https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/jul/19/mary-kay-wilmers-at-faber-ts-eliot-was-referred-to-as-the-glp-greatest-living-poet

The editor of the London Review of Books on its enduring appeal, the late Jenny Diski, and why she’s not ready to hand over the reins in her 80s

Mary-Kay Wilmers, who celebrates her 82nd birthday today, is, according to the New York Times, “Britain’s most influential editor”. She was one of the founders of the London Review of Books in 1979 and has been the paper’s editor for 28 years. Her colourful home life was documented in Love, Nina, a memoir by her former nanny Nina Stibbe. Why Didn’t You Just Do What You Were Told?, a collection of Jenny Diski’s writing for the LRB and selected by Wilmers, has just been published.

What do you like about Jenny Diski’s writing?
She says things that most people don’t say. And she’s funny, really funny, and when you don’t expect it. There’s a wonderful quote I came across this morning: “In my experience, writing doesn’t get easier the more you do it. But there is a growth of confidence; not much, but a nugget, like a pearl, like a tumour.” Who else would think of that?