The briefest of posts wishing Diana Athill a very happy 100th birthday. For those not familiar with Athill’s books, she’s a fine editor and writer whose elegantly slim slices of autobiography offer an insider’s view of twentieth-century British publishing: Stet is an excellent place to start. Athill also writes with grace and insight about ageing. Her 2015 Alive, Alive, Oh! offers a collection of vignettes from a life thoroughly well lived. And she’s still writing – A Florence Diary was published only last year. Let’s hope she has a splendid day today.
To celebrate Athill’s centenary The Guardian set up a live webchat with her last week. If you missed it and would like to read Claire Armistead’s account of it, it’s here.
Oh I LOVE Diana Athill’s work. I think I’ve read everything she’s written (even the obscure short stories and novel), apart from the Florence diary. I’ll have to pick that up at some point. I got to see her being interviewed by Erica Wagner at Foyles in April of last year and she was still so sprightly and witty.
I was determined to sit down last night and write about Alive Alive Oh which I read last week. But I was so tired, there was no way. Would liked to post that review on her birthday, well if I’m up to it later, I might get it written to post tomorrow.
What a woman!
Isn’t she just!
I heard her interviewed on Radio 4 this morning: inspiring.
Indeed, she is.
Would that they made editors like her these days!
Couldn’t agree more. She’s the British equivalent of William Maxwell for me, although I much prefer her memoirs to her fiction.
What an amazing woman. I so admire her. Thank you so much for posting! 🙂
Me, too. She’s remarkable.
Oh I LOVE Diana Athill’s work. I think I’ve read everything she’s written (even the obscure short stories and novel), apart from the Florence diary. I’ll have to pick that up at some point. I got to see her being interviewed by Erica Wagner at Foyles in April of last year and she was still so sprightly and witty.
She’s wonderful, isn’t she. I’m not so fond of her fiction but can still admire the writing. She knows how to wield a blue pencil!
I was determined to sit down last night and write about Alive Alive Oh which I read last week. But I was so tired, there was no way. Would liked to post that review on her birthday, well if I’m up to it later, I might get it written to post tomorrow.
I’m sure the celebrations will continue for a while, Ali. They seem to have started last week! I’ll look forward to your review.
Thank you so much for posting Harriet Gilbert’s piece. Hopefully there will a podcast version at some point: Athill is awesome!
She most certainly is!