Description
This event, originally titled 'RSL Presents: The Pioneer Prize', took place on 30 November 2025. The information below is correct as of the publication date.
This special event marked the launch of the RSL Pioneer Prize, a new initiative which spotlights and celebrates writers who have been trailblazers in their field.
Acknowledging the challenges faced by earlier generations of women writers, each year a woman writer over 60 who has shaped our literary landscape is honoured. For its inaugural year the prize honoured Maureen Duffy (1933–2026) – poet, playwright, novelist, non-fiction writer and activist.
Throughout her career, Duffy was consistently groundbreaking. She 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 was a phenomenal advocate for author rights and LGBTQ+ rights, and at the forefront of making changes which are still felt today.
Writers Val McDermid, So Mayer, and lecturers Elaine Hobby and Lawrence Warner were joined by chair Bee Rowlatt. The panel discussed Duffy's impact and legacy, and the power of amplifying older women writers’ voices.
Featuring an introduction by Bernardine Evaristo and readings by actor Rebecca Scroggs.
About the RSL Pioneer Prize:
The RSL Pioneer Prize has been established thanks to the generosity of Bernardine Evaristo, who has donated the cash prize of £100k from her Women's Prize Outstanding Contribution Award to fund it. The Prize, which will run for ten years from 2025, will spotlight ten living women writers over the age of 60, with each receiving £10,000.
About the Royal Society of Literature:
The RSL is a charity for writers and readers throughout their literary lives. The organisation is led by writers and believes that all literature matters. The RSL works with schools and prisons, celebrates the achievements of authors, provides writers with the tools and resources they need to write, and gives readers access to the best writers from around the world.
Thumbnail image credit: Fay Godwin, from the British Library archive.
BL Shelfmark: Maureen Duffy, 1973. Photographer: Godwin, Fay. British Library. Godwin Photo 2(111).
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Speaker Bios:
Bernardine Evaristo is the author of ten books. Her prizes include the Booker Prize 2019 and the one-off Women’s Prize Outstanding Contribution Award 2025.
Elaine Hobby is Professor Emirita of Seventeenth-Century Studies at Loughborough University and a scholar of early modern women’s writing. She has worked with Maureen Duffy on shining a light on the work of Aphra Behn, the first professional woman writer in English.
So Mayer is a writer, bookseller, editor and organiser. Their most recent book is Bad Language, a memoir and manifesto on language, gender and power, and their most recent collaborative projects are The Word for World: The Maps of Ursula K Le Guin (with Sarah Shin, Silver Press, 2025) and Catflap #5 for Outburst Queer Arts Festival.
Val McDermid is a writer and broadcaster, best known for her crime fiction. She has sold more than 19 million books to date across the globe and has been translated into more than 40 languages. Her multi-award-winning series and standalone novels have been adapted for television and radio. She co-founded the Harrogate Crime Writing Festival. Her new Karen Pirie novel, Silent Bones, publishes in October 2025.
Rebecca Scroggs trained at RADA. Her theatre work at includes Danton’s Death and The Suicide, both for the National Theatre. In 2024 she appeared as Lady Macduff in Macbeth, directed by Simon Godwin. Rebecca has appeared in various television series, including ITV drama Grace, Apple TV’s Constellation and Eastenders. Rebecca is the co-chair of Unfinished Histories, an archive which records and preserves the history of alternative theatre from the 1960s to the 1980s.
Lawrence Warner is Professor of Medieval English at Kings College, London where Maureen Duffy’s archive is held. In 2023 he worked with Maureen Duffy to stage Missa Humana, a Humanist Mass, written by Duffy and set to music by Dolly Collins.
Bee Rowlatt is a writer, and cultural programmer at the British Library. One Woman Crime Wave is her first foray into fiction, following her award-winning travelogue In Search of Mary. She co-authored the bestseller, Talking About Jane Austen in Baghdad, and contributed to Virago’s Fifty Shades of Feminism. She has been awarded an MBE for services to women's rights.
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