Diana Athill and other things - Enid Richemont

A few weeks ago, on a hot Sunday afternoon in July, I went to a talk by the writer and publisher Diana Athill, now in her middle nineties. Like so many people, I'd read her semi-biography: SOMEWHERE TOWARDS THE END (I must now get hold of her short stories which I gather are amazing). She is a fantastic person, and so beautiful - really beautiful (I've filched this image of her from the flyer, but it's not air-brushed - she really does look like that).
          She came on stage with a little assistance from her biographer, Ronald Hayman, sweeping up the aisle in a violet-turquoise gown, and proceeded to talk, without any backing notes, for about three quarters of an hour (I couldn't do that), after which she dealt very competently with questions which had to be conveyed to her by her agent because she's a bit deaf.
          One of the things she talked about was of how she had pared down her life in order to move into sheltered accomodation - the books and artworks that had to go - and I look at my own stuff and wonder how the hell she did it. I have David's lifetime collection of science fiction, which now that he's no longer here means so much to me, and my own library of much-loved books. I longed to ask her: do you have a Kindle? But I'm one of those people much too shy to throw questions at a celeb, so I didn't, but I did learn that she's happy using a computer for her work, so she probably does. What a woman!
          I've also started re-reading BRING UP THE BODIES, by Hilary Mantel, this time round for the simple pleasure of her writing.           Before he died, David had been re-publishing my out of print back list as e-books, and there are, I think, eleven digital editions, which must constitute a 'list' (comments re-publicity would be most welcome). At present, I can't bear to continue what he started, and would, anyway, need some kind of professional help with doing it.
          I also needed help with the website he set up for me a few years ago, because it froze at the point where we'd talked about the new picture book 'coming out later this year', and now it's coming out in September. This has now been sorted by my hugely helpful Wordpool colleagues, Diana and Steve Kimpton. 
          The e-books are something else, though. David's office room has a comfortable bed, so if any e-book savvies fancy a free couple of days in North London at any time in the next few months, in exchange for some sensitive help, please get in touch (think theatres, galleries, etc etc...)
          I could fill up this blog with descriptions of my continuing grief and loneliness, but instead, I'd like to publicise my grand-daughter's Covent Garden debut with the Camden Fringe. She's just seventeen, a dedicated actress, and she's starring in a two-hander, which, I think, is very brave. It's called 'TRANSPORTS', and it's on at the Tristan Bates Theatre in Covent Garden from the 16th to the 21st of September.
          The play is by Jon Welch, and the blurb: 'A sociopathic fifteen year old is shunted into her final foster home, where her widowed foster mother has a hint of a foreign accent, verbal diarrhoea, and a trunk full of secrets'. 
          If you can, please come. It's already had brilliant reviews in both the West Briton and The Cornishman (my daughter settled in Cornwall many years ago), but putting it on the London stage, albeit the Fringe, is something else.

          Find Enid's other ebooks here.

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