RSL Pioneer Prize

An annual prize of £10,000 spotlighting and celebrating female writers who have been pioneers in their field

The 2025 Prize

The 2025 winner of the RSL Pioneer Prize is Maureen Duffy – poet, playwright, novelist, activist and non-fiction writer. Across her long career, Duffy has brought to light previously unspoken stories; articulated the unheard voices of women and working-class protagonists; created a Humanist mass; and reaffirmed the legacy of Aphra Behn among countless other achievements. She has been a passionate advocate for author rights and LGBTQIA+ rights, and at the forefront of making changes which are still felt today.

Duffy is the author of more than 60 published works of fiction, non-fiction, poetry and plays, including her openly lesbian bestselling novel The Microcosm which was ground-breaking when published in 1966; a dozen poetry collections and almost 30 plays; and seminal works of non-fiction including her biography of Aphra Behn which led to renewed scholarship of Behn’s life and works.

Duffy co-founded the Writers’ Action Group in 1972 and was one of five founding members of the Authors’ Licensing and Collecting Society (ALCS) in 1977, playing a pivotal role in the campaign to establish Public Lending Right on behalf of authors so that they received payments based on public-library loans of their books.

History

The RSL Pioneer Prize, established thanks to RSL President Bernardine Evaristo, will acknowledge and celebrate pioneering British women writers – across all genres – who have been trailblazers in their field in the past, when it was more challenging for women to have successful careers as writers. Evaristo, whose presidency ran from 2022 to 2025, is donating the cash prize of £100,000 from her Women’s Prize Outstanding Contribution Award (2025) to fund this new award.

The RSL Pioneer Prize, which will run annually for ten years from 2025, will go to a writer selected by a jury of three literature professionals, which will change every year. As an exception, the first recipient has been chosen by Bernardine Evaristo, who will not otherwise be involved in the selection until the final year.

The Prize will be awarded to a living female writer over sixty who has been a pioneer in their field, and each year the focus will be on a different genre. Similar to other prizes awarded for a body of work, this will not be open for submissions. Only authors resident in the UK, aged 60 or over and female will be eligible.

The definition of ‘pioneer’ for this prize is to mean women writers who broke new ground as writers, and for literature, and other definitions of ‘pioneer’ that are deemed appropriate by that year’s jury.

Each year the winning writer will receive £10,000 and be asked to spotlight a deceased and most importantly forgotten female writer who inspired them when they were starting out.

Additionally, the winning writer will select three emerging younger writers to spotlight. All of these writers will be celebrated by the RSL throughout the year of the award.

The Award is administered in all respects in English by the Royal Society of Literature.

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Our Members are champions of literature. Their support makes our engagement work in schools and prisons possible and they enable us to celebrate literature in all its wonderful diversity. As a thank you, we give them all the joys of a literary festival and book club rolled into one, all year round.