Diana Athill, writer and editor, dies aged 101

Centenarian writer and editor won acclaim for ‘nannying’ authors such as Margaret Atwood and VS Naipaul, and for the sharp insights of her own books

Writer and editor Diana Athill, whose clear eye on life and literature inspired authors and readers alike, has died after a short illness aged 101. The news was confirmed by the publisher Granta.

Athill combined a glittering career in publishing, where she worked with writers including Philip Roth, Margaret Atwood, Jean Rhys and VS Naipaul, with award-winning success as an author herself, turning her flinty gaze on love, work and approaching death in memoirs including Instead of a Letter, Stet and the Costa biography prize-winning Somewhere Towards the End.

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