Dione Patricia Mary Venables, also known by her pen name as DG Finlay, is an English novelist and publisher who also founded

The Orwell Society The Orwell Society is a literary society and a UK registered charity. It was founded in 2011 with the aim of promoting the understanding and appreciation of the life and work of George Orwell (the pen name of Eric Arthur Blair 1903–1950). Its ...

Life and work

Venables was born Dione Gordon-Finlay in

Great Missenden Great Missenden is an affluent village with approximately 2,000 residents in the Misbourne Valley in the Chiltern Hills in Buckinghamshire, England, situated between the towns of Amersham and Wendover, with direct rail connections to London Mary ...

, England in 1930, the second daughter of

Alan Alan may refer to: People *Alan (surname), an English and Turkish surname * Alan (given name), an English given name **List of people with given name Alan ''Following are people commonly referred to solely by "Alan" or by a homonymous name.'' *A ...

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 surviving

The Blitz The Blitz was a German bombing campaign against the United Kingdom in 1940 and 1941, during the Second World War. The term was first used by the British press and originated from the term , the German word meaning 'lightning war'. The Germa ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. She developed a relationship with

Arthur Ransome Arthur Michell Ransome (18 January 1884 – 3 June 1967) was an English author and journalist. He is best known for writing and illustrating the ''Swallows and Amazons'' series of children's books about the school-holiday adventures of childre ...

during the

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, who encouraged her to write. Her first attempt, at age 11, featured a hedgehog called Edward Wigg, who was adapted by her cousin

Jacintha Buddicom Jacintha Laura May Buddicom (10 May 1901 – 4 November 1993) was an English poet and a childhood friend of George Orwell (Eric Blair). She met Blair in 1914 and they developed a shared interest in poetry, but she lost touch with him after he d ...

in support of the

War Effort In politics and military planning, a war effort is a coordinated mobilization of society's resources—both industrial and human—towards the support of a military force. Depending on the militarization of the culture, the relative size ...

as part of the

National Savings Movement The National Savings Movement was a British mass savings movement that operated between 1916 and 1978 and was used to finance the deficit of government spending over tax revenues. The movement was instrumental during World War II in raising fu ...

. Venables wrote her own diaries, but it was not until 1962 that she published her first articles for magazines and local newspapers reporting on her experiences in

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

, the

Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...

and

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

, while providing relief flights for refugees in war torn states. In 1969, Venables began writing and presenting scripts for radio and in 1978, her first novel was published, with its sequel a year later. In the 1980s, she wrote five more novels before switching her attention to publishing. Dione-venables-02-1024x952

In 2006, Venables created Finlay Publisher with the aim of promoting the life and works of the writer

George Orwell Eric Arthur Blair (25 June 1903 – 21 January 1950), better known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English novelist, essayist, journalist, and critic. His work is characterised by lucid prose, social criticism, opposition to totalitar ...

. Finlay Publisher's first act was to print a new edition of '' Eric & Us'', adding an important post-script written by Venables based on a series of previously unpublished diaries, letters and documented interviews. 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. In 2008, the site began publishing a series of twenty articles written by scholars who had written at length about Orwell. They included Sir

Bernard Crick Sir Bernard Rowland Crick (16 December 1929 – 19 December 2008) was a British political theorist and democratic socialist whose views can be summarised as "politics is ethics done in public". He sought to arrive at a "politics of action", as ...

Gordon Bowker Gordon Bowker is an American entrepreneur. He began as a writer and went on to co-found Starbucks with Jerry Baldwin and Zev Siegl. He was later a co-owner of Peet's Coffee & Tea and Redhook Ale Brewery. Biography Following the death of his ...

DJ Taylor David John Taylor (born 1960) is a British critic, novelist and biographer. After attending school in Norwich, he read Modern History at St John's College, Oxford, and has received the 2003 Whitbread Biography Award for his biography of Geo ...

Peter Davison Peter Malcolm Gordon Moffett (born 13 April 1951), known professionally as Peter Davison, is an English actor with many credits in television dramas and sitcoms. He made his television acting debut in 1975 and became famous in 1978 as Tristan ...

, and Orwell's son, Richard Blair. Contributors encouraged Venables to institute a more formal collective of Orwell enthusiasts and on 27 December 2010, The Orwell Society was inaugurated by Venables at

Phyllis Court Phyllis Court is a private members club in Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, England, situated by the River Thames. The Club was founded in 1906 and is located in a Georgian-style building set within its own grounds, close to the town centre. It ...

. In 2015, she compiled and published Orwell's poetry, and in 2017, she published an account of her own war time experiences. Venables has worked to preserve the memory of George Orwell through guest appearances on television and radio and through The Orwell Society.

Selected works

Novels

*1978 – ''Once Around the Sun'' *1779 – ''The Edge of Tomorrow'' *1984 – ''Watchman'' *1986 – ''The Grey Regard'' *1987 – ''Deadly Relations'' *1987 – ''Graven Image'' *1989 – ''The Killing Glance''

Biography

*2006 – Postscript to ''Eric & Us'' *2015 – Compilation ''George Orwell - The Complete Poetry'' *2017 – Author ''Dione's War''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Venables, Dione 20th-century English women writers 20th-century English writers English women novelists Pseudonymous women writers 1930 births Living people People educated at St Leonards-Mayfield School Founders of charities People from Great Missenden 20th-century pseudonymous writers