A SYMPATHETIC PUBLISHER

Southland Times, Issue 23408, 15 January 1938, Page 12

A SYMPATHETIC PUBLISHER

Writing Encouraged In New Zealand

AN INTEREST EXPLAINED BY MR HUGH DENT

Eleven years ago Mr Hugh Dent, principal of the English publishing firm of J. M. Dent and Sons, Ltd., paid his first visit to New Zealand. That visit gave him what he calls “a sentimental interest” in the Dominion and its possibilities both in the writing and the reading of good books; and in the last few years he has done more than any other single English publisher to help New Zealand writers to make a name for themselves.

Many authors —and would-be authors —regard all publishers as cynical, calculating men, with an eye only to the money-making possibilities of the works they publish. But an interview with Mr Dent showed him a man with keen sympathy with the author’s problems and an awareness of values which are not measured in money, says The Press, Christchurch. There were books, he said, which he believed the public ought to have; and he was content to publish them, hoping only that they would return the money expended on them. If they succeeded beyond that hope, of course, he would be doubly gratified. “When I came here 11 years ago, and saw and talked with people,” he said, “I found that there were people here who, though they were not trained in a literary school, wanted to write —and some of them had something to say. And with the sentimental interest I had, I encouraged those I met.” Mr Dent mentioned here a collection of New Zealand short stories he had published some years ago, Mr lan Donnelly’s “Joyous Pilgrimage,” and Mr Alan Mulgan’s poem “Golden Wedding” and novel “Spur of Morning.” “I ■ wish I had published Mr Mulgan’s book, ‘Home,’ but I did not know him then,” he added. Mr Dent said that he wished there was a greater market in Britain for books written in the Dominion. But though there was a great deal of “newspaper and political talk about the Empire,” the ordinary reader in Britain took little or no interest in the Empire. Only an intelligent few took such an interest, a very small percentage of the people. He did not want to give the impression that there were no writers in New Zealand, Mr Dent said, after admitting that he had not noticed any specially interesting development since he had first taken an interest in the Dominion. But it was only natural that the standard should be far below that in England. Those New Zealanders who had succeeded were those who had learnt the craft of writing in Europe. That was true notably of Katherine Mansfield and probably of Hector Bolitho. Mr Dent’s interest in New Zealand is not only literary. His brother, the Rev. G. W. Dent, was a well-known Church of England clergyman in the North Island, and worked for a time in the South Island. Mr Hugh Dent has a nephew and niece at present living in New Zealand.