Elected: 2023
James Currey has enabled the first publication in the English language of novels, plays and poetry by many writers born in Africa. He added some 250 titles to the African Writers Series and also launched the Caribbean Writers Series and Arab Authors. He edited and designed 51 monthly issues of The New African in Cape Town and, after exile, in London. It published articles on Africa in general and on South Africa in particular. James and Clare Currey founded James Currey Publishers in 1984, which rapidly became the outstanding imprint of titles on Africa and is still publishing now.
Fellows are nominated by peers and elected by our Council of writers – our governing Board. Being elected a Fellow of the RSL is a lifetime honour. This role gives them the opportunity to support other writers, readers and the future of literature. The RSL connects writers in the Fellowship to one another, and to a wider readership.
