In memoriam thread

A thread for remembering writers, comments, links to obituaries etc.

Dick King-Smith, author of a large number of books for children, died yesterday, aged 88. I will add links later.

Good idea for a thread, Luci. I just hope it does not need a lot of use in 2011.

I've seen the news on one of my crime fiction lists that Joe Gores has died aged 79. He was one of those writers whose work I've been meaning to get round to for a little while. He wrote a series about a PI firm, and he had worked as a PI himself for 12 years.

I added this thread to the wiki when you first posted it, Luci, but forgot to mention it.

Mystery editor extraordinaire, Ruth Cavin, passed away earlier this week. Known as the "first lady of mystery," Cavin acquired and edited more than 900 books, mostly mysteries.

Among the mystery authors who did their first novels with her: Steve Hamilton, Laurie King, Charles Todd, Donna Andrews, and Julia Spencer-Fleming.

Amazingly, she did not begin her work as an editor until age 61.

ETA: Link to her obituary...
http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/obituaries/articles/2011/01/12/ruth_cavin_book...

Author Charles Todd "marveled that his kindly, white-haired editor liked to loosen up after hours with a Marlboro and a Budweiser."

Oh no - I had no idea that Dick King Smith had died! How sad. I'll have to root out The Sheep Pig for a re-read.

Diana Norman, historical novelist, also wrote historical crime series as Ariana Franklin, has died aged 77.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-12309949

I've really loved several of her books, and have the first Ariana Franklin one to try.

#8: I have enjoyed the series she wrote as Franklin. I am sorry to hear about her death.

I've been going into LT to edit her details - one had her down as born 1948 and another 1950! Even her own publicity website as Franklin says she was born "just before" WWII. I've put 1933 in for now, will amend when a newspaper obituary appears.

Lost track of this thread for a while. Reynolds Price died on January 20, 2011. I've only read his Kate Vaiden, but he's long been on my shelf of Authors I Need to Know Better.

How awful to hear of Norman's death! I am not a lover of mysteries, but have loved those of hers that I've read so far.

Would it be appropriate to mark the 'death' of Thomas P. Lowry's career by his own hand here? I learned this week that he admits to changing the date on the pardon of a Civil War soldier that was signed by Abraham Lincoln; he committed this unpardonable sin while right inside the National Archives! How can anyone ever crack the covers of any of his books again? Should the heat go off, I am thinking of using my only book by him as kindling.

I just finished Mistress of the Art of Death and loved it. I am so sorry Norman (Franklin) has died just as I have discovered her!

So sad to hear about Norman (I had no idea Franklin was a pseudonym)! I loved the Mistress of the Art of Death books and she seemed like someone concerned with presenting history correctly while weaving a good story – I loved how she would always point out where she deviated from history.

Diana Norman's obituary from the Guardian, written by another crime writer, Laura Wilson:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/feb/04/diana-norman-obituary

Brian Jacques, children's author, known for the Redwall series, died on Saturday 5 February aged 71

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-merseyside-12380763

#12 - Lowry is now claiming he was coerced into confessing and that he is not guilty of the charges. All the same I think is career is over.

RIP Suze Rotolo, artist and author of A Freewheelin' Time, a memoir about her late teens/early 20s in Greenwich Village and the 60s - and Dylan, but that's not at all all she wrote about. She died of lung cancer last week, aged just 67.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2011/feb/28/suze-rotolo-obituary

Arnost Lustig, Czech writer who wrote of the Holocaust:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/arnost-lustig-survivor-of-three-naz...

Has anyone read his books?

#19 - I haven't read any of his books, but I knew him slightly when I was at AU during the 80s. I had a friend who TA'ed for him. She had some interesting things to say about him.

#19 I read Lovely Green Eyes by Arnost Lustig an unusual Halocaust story which made me think a lot (as well as a fast paced plot) I highly recommend it.

Very sad to see the news that Diana Wynne Jones died in the early hours of this morning.

>22 souloftherose: Oh no! I hadn't heard that. I love her books.

Oh, that's terribly sad. I feared it was coming, as she had been battling lung cancer for a while - she'd made the decision to stop chemotherapy last summer - that would mean she outlived the doctor's forecast by 6 months.

Are you folk aware of the Written in Stone group, where Varielle keeps a pretty comprehensive catalogue of deaths, with occasional help from others?

