Hilary McPhee, a titan of Australian publishing, has died at the age of 85. Alongside Diana Gribble, she founded McPhee Gribble in 1975, a publishing house that would come to define a generation of Australian literature.
The imprint's roster included Helen Garner, Tim Winton, Kathy Lette, Dorothy Hewett, Kaz Cooke, Drusilla Modjeska, Jennifer Dabbs and John Misto. Among its most celebrated titles are Winton's "Cloudstreet," Garner's "Monkey Grip" and Lette and Gabrielle Carey's "Puberty Blues."
Garner paid tribute to her former publisher. "I published my first four books with McPhee Gribble. Hilary was a fine editor. I'll always be grateful for that," she said.
Winton was just 24 when he first visited the McPhee Gribble offices, housed in a converted factory in Melbourne's Fitzroy. He had been directed there by literary agent Caroline Lurie after his first publisher, Allen & Unwin, did not want him to write a collection of short stories. "I was excited and daunted," Winton recalled of their first meeting, noting he was already aware of McPhee's reputation as the publisher of "Monkey Grip."
McPhee's death marks the end of an era for Australian letters, but her influence endures in the writers she championed and the books she helped bring into the world.