Fellowship Election

Elections

Nominations: New Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature are elected by current Fellows. To be nominated for Fellowship, a writer must have published two works of literary merit. Nominations must be seconded by an RSL Fellow.

Council Vote: All nominations are presented to members of the Council of the Royal Society of Literature, who vote biannually to elect new Fellows. Nominated candidates who have not been successful are reconsidered at every election for three years from the year in which they were proposed. 

"Becoming a Fellow of the RSL is an honour like no other. We are elected not by some faceless bureaucratic committee but by our fellow writers and professional peers. Fellowship means everything to me."
Victoria Glendinning

Newly Elected Fellows: Newly elected Fellows are introduced at the Society’s AGM and summer party. While the President reads a citation for each, they are invited to sign their names in the roll book which dates back to 1820, using either Dickens’s quill or Byron’s pen.