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| If asked in a quiz for the link between Julie Andrews and Alan Clark, Julian Fellowes and Edna O’Brien, you could give only one correct answer: Ion Trewin, publisher. Trewin, who has died of cancer aged 71, edited their publications and became their friend. One of the great publishers of his generation, as well as an accomplished writer himself, he was responsible for commissioning Thomas Keneally’s Schindler’s Ark, which sold more than a million copies, won the Booker prize in 1982 and was filmed under Steven Spielberg’s direction nine years later as Schindler’s List. | If asked in a quiz for the link between Julie Andrews and Alan Clark, Julian Fellowes and Edna O’Brien, you could give only one correct answer: Ion Trewin, publisher. Trewin, who has died of cancer aged 71, edited their publications and became their friend. One of the great publishers of his generation, as well as an accomplished writer himself, he was responsible for commissioning Thomas Keneally’s Schindler’s Ark, which sold more than a million copies, won the Booker prize in 1982 and was filmed under Steven Spielberg’s direction nine years later as Schindler’s List. |
| Trewin worked with historians such as Antony Beevor and Andrew Roberts, biographers including Richard Holmes and Simon Sebag Montefiore, and many novelists. He had a particularly close relationship with Michael Palin, whose work he continued to edit even after he had formally ceased to be a publisher. He was also centrally involved with the Booker prize and was key to its evolution into the Man Booker prize in 2002. | Trewin worked with historians such as Antony Beevor and Andrew Roberts, biographers including Richard Holmes and Simon Sebag Montefiore, and many novelists. He had a particularly close relationship with Michael Palin, whose work he continued to edit even after he had formally ceased to be a publisher. He was also centrally involved with the Booker prize and was key to its evolution into the Man Booker prize in 2002. |
| Trewin was born in London, the younger son of two of the most admired theatre critics of the last century, JC Trewin and Wendy Trewin (nee Monk), who steeped him in theatre from an early age, taking him to see Shakespeare from the age of five. He was educated at Highgate school, but did not go to university, choosing instead to follow his parents into journalism. At the age of 17 he was taken on by the Plymouth-based Independent and South Devon Times. There he learned the importance of contacts: “The more people you knew, the better stories you got.” His network of contacts was to become unrivalled in the literary world. | Trewin was born in London, the younger son of two of the most admired theatre critics of the last century, JC Trewin and Wendy Trewin (nee Monk), who steeped him in theatre from an early age, taking him to see Shakespeare from the age of five. He was educated at Highgate school, but did not go to university, choosing instead to follow his parents into journalism. At the age of 17 he was taken on by the Plymouth-based Independent and South Devon Times. There he learned the importance of contacts: “The more people you knew, the better stories you got.” His network of contacts was to become unrivalled in the literary world. |
| In 1963, Trewin joined the Sunday Telegraph, where he worked mainly on the books pages. Four years later, feeling that he had honed his craft as a literary journalist, he had the temerity to approach the editor of the Times, William Rees-Mogg, to see if he would take him on, which Rees-Mogg agreed to do. Within a couple of years Trewin was editing the Times diary. | In 1963, Trewin joined the Sunday Telegraph, where he worked mainly on the books pages. Four years later, feeling that he had honed his craft as a literary journalist, he had the temerity to approach the editor of the Times, William Rees-Mogg, to see if he would take him on, which Rees-Mogg agreed to do. Within a couple of years Trewin was editing the Times diary. |
| He became the paper’s literary editor in 1972 and for the next seven years presided over its book reviews and feature articles on authors. It was a defining moment for a career that saw him trusted and admired by writers from many different backgrounds. He did not specialise in any particular genre but understood intuitively what was good in its own terms. A heavyweight novel, a popular history or a show business autobiography were all of interest to him, providing they were works of integrity and unlikely to bomb in the bookshops. | He became the paper’s literary editor in 1972 and for the next seven years presided over its book reviews and feature articles on authors. It was a defining moment for a career that saw him trusted and admired by writers from many different backgrounds. He did not specialise in any particular genre but understood intuitively what was good in its own terms. A heavyweight novel, a popular history or a show business autobiography were all of interest to him, providing they were works of integrity and unlikely to bomb in the bookshops. |
