The Benson Medal is a medal awarded by the
Royal Society of Literature
The Royal Society of Literature (RSL) is a learned society founded in 1820 by King George IV to "reward literary merit and excite literary talent". A charity that represents the voice of literature in the UK, the RSL has about 800 Fellows, elect ...
in the UK.
["The Benson Medal"](_blank)
The Royal Society of Literature website.
It was founded in 1916 by
A. C. Benson who was a Fellow of the Society, to honour those who produce "meritorious works in poetry, fiction, history, and ''
belles-lettres
() is a category of writing, originally meaning beautiful or fine writing. In the modern narrow sense, it is a label for literary works that do not fall into the major categories such as fiction, poetry, or drama. The phrase is sometimes used pej ...
''".
The medal has been awarded several times to writers in other languages, and is occasionally awarded those who are not writers, but who have done conspicuous service to literature.
The medal is awarded at irregular intervals for lifelong achievement. Recipients include:
Edmund Blunden
Edmund Charles Blunden (1 November 1896 – 20 January 1974) was an English poet, author, and critic. Like his friend Siegfried Sassoon, he wrote of his experiences in World War I in both verse and prose. For most of his career, Blunden was als ...
,
Anita Desai,
Maureen Duffy
Maureen Patricia Duffy (born 21 October 1933) is an English poet, playwright, novelist and non-fiction author. Long an activist covering such issues as gay rights and animal rights, she campaigns especially on behalf of authors. She has receive ...
,
,
Christopher Fry,
,
Nadine Gordimer
Nadine Gordimer (20 November 192313 July 2014) was a South African writer and political activist. She received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1991, recognised as a writer "who through her magnificent epic writing has ... been of very great ben ...
,
Philip Larkin,
,
George Santayana
George Santayana (born Jorge Agustín Nicolás Ruiz de Santayana y Borrás, December 16, 1863 – September 26, 1952) was a Spanish-American philosopher, essayist, poet, and novelist. Born in Spain, Santayana was raised and educated in the Un ...
,
Wole Soyinka
Wole Soyinka , (born 13 July 1934) is a Nigerian author, best known as a playwright and poet. He has written three novels, ten collections of short stories, seven poetry collections, twenty five plays and five memoirs. He also wrote two transla ...
,
Lytton Strachey
Giles Lytton Strachey (; 1 March 1880 – 21 January 1932) was an English writer and critic. A founding member of the Bloomsbury Group and author of ''Eminent Victorians'', he established a new form of biography in which psychology, psychologic ...
,
J. R. R. Tolkien
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (, 3 January 1892 – 2 September 1973) was an English writer and philologist. He was the author of the high fantasy works ''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings''.
From 1925 to 1945, Tolkien was the Rawlinson ...
,
and
SuAndi.
In November 2020, the new design for the medal by Linda Crook was unveiled. The design includes books on one side, and people on the other.
Recent recipients
2024
*
SuAndi
2022
*
Sandra Agard
2021
*
Alastair Niven
Alastair Neil Robertson Niven (25 February 1944 – 26 March 2025) was an English literary scholar and author. He wrote books on D. H. Lawrence, Raja Rao, and Mulk Raj Anand, and over the years served as Director General of Africa Centre, Lond ...
2020
*
Boyd Tonkin
2019
*
Susheila Nasta
2018
*
Liz Calder
2017
*
Margaret Busby
*
Carmen Callil
*
Mary-Kay Wilmers
2016
*
Christopher MacLehose
2015
*
Nancy Sladek
2014
*
Deirdre Le Faye
*
Valentina Polukhina
2013
*
Wm. Roger Louis
2012
*David Pease
*
Jenny Uglow
Jennifer Sheila Uglow (, (accessed 5 February 2008).
(accessed 19 August 2022).
2011
*
Diana Athill
*
Francis King
Earlier recipients
* 1917:
Gabriele d'Annunzio;
Benito Pérez Galdós
Benito María de los Dolores Pérez Galdós (; 10 May 1843 – 4 January 1920) was a Spanish Spanish Realist literature, realist novelist. He was a leading literary figure in 19th-century Spain, and some scholars consider him second only to Mi ...
;
* 1923:
Lytton Strachey
Giles Lytton Strachey (; 1 March 1880 – 21 January 1932) was an English writer and critic. A founding member of the Bloomsbury Group and author of ''Eminent Victorians'', he established a new form of biography in which psychology, psychologic ...
* 1925:
Gordon Bottomley;
George Santayana
George Santayana (born Jorge Agustín Nicolás Ruiz de Santayana y Borrás, December 16, 1863 – September 26, 1952) was a Spanish-American philosopher, essayist, poet, and novelist. Born in Spain, Santayana was raised and educated in the Un ...
* 1926:
Percy Lubbock
Percy Lubbock, Order of the British Empire, CBE (4 June 1879 – 1 August 1965) was an English man of letters, known as an essayist, critic and biographer. His controversial book ''The Craft of Fiction'' gained influence in the 1920s.
