1999
Mike Leigh OBE 2008
*Sir Patrick Leigh Fermor DSO OBE C Lit 1991
Laurence Lerner 1984
*Doris Lessing
Doris Lessing

Doris May Lessing Order of the Companions of Honour, Order of the British Empire is a Zimbabwe-United Kingdom writer, author of works such as the novels The Grass is Singing and The Golden Notebook....
 CH C Lit
2001
Andrea Levy 2005
Paul Levy 1980
Gwyneth Lewis 1999
Jeremy Lewis 1992
Naomi Lewis 1981
R.P. Lister 1970
Penelope Lively CBE 1985
Samuel Lock 2001
David Lodge CBE 1976
Michael Longley 1988
Roger Lonsdale FBA 1989
Edward Lucie-Smith 1964
Fiona MacCarthy 1997
Ian McDonald AA 1970
Ian McEwan
Ian McEwan

Ian Russell McEwan, CBE, Royal Society of Arts, Royal Society of Literature, is a Booker Prize-winning England novelist and screenwriter....
 CBE
1983
Roger McGough CBE 2004
Patrick McGrath 2002
Denis Mack Smith CBE FBA 1977
Shena Mackay 1999
Rory MacLean 2007
Margaret MacMillan 2003
Candia McWilliam 1994
Brenda Maddox 1999
Noel Malcolm FBA 1997
David Malouf
David Malouf

David George Joseph Malouf is an acclaimed Australian writer. He was awarded the Neustadt International Prize for Literature in 2000, and his 1993 novel, Remembering Babylon won the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award , and was shortlisted for the Booker Prize....
2008
Hilary Mantel CBE 1990
Patrick Marber 2002
Patrick Marnham 1988
Philip Marsden 1996
Rosalind Marshall 1974
Adam Mars-Jones 2007
Allan Massie 1982
Douglas Matthews FCLIP, Benson Medallist 1998
Glyn Maxwell 1999
Derwent May 1996
Ernest Mehew 1999
Edward Mendelson 2003
Jeffrey Meyers 1983
Stanley Middleton 1999
Mary Midgley 2007
Karl Miller 1992
Michael Millgate 1983
Pankaj Mishra
Pankaj Mishra

Pankaj Mishra is an Indian essayist and novelist. He is particularly notable for his book Butter Chicken in Ludhiana, a sociological study of small-town India, and his writing for the New York Review of Books....
2008
Julian Mitchell 1985
Deborah Moggach 1999
Caroline Moorehead OBE 1993
Geoffrey Moorhouse
Geoffrey Moorhouse

Geoffrey Moorhouse is an England author.Moorhouse was born in Bolton and attended Bury Grammar School. He began writing as a journalist on the Bolton Evening News....
1982
Edwin Morgan OBE 2004
Michael Morpurgo OBE 2004
Jan Morris CBE 1961
Blake Morrison 1988
Nicholas Mosley (Lord Ravensdale MC) 1980
Andrew Motion 1984
Ferdinand Mount 1991
Paul Muldoon 1981
Alice Munro 2002
Richard Murphy 1968
V.S. Naipaul (Sir Vidia Naipaul C Lit) 1962
Venetia Newall FSA 1980
Charles Nicholl 2005
Grace Nichols 2007
Peter Nichols 1983
William Nicholson 1999
Adam Nicolson 2005
Vivien Noakes 1996
Gerard Noel 1999
David Nokes 1994
Leslie Norris 1974
John Julius Norwich (Viscount Norwich CVO FSA) 1970
Robert Nye 1977
Sean O'Brien 2007
Kathleen Odell 1979
Bernard O'Donoghue 1999
Julia O'Faolain 1998
Redmond O'Hanlon 1993
Ben Okri OBE 1997
*Sir Christopher Ondaatje CBE 2003
Charles Osborne 1996
Ewald Osers 1984
Ruth Padel 1998
Alan Palmer 1980
Peter Parker 1997
Don Paterson 2004
Jill Paton Walsh 1996
Brian Patten 2003
Catherine Peters 1992
Humphrey Phelps 1977
Caryl Phillips 2000
Mike Phillips 2000
David Plante 2002
Alan Plater CBE 1985
Piers Plowright 1998
Stephen Poliakoff CBE 1985
Peter Porter C Lit 1983
David Pownall 1976
David Profumo 1995
David Pryce-Jones 1980
Philip Pullman CBE 2001
Isabel Quigly 1989
Craig Raine 1984
Frederic Raphael 1964
Piers Paul Read 1972
Anne Redmon 1980
Joan Rees 1982
Christopher Reid 1999
Ruth Rendell (Baroness Rendell of Babergh CBE) 1988
Christopher Ricks FBA 1970
Jane Ridley 2007
Matt Ridley DL FMedSci 1999
William Rivière 2000
Graham Robb 1999
Andrew Roberts 2001
Michèle Roberts 1999
Jane Rogers
Jane Rogers

