Obituary

Jane Blackstock

Inspirational publisher with Victor Gollancz
  • The Guardian,

Jane Blackstock, who has died of cancer aged 61, had a long and distinguished career in book publishing, notably in the 1980s with the left-inclined Victor Gollancz. During a period of extraordinary change in the industry, she helped to ensure the continuing success of the firm's bestsellers, such as Terry Pratchett, and realised the potential of new projects, including Nick Hornby's Fever Pitch, brought in by her gifted colleague, Liz Knights.

After Knights' death in 1996, Jane became publishing director of Gollancz under new owners Cassell, presiding over other successes, notably Tim Smit's The Lost Gardens of Heligan. She never lost sight of the importance of the personal in publishing and maintained close relationships with authors, editors and agents.

Jane was born in York, the daughter of a doctor. Her family moved to Birmingham and she was educated at Edgbaston Church of England college for girls. She returned to York to read history at the university, graduating in 1968. Shortly afterwards, she joined a small literary agency in London run by the Observer journalists Patrick Seale and Maureen McConville. She became immersed in the literary world, dealing with authors Shirley Conran and Yehudi Menuhin and honing the negotiating and contractual skills for which she became legendary. She also became active in the Labour party and local Islington campaigns.

In 1978 Jane was asked to build a rights department at Gollancz, still a family company run by Victor's daughter, Livia. It was Jane's job to maximise income for both the firm and the authors by selling on rights. She was vigorous, effective and principled. One week she might be conducting an auction for paperback rights for Arthur C Clarke and selling film rights for jockey Bob Champion's Champion's Story, and the next sharing her enthusiasm for a new author with foreign contacts at the Frankfurt book fair, which she attended 33 times, an extraordinary record.

We joined her at Gollancz during the 1980s, and her skills as a leader, colleague and friend kept us together for many years. When, in 1989, Livia retired and the firm was sold, first to Houghton Mifflin and then to Cassell, Jane was instrumental in keeping the "family" ethos of Gollancz alive.

In 1998, Cassell was taken over by Orion, and Jane moved on to run the rights department at John Murray, where again her judgment and ability to match authors with editors led to several bestsellers, both in Britain and America. Latterly, she carved out a freelance career, and was working at the literary agency ICM when her illness struck. She faced it with her usual courage, firmness and determination.

She is survived by her brother and sister-in-law, James and Pritam, and her nephews William and Peter.

· Jane Blackstock, publisher, born March 3 1947; died March 5 2008

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