Royal Society of Literature refers itself to Charity Commission

The Royal Society of Literature (RSL) has confirmed that it is referring itself to the Charity Commission “due to the sustained campaign of misinformation being made against it”. 

The charity, which elects fellows based on literary merit, told The Bookseller the decision was taken by the RSL Council “and is one of good governance”. “The RSL is absolutely committed to defending its reputation, including its management team, chair and president, in the face of sustained and malicious attacks on its work” a spokesperson said. 

The RSL has faced criticism in recent months including questions over changes to the way that fellows are elected and the postponement of its annual magazine, Review, due to what its former editor Maggie Fergusson said was an article that was critical of Israel. Some fellows also expressed concern that the organisation did not take a public stand in support of Salman Rushdie when he was stabbed in 2022. Authors including Ian McEwan and Alan Hollinghurst signed an open letter urging the organisation to refer itself to the Charity Commission. 

An RSL spokesperson told The Bookseller that “contrary to media speculation, the RSL’s Review magazine was not cancelled and its freelance editor Maggie Fergusson was not sacked, as she has claimed. The magazine, which has no set date for publication, will come out in the spring and Maggie’s freelance tenure expired by mutual agreement.” 

It continued: “RSL management were shown proofs of the Review at the start of December which they didn’t consider good enough for print. They discussed with the outgoing editor a number of issues – stylistic, editorial and tonal – including querying the context of a written piece that referenced the war in Gaza.” 

It added: “There was never any suggestion from the RSL management team of editing the piece. The facts of the matter have been explained to both of the authors of the piece in question who understand the RSL’s decision to postpone the magazine, and that this was due to a wide range of factors. The piece in question will be published – unedited – when the new-look magazine comes out in the spring, as the RSL has made clear from the start of the year.” 

The RSL Council (board of trustees) is due to meet today (Tuesday 20th February) after which they will issue a statement.