ANZ LitLovers LitBlog

It is with sadness that I have to pass on the news that yesterday the iconic Melbourne publisher Di Gribble died of cancer, aged 69.

To Australian readers who came to adulthood in the 1970s, McPhee Gribble was the exciting new publishing venture that brought great new Aussie writers to prominence.  It was founded by Hilary McPhee and Di Gribble in 1975 and the books it published were a staple of my reading in those days.  That imprint was eventually taken over by Penguin but in 1990 Gribble went on to co-found Text Media with Eric Beecher, and then in 2003 became co-founder of Private Media which publishes Crikey (amongst other things).  There is a tribute to her there and one by Jason Steger at the SMH.  

The significant thing about this passing is the extent to which someone like me, who never met Di Gribble, feels a sense of loss.  She was someone who deeply mattered in the Australian publishing scene because she was staunchly local in her support for Australian writers, and global in her outlook on the world, a perspective which shines through at Text Publishing under the stewardship of Michael Heyward. 

We’ll miss her.