Joe Bageant, author of Deer Hunting with Jesus died March 26, 2011, after a brief battle with cancer. Obits can be found on his website: http://www.joebageant.com/

#22 - 24 Me too (loved her books & very sad) - I'd thought she'd gone into remission, but I suppose when you stop chemo, that can only go on so long.

We've got one more novel (Earwig and the Witch) and there's also going to be a collection of her articles letters and talks coming out at some point this year.

Neil Gaiman (who was a friend and saw her not long before she died) has written a blog about her.

Another RIP, I've not read his books but I've heard him speak:

HRF Keating died on Sunday 27 March, age 84

http://www.allisonandbusby.com/info/news-events/veteran-crime-writer-h-r-f-keati...

I believe his work's being reissued at the moment, because a new edition of one of his Inspector Ghote novels was offered on Amazon Vine

Not a writer of books, but of British TV comedy, most famously Only Fools and Horses, about a working class family in Peckham, south London - I just heard on the news that John Sullivan has died.

Copied from Darryl's Club Read list:

The famed Argentinian writer Ernesto Sábato, author of The Tunnel, On Heroes and Tombs, and The Angel of Darkness, died on Saturday at the age of 99. The obituary in today's New York Times is pretty weak, but there is a much better one in yesterday's Guardian

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/may/01/ernesto-sabato-obituaryErnesto Sábato obituary

Joanna Russ died a few weeks ago on 29 April 2011, I've just found her obituary in last Friday's Guardian:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/may/12/joanna-russ-obituary

Leonora Carrington, writer and Surrealist artist, aged 94:

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/features/nazis-nannies-and-h...

http://www.mysanantonio.com/entertainment/article/Surrealist-artist-Leonora-Carr...

Gil Scott-Heron, the spoken word artist, musician, poet and novelist, died in New York yesterday at the age of 62, after returning from a European tour:

Gil Scott-Heron, Voice of Black Culture, Dies at 62 (New York Times)

Gil Scott-Heron obituary (Guardian)

Thank you Darryl, that is sad news, his music isn't my normal listening, but I really love the small part of it I've heard.

You're welcome, Luci. I'll admit to being choked up about his passing, particularly because he was in the midst of a career comeback after a long spell of inactivity. I had hoped to see him perform in concert this summer, as I had missed seeing him in Atlanta a couple of years ago.

I knew that GSH was a published poet, but I didn't realize until today that he had a Master's degree in Creative Writing from Johns Hopkins, and had written several novels. I downloaded two of them onto my Kindle this morning, and I'll read at least one of them in the next few weeks.

Lilian Jackson Braun, the author of 29 Cat Who cozy mysteries, just passed away at age 97.

http://www.legacy.com/ns/obituary.aspx?n=lilian-braun&pid=151633188

Thanks Linda, I was intending to try and post that one.

#36. Awww.....I enjoyed some of those.

RIP - Koko and YumYum

36- Wow, thanks for posting. I was beginning to wonder about her. In all of her books her picture looks exactly the same, and I never heard any news of her. She must have been a very private person.

Yes, RIP Koko, YumYum, and Quill...

Patrick Leigh Fermor, author of incomparable travel books and hero of incomparable feats (like kidnapping a Nazi general in Occupied Crete and transporting him back to be interrogated by the top brass), died today in Greece, age 96. Happily, the third volume of his walking trip from Holland to Constantinople in the early/mid 30s is, his biographer says, now complete and will be published. That story begins with A Time of Gifts.

Here's the obit: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/jun/10/patrick-leigh-fermor-dies-96

Kathryn Tucker Windham, Southern storyteller, folklorist, author and friend of Harper Lee, has died. Don't just read the story, listen. You'll be glad you did.

RIP Iain Blair, better known as Emma Blair, author of historical sagas with strong female characters.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/culture-obituaries/books-obituaries/8...

RIP Jennifer Worth, author of Call the Midwife, a memoir of working as a midwife in east London in the 1950s, and two further books, Shadows of the Workhouse and Farewell to the East End. She died of cancer on 31 May aged 75. She's also written a book about the care of elderly people.

Sorry to have lost Dean Faulkner Wells. An author, and a wonderful friend of authors, not to mention that she was the niece of my man, Bill.

Stan Barstow, whose most famous book was A Kind of Loving died on 1 August.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/aug/01/stan-barstow-obituary

Leslie Esdaile Banks known as L. A. Banks died early morning of August 3rd. She suffered from adrenal cancer. She was the author of the Vampire Huntress Legend Series. If you have anymore information please feel free to add links.

