Wednesday, 5 October 2011
Di Gribble
How very sad to learn that Di Gribble has died. Like Colin Haycraft (although also very different from him), she was a publisher who was happy to encourage original but unknown writing. Without her, would we ever have heard from Helen Garner? Bringing her clear, penetrating and always immensely readable work to our attention is achievement enough, but I suspect Gribble did far more than that for Australian literature. Why, why, is it always the good ones that get taken?
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Oh I'm so sorry to hear that. I know more of Hilary McPhee because of her book Other people's words, but the two of them as I understand were responsible for introducing Garner among others to us. McPhee Gribble was an inspired publisher I think.
ReplyDeleteYes, I think that's right, Whispering, not enough of them around now.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry to hear it too, and I get sorrier every time I read another obituary -- "She had a rare gift: she enabled other people to work creatively" -- "I had no idea how ideas were turned into books. But instead of laughing at me Diana Gribble bought me a rubber cane toad" -- "She was wise" -- etc.
ReplyDeleteIf it's any comfort, Umbagollah, I have a weird belief that people who die in the same few months spend a bit of time together afterwards in some ethereal place, so she and Steve Jobs may be having interesting conversations somewhere (and don't spoil this vision by pointing out that various ogres have also carked it recently and will be spoiling the party wherever it is that they are all collected together.)
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