Diana Wynne Jones

[steepholm]

Very sad to hear of the death of Diana Wynne Jones this morning.

I visited her in the hospice a few times over the last week, and it was noticeable how rapidly she was declining. They had been hoping to bring her home yesterday, but she was pronounced too ill for that - so I'm not surprised by this, but still shocked.

She had been in a good deal of pain, and the painkillers were making her drift in and out of consciousness much of the time. Also, the cancer had affected her eyesight. But when she was awake her mind and her humour were still there, even when I last saw her on Wednesday. I shall miss her a great deal.

Comments

[strange-complex.livejournal.com]

This is sad news for everyone, but I wanted to say that I'm particularly sorry in your case given that she was obviously a personal friend as well as an inspirational author to you. I hope that her last weeks were not too awful for her or those around her.

[steepholm.livejournal.com]

Thank you. I was about to reply to the remark you made in your own journal that "the conversation is now over", that I interviewed her a few weeks ago for a book that we're hoping will come out next year, mostly made up of her essays, talks, etc. So the conversation is not quite over yet. I read her the transcript of the interview when I visited a few days ago, and she was happy with it.

[strange-complex.livejournal.com]

That's good to hear - good on you for your work in putting it together. I'll look forward to seeing it when it comes out.

[steepholm.livejournal.com]

I should say that while I'm helping, the putting together was mostly done by DWJ herself and her agent, a bit before Christmas. I think it will be a good volume, and I'll be sure to publicize it here and elsewhere when the time comes.