I don't have more information at the moment, not really my thing but my partner likes her books. She was only 50. Sad.

> 48

I think as a tribute I am going to read one of her books this month in the challenge "Authors Who use 2 Initials.

Elle Newmark, author of two novels, The Sandalwood Tree (a recent ER title) and The Book of Unholy Mischief died aged 65 at the end of June, after a long illness. I haven't read her books but I'm being sent a copy of #2 to review for the Transworld reading challenge.

William Sleator died August 3rd. I have only read one of his books, House of Stairs, and enjoyed it.

http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/authors/obituaries/article/48229-obi...

Fred Imus, co-author of Two Guys Four Corners: Great Photographs, Great Times, and a Million Laughs and The Fred Book, songwriter, and host of "Trailer Park Bash" on Sirius Satellite Radio died August 6 of as yet undetermined causes.

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/2011/08/06/2011-08-06_fred_imus_songwri...

Not an author, but a publisher of classic mysteries. I've deal with Enid many times and will miss her.

According to Janet Rudolph's mystery blog:
"The Mystery Community lost one of its special people this morning. Enid Schantz, bookseller, book publisher (Rue Morgue), convention organizer, reviewer and wonderful person, succumbed to cancer early this morning."

I'm glad you posted that, I'd seen the news on the 4 Mystery Addicts email list. I always used to enjoy browsing their stall at US conventions, and chatted to Enid and her husband once or twice.

Hella Serafia Haasse 2 februari 1918 – 29 september 2011

Last Thursday at the age of 93 years Hella Haasse, the “Grand Old Lady of Dutch literature”, passed away after a short illness.

Haasse was a writer of historical novels, but also of essays, autobiographical material, short stories, theater plays etc., together more than 70 works.

She was best known in Holland for her debut novel, Oeroeg, published in 1948, which told the story of a friendship between a Dutch boy and a native from the the Dutch East Indies – a controversial topic in post-war Netherlands – which drew on her own experiences, she was born and lived there during the first 20 years of her life.

Probably internationally best known is her In a Dark Wood Wandering, a fictionalised biography of Charles, Duke of Orleans, who was captured at the battle of Agincourt during the Hundred Year War and taken to Britain as a prisoner.

Her own favourite novel was Threshold of Fire, which describes one (extraordinary) day in the life of the last Roman classical poet Claudius Claudianus.

A lot of her works have been translated all over the world, her complete works are available in French.

In a career which spanned seven decades, she got numerous awards for her work, among them the Constantijn Huygens Prijs in 1981, the P.C. Hooft Prijs in 1984, and the Prijs der Nederlandse Letteren 2004, all prestigious literary honours in Holland. She was also made an Officier dans l’Ordre de la Légion d’Honneur in 2000 in France.

She was a lovely person.

Thanks for posting that, Marieke - with the photo too. I'm not familiar with her work at all, but will check out some of those titles.

The puertorriqueño-cubano author Piri Thomas died on Monday, at the age of 83. He grew up on the rough streets of Spanish Harlem in NYC, and was best known for his 1967 memoir Down These Mean Streets, a no holds barred look at the horrors and hardships of inner city life. He also wrote two novels, Savior, Savior Hold My Hand and Seven Long Times, a short story collection, Stories from El Barrio, and poetry, which he set to music.

New York Times: Piri Thomas, Spanish Harlem Author, Dies at 83

The longtime CBS writer, reporter, commentator and all around curmudgeon Andy Rooney died yesterday at the age of 92, from complications after surgery soon after his retirement. I didn't realize that he had written 15 books during his life, which include his first book A Few Minutes With Andy Rooney and his last, 60 Years of Wisdom and Wit. For those of you not in the US, he was a fixture on the Sunday evening CBS News program 60 Minutes since 1978, ending each broadcast with a bitingly funny and occasionally touching piece about his life, our society, and the world we live in. He gave me many laughs and smiles over the years, and he'll be missed by many of us.

Andy Rooney, '60 Minutes' Commentator, Dies

I'm so glad he got to say good-bye to us. I was already missing him. Wish he could have enjoyed a bit of retirement.

I am sorry to see him go, and will miss him on 60 Minutes. I imagine he died as he wished, "with his boots on" so to speak. Retirement is just not all it is cracked up to be, for some people.

