Dame Carmen Callil | |
|---|---|
| Born | Carmen Thérèse Callil (1938-07-15)15 July 1938 |
| Died | 17 October 2022(2022-10-17) (aged 84) London, England |
| Citizenship | Australian |
| Education | |
| Alma mater | University of Melbourne |
| Occupations |
|
| Known for | Founder ofVirago Press |
| Notable work | Bad Faith: A Forgotten History of Family & Fatherland (2006) |
| Awards | Benson Medal |
Dame Carmen Thérèse Callil,DBE, FRSL (15 July 1938 – 17 October 2022) was an Australian publisher, writer and critic who spent most of her career in the United Kingdom. She foundedVirago Press in 1973 and received theBenson Medal from theRoyal Society of Literature in 2017. She has been described byGail Rebuck as "the most extraordinary publisher of her generation".[1]
Callil was born inMelbourne,Victoria, Australia, on 15 July 1938.[2][3] Her father, Frederick Alfred Louis Callil, was a barrister and lecturer in French at theUniversity of Melbourne who died when Callil was eight years old. He was of Lebanese descent; his father claimed to be the first Lebanese person to emigrate to Australia.[4] Her widowed mother, Lorraine Clare Allen, raised four children, of whom Callil was the third.[2]
Callil was educated atStar of the Sea Convent and atLoreto Mandeville Hall.[5] She then studied at the University of Melbourne, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree in History and Literature in 1960.[2] She emigrated from Australia one week later and settled in London.[6][3][7]
In the same year she left for Europe, and, after a period in Italy, settled in London in 1964. She worked forMarks & Spencer as a buying assistant, then, after placing an advertisement inThe Times ("Australian, B.A. wants job in book publishing"), began work atHutchinson in 1965.[8]
From 1967 to 1970, she was publicity manager of the paperback imprintPanther Books. An example of her work was when Callil lobbied BBC producerLorna Pegram to employB. S. Johnson to talk about his 1969 bookThe Unfortunates for the TV seriesRelease. Johnson's book had eight parts that could be read in many different orders. With barely any negotiation, the interview was ready months before the book was ready for publication. The film included Johnson holding a mock-up of the book that was not at all similar to the final publication.[9]
Callil later took responsibility for all imprints ofGranada Publishing, and then atAnthony Blond andAndré Deutsch. She left to work forInk, a countercultural newspaper founded byRichard Neville, Andrew Fisher,Felix Dennis andEd Victor in 1971.Ink was an offshoot ofOz and was intended to be a bridge between the underground press of the 1960s and the national newspapers of that time. Launched in May 1971, it collapsed in February 1972, following theOz obscenity trial.[10]
AtInk, Callil metMarsha Rowe andRosie Boycott, who founded the feminist magazineSpare Rib in June 1972. In 1973,[6][11] Callil foundedVirago Press (initially known as Spare Rib Books), to "publish books which celebrated women and women's lives, and which would, by so doing, spread the message of women's liberation to the whole population", through the work of new and neglected women writers.[12] Rowe and Boycott became directors of Virago in its first years.[13]
Also in 1972, Callil launched a book publicity company, Carmen Callil Limited.Harriet Spicer became Callil's assistant. This company, run by Spicer and Callil, helped to finance Virago in its early years, together with Callil's inheritance from her grandfather.[3] Further assistance came fromQuartet Books, with whom the first nine Virago titles were published.Ursula Owen became a part-time editor in 1974, before becoming a full-time director later that year,[14] with considerable responsibility for the content of the Virago publishing list. In 1976, Virago became an independent company,[15] with Callil, Owen and Spicer as directors, shortly to be joined byLennie Goodings andAlexandra Pringle.[2][3]
In 1982, Callil was appointed managing director ofChatto & Windus (which had acquired Virago), where she remained until 1994, continuing also as chairman of Virago until 1995. In 1994, she was Editor-At-Large for the worldwide group ofRandom House publishing companies. At Virago, among other business and editorial aspects of the company she was responsible for the creation and development of the Virago Modern Classics list (choosing a distinctive green colour for the books' spines), which brought back into print many hundreds of the best women's works of the past.[16][17]
Callil left book publishing in 1994, and for some years divided her time between London andCaunes-Minervois in France.[3] As a writer and critic, she has contributed reviews and features to many newspapers and journals, in addition to undertaking occasional radio and television work. From 1985 to 1991, she was a member of the Board ofChannel 4 Television.[5][18]
In 1996, Callil chaired the Booker Prize for Fiction panel of judges, which includedJonathan Coe,Ian Jack,A. L. Kennedy andA. N. Wilson.[19] She was a judge for the 2011Man Booker International Prize but resigned in protest after her co-judgesRick Gekoski andJustin Cartwright chosePhilip Roth as the winner.[20][21]
Callil's 2006 book,Bad Faith: A Forgotten History of Family & Fatherland, told the story of Dr Anne Darquier, for seven years Callil's psychiatrist until her suicide in 1970, after which came "the shocking revelation that her father had beenLouis Darquier de Pellepoix,Commissioner for Jewish Affairs inVichy France and known as the FrenchEichmann."[1] Callil's book was well reviewed and shortlisted for theSamuel Johnson Prize,[22][23][24] having involved extensive research carried out on several continents, as Callil "set herself the task of dealing out retroactive justice, not only for Darquier's heinous actions as a Nazi collaborator, but also for the dark, immovable shadow he cast over his daughter's life."[25]
In 2010, Callil was elected a fellow of theRoyal Society of Literature (RSL).[26][27] In 2017, she was awarded the RSL'sBenson Medal for exceptional contribution to literature, alongsideMary-Kay Wilmers andMargaret Busby.[28] In 2018, Callil featured in the exhibitionRights for Women: London's Pioneers in their Own Words, staged atSenate House Library,University of London.[29][30]
In her 2020 book,Oh Happy Day: Those Times and These Times, Callil "traced the turbulent history of her British ancestors from impoverished working class to deportation to Australia for petty crimes."[1] AsThe Herald's reviewer acknowledges: "In research terms, Oh Happy Day is a phenomenal achievement. Callil ... has dug deep into books, newspapers, historical archives, parish records and court documents to provide a meticulous account not only of the lives of her relatives who were 'busy insects of the yearly industrial revolution', but also of the broader historical context."[31]Peter Conrad's review inThe Observer concluded: "In its often tearful compassion, its eloquent rage and its vengeful delight in proletarian snook-cocking, Oh Happy Day deserves to be called Dickensian."[32]
Callil died ofleukaemia on 17 October 2022 at her home in London, aged 84.[3][7][33] She had been working on a personal memoir, which she did not complete.[1]
Carmen Callil, 71, is an author and publisher. In 1973, she co-founded Virago Press, the publishing house dedicated to women's writing. She lives in west London.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Academics | |
| People | |
| Other | |
