>

Kassabova, Kapka

Kapka Kassabova

Elected: 2026

Kapka Kassabova is a prizewinning writer of narrative non-fiction. Her recent Balkan quartet includes Anima (2024), Elixir (2023), To the Lake (2020) and Border (2017). Her awards include a British Academy prize, the Scottish Book of the Year, the Stanford-Dolman Travel Book of the Year, the Highland Book Prize, the Prix Nicolas-Bouvier, the Prix du Meilleur Livre Étranger, and the Premio Mazzotti. Kassabova grew up in Sofia, Bulgaria, and migrated to New Zealand before settling in Scotland twenty years ago. She lives by a Highland river.

More of our Fellows

Olivia Laing

Steve Jones

Sir C.A. Bayly

Roy Hattersley (Baron Hattersley)

Fellowship Election Process​

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.