RIP Camen Callil, Founder of Virago Press

Carmen Callil, the founder of Virago Press, died October 17, 2022, at the age of 84, of leukemia. This is sad news indeed. But I write to celebrate the groundbreaking, earthshaking press she started in 1973, which focused on reviving literary works by women authors. Its imprint “Virago Modern Classics” reissued the work of such “forgotten” writers as Rebecca West and Antonia White. Virago’s distinctive green covers alerted readers to the hundreds of women writers it published. I personally read many of these. The Guardian states that with Virago, Callil “transformed the canon of English literature.” (Thanks too to the New York Times’ obituary for some of the information above.) I and many, many other readers are deeply grateful to Callil and to Virago. RIP, Carmen Callil, and thank you!