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We were all very sorry to hear that OUP author and former TLS editor John Gross has died at the age of 75. Judith Luna, Senior Editor, who worked with him for over 25 years on a range of titles, pays tribute to him below.

It was with great sadness that I learnt this morning of the death of John Gross, a wonderful writer and the editor of an astonishing number of classic anthologies, that we were privileged to publish. He had an astonishing knowledge of English literature, from its highest to its lowest reaches, and a wonderful ability to identify the telling passages, the most entertaining extracts, and thus reveal the heart of an author. He also had the rare gift of knowing how to construct an anthology, with imaginative juxtapositions, balancing the brief skit with a longer, more serious piece, and the whole interwoven with his own expert, discreet commentary, that was often as entertaining as the piece itself. A past editor of the Times Literary Supplement, and theatre critic for the Sunday Telegraph, his own editorial and critical skills were second to none.

Over the course of more than 25 years he edited the Oxford Books of Aphorisms, Essays, and Comic Verse; the magnificent New Oxford Book of English Prose, virtually a history of English literature in its own right; After Shakespeare, a superb anthology of writings about and inspired by Shakespeare; and The New Oxford Book of Literary Anecdotes. John was himself a marvellous raconteur, whose anecdotes about literary life were full of mischief and fun. It is somehow fitting that his most recent anthology, The Oxford Book of Parodies, published in 2010, should pay tribute in its own way to the great variety of literary styles from the earliest times to the present, and display a knowledge and affection for literature that epitomized its editor. The critical acclaim that the book has received, and its popular success, are a fitting tribute to a great man of letters. He will be much missed.

While watching a taped concert of John Denver for the third time on WXXI, I was feeling rather nostalgic. I loved his music. I have several of his albums.I play them in the car and in my writing den. So I was wondering about his plane crash. I did a little research on the Internet. [...]

Those of you in northern climes are going to laugh at this but I thought it was very exciting.

Yesterday when we departed the homestead for our appointed rounds, there was a light sheen of frost on all the roof tops and the grass sparkled as tiny ice crystals caught and reflected the morning sunlight. The temperature had brushed down to the low thirties the night before and the air had that fresh cold sense that winter was actually a possibility here on the Gulf coast.

I had just noticed on Sunday that some trees were finally displaying orange, red and deep purple leaves. I immediately thought of Chris VanAllsburg's The Stranger. What a morning to read that book with kids!



Poor Farmer Bailey is horrified when he realizes that his truck has hit something. A dazed man lies in the road so Farmer Bailey takes him home to be cared for. The doctor cannot discover anything wrong with him (he cannot even get a temperature reading because his thermometer seems to be stuck at the bottom) but the poor man has lost his memory. He is a gentle spirit though and settles in to life on the farm. Fall has arrived in the surrounding countryside but summer seems without end on the Bailey farm. Despite his contentment with the Baileys, wisps of memory are tugging at the stranger's mind. This is a delightful mystery that will stay with readers long after the last page is turned.

The Stranger by Chris Van Allsburg, Houghton Mifflin, 1986