Diana Athill
Encyclopedia
Diana Athill OBE
(born December 21, 1917) is a British
literary editor, novelist and memoirist who worked with some of the most important writers of the 20th century.
in 1939 and worked for the BBC
throughout the Second World War. After it she helped André Deutsch
establish his publishing company and worked closely with many of his authors, including Philip Roth
, Norman Mailer
, John Updike
, Mordecai Richler
, Simone de Beauvoir
, Jean Rhys
, Gitta Sereny
, Brian Moore
, V. S. Naipaul
, Charles Gidley Wheeler
and David Gurr
.
She retired in 1993 at the age of 75, after more than 50 years in publishing. She continues to influence the publishing world through her revealing memoirs about her editorial career. She is best known for her books of memoirs (these were not written in chronological order, Yesterday Morning being the account of her childhood) and has also translated various works from French.
She appeared on Desert Island Discs at the age of 86 and selected a recording of Haydn's Creation as the most valued of the eight records and Thackeray's Vanity Fair as the book.
Athill was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2009 New Year Honours.
In 2009, she won the Costa Book Award, for her memoir Somewhere Towards The End, a book about old age. In June 2010, she was the subject of a BBC
documentary, "Growing Old Disgracefully", part of the Imagine
series.
She lives in a care home.
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
(born December 21, 1917) is a British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
literary editor, novelist and memoirist who worked with some of the most important writers of the 20th century.
Life and writings
Athill graduated from Lady Margaret Hall, OxfordLady Margaret Hall, Oxford
Lady Margaret Hall is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England, located at the end of Norham Gardens in north Oxford. As of 2006 the college had an estimated financial endowment of £34m....
in 1939 and worked for the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
throughout the Second World War. After it she helped André Deutsch
André Deutsch
André Deutsch was a British publisher.After having learned the business of publishing working for Francis Aldor with whom he was interned in the Isle of Man during the Second World War and who had introduced him to the industry, André Deutsch left Aldor's employment after a few months to continue...
establish his publishing company and worked closely with many of his authors, including Philip Roth
Philip Roth
Philip Milton Roth is an American novelist. He gained fame with the 1959 novella Goodbye, Columbus, an irreverent and humorous portrait of Jewish-American life that earned him a National Book Award...
, Norman Mailer
Norman Mailer
Norman Kingsley Mailer was an American novelist, journalist, essayist, poet, playwright, screenwriter, and film director.Along with Truman Capote, Joan Didion, Hunter S...
, John Updike
John Updike
John Hoyer Updike was an American novelist, poet, short story writer, art critic, and literary critic....
, Mordecai Richler
Mordecai Richler
Mordecai Richler, CC was a Canadian Jewish author, screenwriter and essayist. A leading critic called him "the great shining star of his Canadian literary generation" and a pivotal figure in the country's history. His best known works are The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz, Barney's Version,...
, Simone de Beauvoir
Simone de Beauvoir
Simone-Ernestine-Lucie-Marie Bertrand de Beauvoir, often shortened to Simone de Beauvoir , was a French existentialist philosopher, public intellectual, and social theorist. She wrote novels, essays, biographies, an autobiography in several volumes, and monographs on philosophy, politics, and...
, Jean Rhys
Jean Rhys
Jean Rhys , born Ella Gwendolen Rees Williams, was a mid 20th-century novelist from Dominica. Educated from the age of 16 in Great Britain, she is best known for her novel Wide Sargasso Sea , written as a "prequel" to Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre.-Early life:Rhys was born in Roseau, Dominica...
, Gitta Sereny
Gitta Sereny
Gitta Sereny is an Austrian-born biographer, historian and investigative journalist whose writing focuses mainly on the Holocaust and child abuse. She is the stepdaughter of the economist Ludwig von Mises....
, Brian Moore
Brian Moore
Brian Moore may refer to:*Brian Moore *Brian Moore *Brian Moore , Chief Constable of Wiltshire Police, England...
