Please see below for:

● A reminder of next Monday’s RSL event with Penelope Lively and Helen Simpson.
● News of our two new Vice-Presidents.
● An update on our 2010 master classes.
● News of other forthcoming literary events and publications that might be of interest to you.

Monday 16 November, 7pm
Chaired by Anne Chisholm

The art of the short story, V.S. Pritchett believed, ‘demands a mingling of the skills of the rapid reporter, the instincts of the poet or ballad maker, and the sonnet writer’s concealed discipline of form’. To celebrate the presentation of the Royal Society of Literature V.S.Pritchett Prize for 2009, the prize-winning author joins in a panel discussion with Booker Prize winner and lifelong writer of short stories, Penelope Lively; Helen Simpson, whose collections of short stories have been garlanded with prizes, and who was recently described as ‘elevating the short story to an art form all of its own’; Alison Samuel, publishing director of Chatto & Windus; and William Skidelsky, books editor of The Observer. They ask whether Pritchett was right in describing the art of the short story as ‘exquisitely difficult’; whether they hope to help readers to lose or to find themselves in stories; and why, in a restless, hurtling age, when time for reading is circumscribed, short stories are not more commercially successful.

The discussion will be followed by the presentation of the V .S. Pritchett Prize. The winning entry will be published in the December issue of Prospect magazine.

The talk will be held as usual in the Kenneth Clark Lecture Theatre at the Courtauld Institute, but please note that the main Strand entrance to Somerset House will not be open on Monday. You will be able to enter Somerset House through the King’s College entrance, to the left of Somerset House on the Strand.

We are delighted to announce the appointment of two RSL Fellows as Vice-Presidents of the Society. Hilary Mantel CBE and Philip Pullman CBE will join current Vice-Presidents Dr Maggie Gee, The Hon Victoria Glendinning CBE, Ronald Harwood CBE, Baroness James of Holland Park OBE, Colin Thubron CBE and Claire Tomalin. They will take part in the election process for new Fellows and will also be encouraged to involve the RSL in campaigns and activities with which they are associated.

Hilary Mantel’s masterclass in January 2010 has now sold out, but there are a few tickets left for Caroline Moorehead’s class on Biography on Saturday 13 March.

Tickets are £30 each, with limited concessions available at £15.

To book, please call Kim Patrick at the Arvon Foundation on 020 7324 2557.

Affordable writing retreat in the Andalucian mountains. Two traditional Spanish homes providing accommodation for four writers. Each writer has private bedroom and bathroom and personal writing terrace with panoramic views to the valleys. The homes are adjacent so there are lots of opportunities for mutual writing support and socialisation with other writers. Close to full amenities. Retreat, relax and write in a beautiful mountainside retreat.

Now taking bookings for April 2010 onwards. Only £500 per month (discounts available for long-term bookings).

www.writersretreat.gbr.cc
jacquelinecrooks@hotmail.co.uk

Friday 4 December, 6pm
‘The Darwin Lecture: Is human evolution over?’

Organised jointly with the Linnean Society and given by Professor Steve Jones, Head of Genetics at University College London.

http://www.rsm.ac.uk/academ/darwin.php
Royal Society of Medicine
1 Wimpole Street
London
W1G 0AE
020 7290 2995

‘Book Now’ Literature Festival takes place in Richmond across the month of November each year. In 2009, its eighteenth year, it promises its best line-up yet. The 30-event programme features politicians, biographers, actors, stars of stage and screen, novelists, artists, and poets, along with some newer voices.

Highlights include Martin Amis, Will Self, Tibor Fischer, A S Byatt (SOLD OUT), Don Paterson and Jamie McKendrick, Vince Cable, Geoff Dyer, Fay Weldon, Miranda Carter, Steven Berkoff,  John Julius Norwich, John Boyne, Jennie Rooney and Diana Evans, with many more besides.

http://www.richmond.gov.uk/book_now_literature_festival
or: Orange Tree Theatre, 020 8940 3633

To celebrate the end of its sixth successful year the independent literary quarterly Slightly Foxed has taken over the Gloucester Road Bookshop, which has long been a happy home for those in search of interesting old and second-hand books.

The venture is a logical move, since Slightly Foxed’s mission is to introduce its readers to the kind of good and unusual books that have long ago slipped off the review pages but which have stood the test of time in the hearts of those who write about them. Its 96 pages are filled with an eclectic mix of personal (and often amusing) recommendations for books that have cheered and influenced contributors’ lives.

In 2008 Slightly Foxed launched Slightly Foxed Editions, a series of attractive limited-edition pocket hardbacks. These reprints of classic memoirs are another way in which the quarterly is helping to revive an interest in real books and good writing.