The Royal Society of Literature has some 500 Fellows. They include novelists, short-story writers, poets, playwrights, biographers, historians, travel writers, literary critics and scriptwriters. All write in the English language and most are British, but overseas authors are also well represented. Among our current Fellows are Tom Stoppard, Seamus Heaney, Beryl Bainbridge, Philip Pullman, Margaret Drabble, Ben Okri, Carol Ann Duffy, Vikram Seth, Michael Frayn, Doris Lessing, Zadie Smith and Wole Soyinka.

The requirements for Fellowship are that candidates should have published at least two books and been nominated by two or more existing Fellows. Elections, in which the Society’s President, Vice-Presidents and Council vote, take place twice a year. On average fifteen new Fellows are chosen each year, from over 70 nominees. In addition, the Council may award Honorary Fellowships in recognition of outstanding service to literature or the Society.