, V. S. Naipaul
V. S. Naipaul
Sir Vidiadhar Surajprasad "V. S." Naipaul, TC is a Nobel prize-winning Indo-Trinidadian-British writer who is known for his novels focusing on the legacy of the British Empire's colonialism...
, Charles Gidley Wheeler
Charles Gidley Wheeler
Charles Gidley Wheeler was a television screenwriter and historical novelist whose work has been acclaimed in Publishers Weekly, The Washington Post, Kirkus Reviews, and The New York Times....
and David Gurr
David Gurr
David Hugh Courtney Gurr is a Canadian writer and author of literary novels and political thrillers. He was born William Le Breton Harvey Brisbane-Bedwell in 1936 in London, England but his name was changed by adoption in 1941. He was educated at and University College in England before emigrating...
.
She retired in 1993 at the age of 75, after more than 50 years in publishing. She continues to influence the publishing world through her revealing memoirs about her editorial career. She is best known for her books of memoirs (these were not written in chronological order, Yesterday Morning being the account of her childhood) and has also translated various works from French.
She appeared on Desert Island Discs at the age of 86 and selected a recording of Haydn's Creation as the most valued of the eight records and Thackeray's Vanity Fair as the book.
Athill was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2009 New Year Honours.
In 2009, she won the Costa Book Award, for her memoir Somewhere Towards The End, a book about old age. In June 2010, she was the subject of a BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
documentary, "Growing Old Disgracefully", part of the Imagine
Imagine (TV series)
Imagine is a wide ranging arts series first broadcast on BBC One in 2003, hosted and executive produced by Alan Yentob. Each series usually consists of 4 to 7 episodes, each on a different topic...
series.
She lives in a care home.
Fiction
- An Unavoidable Delay (1962), short stories
- Don't Look at Me Like That: a novel. London: Chatto & Windus, 1967
- Midsummer Night in the Workhouse (2011), short stories
Autobiography
- 1963: Instead of a Letter. London: Chatto & Windus
- 1986: After a Funeral. London: CapeJonathan CapeJonathan Cape was a London-based publisher founded in 1919 as "Page & Co" by Herbert Jonathan Cape , formerly a manager at Duckworth who had worked his way up from a position of bookshop errand boy. Cape brought with him the rights to cheap editions of the popular author Elinor Glyn and sales of...
— winner of the J. R. Ackerley Prize for AutobiographyJ. R. Ackerley Prize for AutobiographyThe J. R. Ackerley Prize for Autobiography is awarded annually by the English Centre for International PEN to given to a literary autobiography of excellence, written by an author of British nationality and published during the preceding year. The winner receives £1,000 and a silver pen. The winner... - 1993: Make Believe. London: Sinclair-Stevenson
- 2000: Stet: a memoir, London: GrantaGrantaGranta is a literary magazine and publisher in the United Kingdom whose mission centers on its "belief in the power and urgency of the story, both in fiction and non-fiction, and the story’s supreme ability to describe, illuminate and make real." In 2007, The Observer stated, "In its blend of...
ISBN 1862073880 - 2002: Yesterday Morning: a very English childhood. London: Granta
- 2008: Somewhere Towards the End. London: Granta
- 2009: Life Class: the Selected Memoirs of Diana Athill. London: Granta ISBN 1847081231
External links
- *"Editing Vidia" — full-text article in Granta, 2001, excerpt from "Stet"
- Correia, Arlindo. Profile of Diana Athill; a selection of her articles extracted from various British and American publications
- Overview of published comments on Stet
- Short BBC interview with Fiona Bruce, BBC NewsBBC NewsBBC News is the department of the British Broadcasting Corporation responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs. The department is the world's largest broadcast news organisation and generates about 120 hours of radio and television output each day, as well as online...
, January 2009 - Interview with Jenni Murray and Dennis Healey on being 90, BBC Radio 4BBC Radio 4BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...
, 22 May 2009 - Essay on moving into an old people's home, The GuardianThe GuardianThe Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
, 17 April 2009 - Diana Athill tells her life story at Web of Stories (video)