Dione Venables: RIP

Quentin Kopp, Chair of The Orwell Society, has released the following:

I am writing with the sad news that Dione Venables, who launched The Orwell Society in 2011 and who played a major role in the development of Orwell Studies, died peacefully on 12 September, aged 92. Dione had been struggling with several debilitating medical conditions over the last 18 months. She faced all these with great fortitude and good humour and departed in the way she had planned with her family around her.

A full account of Dione’s life can be found on Wikipedia.

In 2006 Dione created her own publishing house, Finlay Publishing, to re-issue her cousin Jacintha Buddicom’s Eric and Us, in an extended “Postscript” edition. This contained much on the life and youthful friendships of Orwell and his Thames-side circle before he went to Burma.

In 2015, Finlay Publishing issued George Orwell – The Complete Poetry, which was reviewed in the national press, and drew attention to a little known side of the author.

Between 2008 and 2011, before forming The Orwell Society, our Founder Dione Venables commissioned a number of articles for her “Finlay Publisher” website. These articles can be accessed here. Authors include Peter Davison, John Rodden, Lorraine Saunders, Emma Larkin, and Dominic Cavendish.