Jane Rogers is a British people novelist, editor, scriptwriter, lecturer, and teacher. She is best know for her novels Mr. Wroe's Virgins and The Voyage Home....
1994
Kenneth Rose CBE 1976
Jacob Ross 2006
J.K. Rowling OBE 2002
Anthony Rudolf 2005
Carol Rumens 1984
Sir Salman Rushdie 1983
Lawrence Sail 1998
Giles St Aubyn LVO 1964
William St Clair FBA 1973
Norman St John-Stevas (Lord St John of Fawsley) 1966
*John Saumarez Smith, Benson Medallist 1996
J.J. Scarisbrick 1969
Ann Schlee 1997
Michael Schmidt 1993
*Patricia Schute 1991
The Rev Professor M.A. Screech FBA 1989
Roger Scruton FBA 2003
Peter Scupham 1990
Simon Sebag-Montefiore 2003
Elisa Segrave 2001
Richard Sennett 1999
Vikram Seth CBE 1994
Miranda Seymour 1996
Sir Peter Shaffer CBE 1978
Nicholas Shakespeare 1999
Jo Shapcott 1999
Norman Sherry 1985
Alan Sillitoe 2007
Posy Simmonds MBE 2004
Helen Simpson 1996
Andrew Sinclair 1972
Clive Sinclair 1983
Robert Skidelsky (Lord Skidelsky of Tilton FRHistS) 1978
Ali Smith 2007
Godfrey Smith 1995
Lacey Baldwin Smith FRHistS 1972
Zadie Smith 2002
Mary Soames (Lady Soames DBE) 2000
*Ben Sonnenberg 1994
Ahdaf Soueif 2002
*Wole Soyinka
Wole Soyinka

Akinwande Oluwole "Wole" Soyinka is a Nigerian writer, poet and playwright. Some consider him Africa's most distinguished playwright, as he won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1986, the first African to be so honoured....
, Benson Medallist
1983
Frances Spalding CBE 1984
Francis Spufford 2007
Hilary Spurling CBE 2005
Tom Stacey 1977
Jon Stallworthy FBA 1971
Martin Stannard 1999
C.K. Stead ONZ CBE 1995
George Steiner FBA 1962
Stanley Stewart 2001
Sir Tom Stoppard OM CBE C Lit 1972
Sir Roy Strong FSA 1999
Virginia Surtees 1978
John Sutherland 1990
Graham Swift 1984
George Szirtes 1982
D.J. Taylor 1997
Emma Tennant 1982
Hugh Thomas (Lord Thomas of Swynnerton FRHistS) 1997
Ian Thomson 2003
Colin Thubron CBE, Vice-President 1969
Ann Thwaite 1987
Anthony Thwaite OBE 1978
Gillian Tindall 1983
Colm Tóibín 2007
A.T. Tolley 1998
Nikolai Tolstoy 1979
Claire Tomalin, Vice-President 1976
Sue Townsend 1993
Jeremy Treglown 1989
Rose Tremain CBE 1983
Raleigh Trevelyan 1973
William Trevor KBE C Lit 1976
Lynne Truss 2004
Jenny Uglow CBE 1998
Barry Unsworth 1974
Edward Upward, Benson Medallist 2005
James Walvin OBE 2006
Marina Warner CBE FBA 1984
Val Warner 1998
Keith Waterhouse CBE 1986
Daniel Weissbort 2008
Fay Weldon CBE 1986
Robert Wells 1994
Timberlake Wertenbaker 1999
Sir Arnold Wesker 1985
Sara Wheeler 1999
Hugh Whitemore 1998
Helen Wilcox 1999
Hugo Williams 1988
Nigel Williams 1994
The Most Rev Rowan Williams 2003
A.N. Wilson 1982
Frances Wilson 2008
Dame Jacqueline Wilson 2005
Lewis Wolpert CBE FRS 1999
Charles Wood 1985
Michael Wood 1992
Gerard Woodward 2005
Pamela Woof 1999
Andrew Wright 1971
Kit Wright 1997
Ann Wroe FRHistS 2007
Francis Wyndham 1999
Adam Zamoyski 2006
Theodore Zeldin OBE FBA FRHistS 1999
Philip Ziegler CVO 1972
The * before the name denotes an honorary Fellow.

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