Life
Perc ...
;
Robert Wilson Lynd;
Harold Nicolson
Sir Harold George Nicolson (21 November 1886 – 1 May 1968) was a British politician, writer, broadcaster and gardener. His wife was Vita Sackville-West.
Early life and education
Nicolson was born in Tehran, Persia, the youngest son of dipl ...
* 1927:
Frederick Arthur Simpson;
Helen Waddell
* 1930:
Edmund Blunden
Edmund Charles Blunden (1 November 1896 – 20 January 1974) was an English poet, author, and critic. Like his friend Siegfried Sassoon, he wrote of his experiences in World War I in both verse and prose. For most of his career, Blunden was als ...
* 1931:
Stella Benson;
Siegfried Sassoon
Siegfried Loraine Sassoon (8 September 1886 – 1 September 1967) was an English war poet, writer, and soldier. Decorated for bravery on the Western Front (World War I), Western Front, he became one of the leading poets of the First World ...
* 1934:
Edith Sitwell
* 1938:
E. M. Forster;
G. M. Young
* 1939:
F. L. Lucas
Frank Laurence Lucas (28 December 1894 – 1 June 1967) was an English Classics, classical scholar, literary critic, poet, novelist, playwright, political polemicist, Fellow of King's College, Cambridge, and intelligence officer at Bletchley Pa ...
;
Andrew Young
Andrew Jackson Young Jr. (born March 12, 1932) is an American politician, diplomat, and activist. Beginning his career as a pastor, Young was an early leader in the civil rights movement, serving as executive director of the Southern Christia ...
* 1940:
Christopher Hassall;
['']Dictionary of National Biography
The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...
''. John Gawsworth
* 1941:
Christopher La Farge
* 1952:
Frederick S. Boas
* 1966:
J. R. R. Tolkien
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (, 3 January 1892 – 2 September 1973) was an English writer and philologist. He was the author of the high fantasy works ''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings''.
From 1925 to 1945, Tolkien was the Rawlinson ...
;
Rebecca West
Dame Cecily Isabel Fairfield (21 December 1892 – 15 March 1983), known as Rebecca West, or Dame Rebecca West, was a British author, journalist, literary critic and travel writer. An author who wrote in many genres, West reviewed books ...
;
* 1969:
Cecil Woodham-Smith
Cecil Blanche Woodham-Smith ( Fitzgerald; 29 April 1896 – 16 March 1977) CBE was a British historian and biographer. She wrote four popular history books, each dealing with a different aspect of the Victorian era.
Early life
Cecil Woodham-Sm ...
* 1975:
Philip Larkin
* 1979:
R. K. Narayan
* 1981:
Sir Sacheverell Sitwell;
* 1982:
A. L. Rowse
* 1989:
Anthony Burgess
John Anthony Burgess Wilson, (; 25 February 1917 – 22 November 1993) who published under the name Anthony Burgess, was an English writer and composer.
Although Burgess was primarily a comic writer, his Utopian and dystopian fiction, dy ...
;
Nadine Gordimer
Nadine Gordimer (20 November 192313 July 2014) was a South African writer and political activist. She received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1991, recognised as a writer "who through her magnificent epic writing has ... been of very great ben ...
* 1990:
Wole Soyinka
Wole Soyinka , (born 13 July 1934) is a Nigerian author, best known as a playwright and poet. He has written three novels, ten collections of short stories, seven poetry collections, twenty five plays and five memoirs. He also wrote two transla ...
* 1993:
Julien Green
* 1996:
Shusaku Endo
* 2000:
Christopher Fry
* 2003:
Anita Desai;
David Sutton
* 2004:
Maureen Duffy
Maureen Patricia Duffy (born 21 October 1933) is an English poet, playwright, novelist and non-fiction author. Long an activist covering such issues as gay rights and animal rights, she campaigns especially on behalf of authors. She has receive ...
; James Parker
[i.e. Dr James Parker, Co-ordinator of the International Public Lending Right Network (IPLR).]
* 2005:
Edward Upward
* 2006:
Ronald Blythe
Ronald George Blythe (6 November 1922 – 14 January 2023) was a British writer, essayist and editor, best known for his work ''Akenfield'' (1969), an account of agricultural life in Suffolk from the Fin de siècle, turn of the century to the ...
;
Joan Winterkorn – manuscript expert
* 2007:
Nadine Gordimer
Nadine Gordimer (20 November 192313 July 2014) was a South African writer and political activist. She received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1991, recognised as a writer "who through her magnificent epic writing has ... been of very great ben ...
* 2008:
John Saumarez Smith; Douglas Matthews
* 2009:
Mark Le Fanu;
Kay Dunbar
* 2010:
Al Alvarez
References
{{Reflist
External links
"The Benson Medal"at The Royal Society of Literature website.
1916 establishments in the United Kingdom
Awards established in 1916
British literary awards
Literary awards honoring lifetime achievement
Royal Society of Literature awards