 Administrative Director and Budget Officer of the Guelph Spring Festival for many years, Benson is a former Chair of The Writers Union of Canada (1983–84), and was Founding co-President (with Margaret Atwood) of the Canadian Centre, International PEN (1984–85), and Vice-President (1985–90).As an activist advancing the cause of writers, Benson served as president of PEN Canada (an association of writers formed to defend freedom of expression) in 1984 and, in 1983, as chairman of the Writers' Union of Canada, a position also once held by noted authors Margaret Atwood, Pierre Berton, June Callwood, Timothy Findley, Graeme Gibson, Susan Musgrave, and Paul Quarrington.He has written four plays broadcast on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, and translations of Quebec plays with his wife Renate Benson.