| An instinctive judgment for what would be successful commercially stoodd him in good stead when he moved into publishing in 1979 – the year of the strike that put the Times out of action for several months. It was a decision he never regretted. | |
| He was senior editor with Hodder and Stoughton for six years, rising to the post of editorial director in 1985 and becoming publishing director in 1991. It was there that he came across Schindler’s Ark. Keneally was at the time published in Britain by Collins, but it was Trewin at Hodder and Stoughton who was persuaded that the story of Oskar Schindler, the Nazi who rescued many Jews from the concentration camps, would work better as a novel rather than the biography that Keneally had set out to write. Trewin’s influence on the gestation of one of the most gripping and morally enthralling tales of the 20th century cannot be exaggerated. | |
| He described publishing as “the most satisfying of jobs because at the end of the day you back your own judgment”. There could, however, be bumps on the way. By the early 1990s Hodder was experiencing financial difficulties. Trewin moved to the Orion Publishing Group in 1992, spending the rest of his publishing career there. He moved from being a director to being managing director from 1996 to 2001 and then editor in chief for five years, before retiring from the company in 2006. He was also publishing director for Weidenfeld & Nicolson for his first four years with the group. During this time he had an unmatched reputation as a publisher of taste and acumen. | |
| From early in his career Trewin willingly gave his services to public bodies. He was a member of the literature advisory panel of the Arts Council of Great Britain (1975‑78), chairman of the Society of Bookmen (1986-88) and he chaired the Cheltenham festival of literature (1997‑2006). He had a unique relationship with the Booker prize. He chaired the judges in 1974, a controversial year that had been expected to see Kingsley Amis emerge as the winner but which instead split the award between Nadine Gordimer and Stanley Middleton. In 1989 he became a member of the management committee of the Booker prize, succeeding Martyn Goff as the administrator of the prize in 2006. | |
| At the time of his death he was still active as literary director of the Booker Prize Foundation. The judges, whom he helped to recruit; public relations specialists, with whom he worked closely; and the press, with whom he built warm relations, admired his tact and geniality, rooted as they were in long experience and excellent judgment of people. | At the time of his death he was still active as literary director of the Booker Prize Foundation. The judges, whom he helped to recruit; public relations specialists, with whom he worked closely; and the press, with whom he built warm relations, admired his tact and geniality, rooted as they were in long experience and excellent judgment of people. |
| As an author himself, Trewin had a particular triumph in 2009 with his biography of the politician Alan Clark. Edwina Currie described it as “an engaging book about an absolute bastard”, but Trewin brought out far more than this in his compelling and vivacious life. The following year he published Alan Clark: A Life in His Own Words, the Edited Diaries 1972-1999. Trewin also had a great success with The Hugo Young Papers (2008), which was named the Channel 4 political book of the year. These works were central to the occasional teaching role he had as a special professor at the University of Nottingham, where he ran a course on political biography with Alex Danchev. | As an author himself, Trewin had a particular triumph in 2009 with his biography of the politician Alan Clark. Edwina Currie described it as “an engaging book about an absolute bastard”, but Trewin brought out far more than this in his compelling and vivacious life. The following year he published Alan Clark: A Life in His Own Words, the Edited Diaries 1972-1999. Trewin also had a great success with The Hugo Young Papers (2008), which was named the Channel 4 political book of the year. These works were central to the occasional teaching role he had as a special professor at the University of Nottingham, where he ran a course on political biography with Alex Danchev. |
| Trewin divided his life between Norfolk and London. In both places he could enjoy the recreations he loved best and which he listed in Who’s Who: “indulging grandchildren, gardening, watching cricket, gossip”. | Trewin divided his life between Norfolk and London. In both places he could enjoy the recreations he loved best and which he listed in Who’s Who: “indulging grandchildren, gardening, watching cricket, gossip”. |
| Trewin is survived by his wife, Sue (nee Merry), whom he married in 1965, their son, Simon, daughter, Maria, and four grandchildren. | Trewin is survived by his wife, Sue (nee Merry), whom he married in 1965, their son, Simon, daughter, Maria, and four grandchildren. |
| • Ion Courtenay Gill Trewin, editor, publisher and author, born 13 July 1943; died 8 April 2015 | • Ion Courtenay Gill Trewin, editor, publisher and author, born 13 July 1943; died 8 April 2015 |