The Royal Society of Literature (RSL) has unveiled the winners of its first-ever RSL Scriptorium Awards, a new programme designed to provide dedicated writing space and financial support to professionally active writers facing barriers to their careers. The inaugural class of 10 writers was selected from a competitive pool of UK applicants, with an emphasis on those who lack a private writing space.
The winners of the 2025 RSL Scriptorium Awards are Yvonne Battle-Felton, Satinder Chohan, Suji Kwock Kim, Tom Newlands, Emma Norry, Irenosen Okojie, Hanna Silva, Claudine Toutoungi, Ralf Webb and Claire Wilson.
The award was founded and is generously supported by RSL President Bernardine Evaristo. It offers free, month-long writing residencies in a cottage she owns on the Kent coast, along with a bursary to help writers take up their residency. The residencies are intended to provide uninterrupted time for writers to focus on their projects. The first residencies are scheduled for autumn 2025.
A specially-convened panel of RSL Fellows Sarah Sanders, Kayo Chingonyi and Victoria Hislop selected the winners. The RSL’s own census research on its Fellowship revealed a need to address structural barriers in the literary world, noting that a writer’s success can be influenced by geography, education, social class, ethnicity and gender. The RSL Scriptorium Awards were created to help combat these disparities and foster a more inclusive literary landscape.
