Word from our Chair

When I took over the Chair in the spring of 2008, I had been a Fellow for coming up to twenty years, a member of Council for five and deputy Chair for one. For most of my writing life, then, I have been lucky enough to be part of the Royal Society of Literature: I am now lucky to find myself Chair at a promising moment of expansion and change. Under my predecessors, Michael Holroyd (President Emeritus) and Maggie Gee (the first woman to hold the office), the RSL moved to the inspiring surroundings of Somerset House and set out to extend its range and activities. We now work in partnership with the European Cultural Commission and Poet in the City amongst other organisations. It is often supposed that writers, who require solitude to achieve anything, are not natural joiners; but many of us enjoy the solidarity and sense of shared values and purposes that association with the RSL can bring. As Chair of Council (the dozen or so Fellows who nobly agree to sacrifice writing time to meet once a month to help the Secretary and staff run things), I have two aspirations: to encourage Fellows and members to enjoy each others’ company, and to find new ways to deploy Fellows’ outstanding gifts to enhance our programmes. In the last year, we have revived the agreeable tradition of holding Fellows’ lunches, hosted by Council members, and we are starting a series of masterclasses, led by Fellows at Somerset House. Fellowship is an honour, will always be limited in numbers and has no strings attached; but the RSL can, and should, share a passion for literature with as many writers and readers as possible.

Anne Chisholm