[3][4] Formerly chief executive and artistic director of the Arvon Foundation for ten years (2009–2019), she has been Chair of English PEN since 2021.
[5] Ruth Borthwick's early career spanned publishing, researching and bookselling in England and in Australia, where she worked in the first bookshop in Sydney to sell gay books.
[5] In 1995, she co-founded with Bernardine Evaristo London's writer development agency Spread the Word, "to encourage new voices to emerge and tell their stories".
[6] Borthwick was for a decade chief executive of the Arvon Foundation, a leading UK charitable organisation that promotes creative writing,[7] from 2009 until 2019, during which time she oversaw renovation of its Shropshire centre The Hurst, expanded work with teachers and launched a new digital programme.
[10] International initiatives with which she has worked over the years include the annual NGC Bocas Lit Fest in Trinidad,[11][12] and the British Council's 2016 collaboration with the Yasnaya Polyana Museum-Estate of Leo Tolstoy.