Two directors of the Royal Society of Literature resign due to struggles over free expression

The Royal Society of Literature (RSL) is in chaos after two bosses announced their departure amid a series of scandals and bitter infighting.

Director Molly Rosenberg has resigned from the 205-year-old organisation, home to Britain’s finest literary talent, while its president, Daljit Nagra, announced he will stand down when his four-year term ends this month.

The decisions followed months of disputes over free speech and came amid accusations that the RSL has lowered its membership standards.

Dozens of high-profile writers, including Margaret Atwood, Kazuo Ishiguro and the society’s former president Dame Marina Warner, have criticized its current leadership.

It is believed that the civil war society began when calls to publicly and strongly support Salman Rushdie following his assassination attempt were reportedly quietly blocked.

Warner told The Times earlier this year that asked society to speak out; However, the then newly appointed president and winner of the Booker Prize, Bernardine Evaristo, supposedly responded that the measure could offend.

In an article by The Guardian last year, which does not specifically mention Rushdie, Evaristo insisted that society cannot take sides in writers’ controversies and problems, but must remain impartial.

Rushdie himself weighed in on the claim, posting in

Members have also shared their frustrations at society’s failure to support author Kate Clanchy after she faced an avalanche of online abuse.

In another dispute over freedom of expression, members have claimed that the society postponed publication of its annual magazine because of an article commenting on Israel and Gaza, although the RSL has denied this on several occasions and argued a series of problems with the decisions of the independent editor who oversees the edition, as well as its design.

The magazine’s controversy

In the article of The GuardianEvaristo stated: “As for the society’s magazine, the RSL Reviewits publication was postponed and will soon appear complete. “The accusations of censorship and cancellation are unfounded.”

In February 2024, the RSL was referred to the Charity Commission following complaints received and a governance review was also commissioned by the National Council for Voluntary Organisations.

The RSL management still faces concerns over the alleged dilution of its admissions criteria in a bid to boost diversity. The writer Don Paterson stated to The Times that the old rule that fellows could only be nominated if they had two published works of exceptional literary merit.

The RSL stated that the criteria for membership have not changed. However, novelist Amanda Craig also told The Times that society It’s no longer the kind of distinction it was..

In 2018, the RSL appointed 40 new members under the age of 40, although Evaristo noted that this still represents only 4 percent of its members.

It also chose 60 fellows with its RSL Open program, an initiative that seeks to recognize writers from underrepresented backgrounds in 2022 and 2023. It recently launched a new electoral process in which it invited the public to nominate authors for the fellowship.

Evaristo wrote last year that the media myth that she “insisted that all sorts of ‘radical’ new measures be put in place” as president was very insulting to the trustees, presidents and past members of the RSL who supported the diversification of the scholarship.

He added: “The accusation of lowering standards is a common tactic used by those who bet on the state in which. So are recent appointments not good enough? Why wouldn’t they be, given that they are elected the same way as always, with the democratic process of the fellowship?

At the time of his resignation, Nagra, who took office four years ago, said that looks forward to seeing the RSL continue to grow and prosperand that is proud to have overseen the first governance review in our 204-year history to increase transparency in the future of society.

Rosenberg, who joined the RSL in 2010 as an intern and assumed the role of director in 2017, said: I am very proud of everything I have achieved during my time at the RSL, working for and with brilliant writers from across the community.

The Independent contacted the RSL for comment.