Plaque

About This Blue Plaque

Diana Athill was a renowned British literary editor, novelist and memoirist who lived a remarkably long and productive life, passing away in 2019 at the age of 101. She spent over 50 years at the publishing company André Deutsch, where she worked closely with an array of notable writers including Philip Roth, Jean Rhys, V. S. Naipaul and John Updike.

Athill was born in 1917 and grew up in a well-to-do family in Norfolk. She studied at Oxford University before moving to London to pursue a career in publishing. Her sharp instincts and incisive editing skills quickly established her reputation in the literary world. Athill had a particular affinity for nurturing and championing young, raw talent.

In addition to her illustrious editing career, Athill authored several well-received memoirs chronicling her own life experiences with disarming honesty and dry wit. Works like Instead of a Letter (1963), Stet: An Editor’s Life (2000), and the Costa Biography Award-winning Somewhere Towards the End (2008) cemented her status as a gifted writer in her own right.

Athill lived in this charming 18th-century cottage on North Hill in London’s Highgate neighborhood for over 40 years until her death. Highgate has long been a magnet for artists and intellectuals, with famous residents like poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge and singer George Michael. The blue plaque adorning 107 North Hill ensures that Athill’s legacy as one of Britain’s most influential literary figures will endure and inspire future generations of book lovers exploring this historic London village.