British poet and novelist D.J. (Dennis Joseph) Enright was born in Warwickshire, England, on March 11, 1920. After receiving a master's degree at the University of Cambridge, Enright taught in Egypt, England, Japan, Germany, Thailand, and Singapore. He was an honorary professor at the University of Warwick from 1975 to 1980. Enright published novels, poetry, and collections of essays, including Academic Year (1955), Paradise Illustrated (1975), and Man is an Onion (1972). Enright died in London on December 31, 2002.
British publisher Peter Owen was born Peter Offenstadt in Nuremberg, Germany on February 24, 1927. He immigrated to England with his family in 1933. Owen founded Peter Owen Publishers in 1951, and published writers including Hermann Hesse, Jean Cocteau, Yukio Mishima and Tarjei Vesaas in the English language. He was honored with an Order of the British Empire in 2014 for his services to literature. Owen died in London on May 31, 2016.
British poet and novelist D.J. Enright wrote this letter regarding the reprint of a novel by Hannah Closs to British publisher Peter Owen on January 10, 1990.
Enright contacted Owen in his search for a publisher who would reprint Closs's "Albigensian" novel High Are the Mountains, at the request of Closs's husband, August. Enright signed and dated the typed letter in black ink. The letter is accompanied by a hand addressed envelope to Owen's offices in London.