Royal Literary Fund
The Royal Literary Fund (RLF) is a benevolent fund that gives assistance to published British writers in financial difficulties. Founded in 1790, and granted a royal charter in 1818, the Fund has helped an extensive roll of authors through its long history, from the most famous to the most obscure, whose cases are judged to be deserving. It also operates a Fellowship scheme, placing established writers in universities to encourage writing skills, and to monitor standards of writing in the higher education world.
History
The Fund
The Royal Literary Fund has given assistance to many distinguished writers over its history, including
Throughout the nineteenth century and until 1939 much of the charity's money came from an annual fund-raising dinner at which major public and literary figures (including
Fellowship scheme
Income from the A. A. Milne estate has enabled the RLF to establish a Fellowship Scheme[6] to place professional writers in universities in the UK. The Fellowship Scheme was established in 1999 under the guidance of Hilary Spurling.[7] It provides a stipend for established writers to work in universities and colleges[8] to help students and staff to develop their writing skills, concentrating particularly on academic writing. Typically, these are one-to-one sessions.[9] Writers employed include novelists, playwrights, poets, translators, writers of non-fiction and of children's books. By the end of 2006, there were 77 Fellows in 47 institutions throughout the mainland UK.
The Fellowship Scheme also undertakes research into the state of writing among British students and school pupils and is proactive in promoting the development of writing skills. Between 2002 and 2005 a group of Project Fellowships existed to carry out research into how the work for the Fellowship could be furthered in the future.[10]
Sale of rights
Winnie the Pooh
In 2001, the RLF sold the rights of the character
Disney first acquired the rights to the characters in the 1960s and paid twice-yearly royalties to the RLF and other beneficiaries.[citation needed]
References
- ^ "Grants - The Society of Authors". www.societyofauthors.org.
- ^ "The Royal Literary Fund". The Royal Literary Fund.
- ^ a b c d Janet Adam Smith, The Royal Literary Fund: A Short History/
- ^ "Royal Literary Fund - Oxford Reference". oxfordreference.com.
- ^ "Author: Mary Catherine Rowsell (1839-1921)". At the Circulating Library: A database of Victorian Fiction 1837-1901. 2019-12-31. Retrieved 2020-06-22.
- ^ "Fellowships". rlf.org.uk.
- ^ "Articles on the Scheme", RLF.
- ^ ""Partner Institutions", RLF". rlf.org.uk.
- ^ "RLF Fellowship Scheme". The Royal Literary Fund. Retrieved 2020-08-21.
- ^ ""Research", RLF". rlf.org.uk.
- ^ "MediaTalk; Disney Buys the Rights to Winnie the Pooh". The New York Times. Retrieved 2 March 2019.