Dione Venables

Dione Venables was born Dione Gordon-Finlay in Great Missenden, England 1930, second daughter of Alan and Florence (née Gallagher). Her early childhood was dominated by a life at St. Leonard's boarding-school from the age of three, and then twice narrowly escaping with her life during The Blitz in London.[4] She developed a relationship with Arthur Ransome during the 2nd World War, who encouraged her to write. Her first attempt (aged 11) featured a hedgehog called Edward Wigg, who was adapted by her cousin Jacintha Buddicom in support of the War Effort as part of the National Savings Movement.[5][6] Venables wrote her own diaries, but it wasn’t until 1962 that she published her first articles for magazines and local newspapers reporting on her experiences in Africa,[7] the Middle East and Pakistan, whilst providing relief flights for refugees in war torn states.[8] In 1969, Venables began writing and presenting scripts for radio[9] and in 1978, she published her first novel,[10] with its sequel a year later.[11] In the 1980s, she published five more novels before switching her attention to publishing.[12][13][14][15][16]

Dione Venables at home, 2019 (photograph by Sally Devincenzi)

In 2006, Venables created Finlay Publisher with the aim of promoting the life and works of the writer George Orwell. Finlay Publisher’s first act was to print a new edition of Eric & Us, adding a detailed post-script written by Venables based on a series of previously unpublished diaries, letters and documented interviews.[17] In August of the same year, Venables created a website called Orwell Direct, a forum for academics and enthusiasts alike to exchange views about Orwell, which in 2008, began publishing a series of twenty articles written by eminent Literati, who between them had written at length about George Orwell. They included Sir Bernard Crick, Gordon Bowker, DJ Taylor, Professor Peter Davison and Orwell’s son, Richard Blair.[18] Contributors encouraged Venables to institute a more formal collective of Orwell enthusiasts and on December 27, 2010, The Orwell Society was inaugurated by Venables at Phyllis Court. In 2015, she compiled and published Orwell’s poetry,[19] and in 2017, she published an account of her own war time experiences.[20]