A songwriter rather than an author, although he collaborated with Ian Rankin on a show and album Jackie Leven says:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2011/nov/15/jackie-leven

Rankin wrote about Rebus listening to the music and Leven contacted him about it and they went from there, apparently. That was how I first heard of him, I was curious and I liked what I heard.

I'm really sad about this one, I had a lot of his music downloaded but after a series of hard drive crashes and a drowned ipod I may have to just buy it all again, I'm going to try and find out later.

I've seen the references in Ian Rankin, but hadn't got round to looking up more about him or listening to his music; something to investigate now. I hope you don't have to download it all over again, Luci.

It's not as bad as it sounds if I do, I have two emusic subscriptions meaning I need to use it or lose it to the tune of 130 album tracks a month. I used to buy loads and every time I was thinking of ditching it I would find just a few more things to use this month's subs. Emusic is an indie label site and I think a lot of Leven's work was/is there as he'd been on Cooking Vinyl for the last 17 years.

I've got a membership of eMusic and keep forgetting to download - I hate it that you can't carry over from one month to the next. I put membership on hold for a few months recently - I must check if I'm back live again, and perhaps download some of his.

Anne McCaffrey has passed away http://www.mediabistro.com/galleycat/anne-mccaffrey-has-died_b42826

I just saw that in the rec. arts.sf.written newsgroup, and figured that is what this post was about. I knew she was 85, but had no idea she wasn't well, just finished reading the latest Pern book.

Me too and she had talked about doing another F'lar & Lessa book I guess I'll just have to go back and read the originals again I am a huge fan of the world of Pern she created!

Shelagh Delaney, playwright best known for A Taste of Honey has died aged 72 - this obit says 71 but in fact she would have turned 73 yesterday (of breast cancer and heart failure):

http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2011/nov/21/shelagh-delaney

And Peter Reading, poet, at 65 (much too young it seems to me, now my parents are 67 and 71

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/8907920/Peter-Reading.html

Ken Russell - not a writer but I just loved his filming of Women in Love

Russell Hoban has died aged 86:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/dec/14/russell-hoban-dies-86

Thanks for that, Kerry. He's been a very interesting writer, I'm sorry he won't be writing any more.

George Whitman, the founder of the current version of the famed Shakespeare and Company bookstore in Paris, died today at the age of 98. Whitman opened the second version of the bookstore in 1950; the original bookshop was founded by Sylvia Beach in 1919, which closed in 1941. He and the bookstore were described in the book Time Was Soft There by Jeremy Mercer, who spent several months there as a "tumbleweed", one of the thousands of people who lived in the bookstore for free in exchange for working there and reading one book a day.

George Whitman, founder of Paris’ Shakespeare and Company bookstore, dies at age 98

I read Time Was Soft There a couple of months ago. I am sorry to hear about Whitman's death.

The public intellectual Christopher Hitchens, author of God Is Not Great, Hitch-22 and numerous other books, lost his public battle to esophageal cancer last night, at the age of 62.

New York Times: Polemicist Who Slashed All, Freely, With Wit

Guardian: Christopher Hitchens dies aged 62

Oh, I hadn't heard about Hitchens. Another one who died with his boots on. Wow, he was getting his message out to the end.

I just came here to see if anyone had posted yet about Hitchens. I saw him speak just a little over a year ago---"ferocious intellect" indeed.

I wondered if someone had posted, and thought when I saw so many posts that someone must have.

I was having a look at prices of his books on Amazon - I read his memoir Hitch 22 last year and then bought the Kindle version with a new introduction clearly written after his diagnosis this year. I'm interested in Arguably but it's a rather weighty 800 page tome in paper. Anyway, I discovered that there is a blog called Christopher Hitchens Watch (We watch Hitchens so you don't have to) - I wonder what they'll do now!

On another note entirely, Helen Forrester was the author of one of my favourite memoirs, Twopence to Cross the Mersey - it has been unfairly described as misery lit - it's really not. She has died at the age of 92:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/dec/02/helen-forrester

Too many deaths at this time of year,

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/dec/03/christopher-logue

The Czech playwright, dissident and poet Vaclav Havel died earlier this morning after a long illness, at the age of 75. He was the last president of Czechoslovakia, and the first democratically elected president of the Czech Republic, serving from 1993-2003.

Havel, Czech Playwright And Former President, Dies

Aussie shit-stirrer and art critic with the Times, Robert Hughes, died in New York today. Writer of several books, including Shock of the New and American Visions and the excellent The Fatal Shore he was witty and erudite and a bit of a rabble-rouser.