The chair and director of writers’ charity the Royal Society of Literature are both set to leave to “pursue other career opportunities”, it has been announced.
Outgoing chair Daljit Nagra and director Molly Rosenberg are stepping down as the charity concludes its first-ever governance review, which began after its management was criticised in a censorship row.
Rosenberg will leave her role, which she has held since 2017, at the end of March, while Nagra will stand down at the charity’s annual general meeting on 15 January, which marks the end of his four-year term.
Results of governance review set to be revealed at AGM
Nagra will introduce the results and recommendations of the charity’s first-ever governance review, conducted by the NCVO, at the AGM next week.
The review was commissioned last summer, shortly after the RSL had referred itself to the Charity Commission in February of that year by filing a serious incident report.
This came after the charity was faced with allegations of censorship and was criticised for changes to the way it elects fellows, and not taking a strong enough stance in response to the stabbing of writer Salman Rushdie in 2022.
The criticism escalated when the RSL’s annual literary review was postponed in December 2023.
RSL’s former magazine editor Maggie Fergusson, who left the same month, reportedly told the Times that the publication delay had been due to comments made in one article that had been critical of Israel.
According to the Guardian, the RSL plans to share some outcomes of the governance review publicly after the AGM.
In a statement issued by the charity, Nagra said that he is “proud to have overseen the review” and that it will “increase transparency for the future”.
The charity’s president, writer Bernadine Evaristo, extended her “heartfelt thanks” to Rosenberg and Nagra for their work and wished them well.
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