A Naomi Mitchison Bibliography

Mon 1 Apr 2024 - Filed under: Not a Journal., , | Posted by: Gavin

Naomi Mitchison is this year’s Memorial Guest of Honor at Readercon so I’ve been trying to find a way to write a little about her. I never met her and didn’t read her until I was in my 20s. I’m not sure where I first picked up a Virago paperback copy of Travel Light. Avenue Victor Hugo? Somewhere on  a used bookshop trip with Kelly? I loved it and bought copies to give to people. How happy I was to find $4 used paperbacks I could press on someone new.

Anyway, while fiddling around, I found Beccon Press’s deep and comprehensive Naomi Mitchison – Towards a Bibliography, what a gift to find this online. I’d been looking up a Mitchison title Kelly recently gave me, What the Human Race is Up To (1962). If I read that I’ll be completely up to date, although not to today’s date.

I’ve been to Readercon many times, although not since 2019, and always enjoyed catching up with and meeting new people. This year Kate from Book Moon will be tabling for BKMN and Small Beer. I don’t have it in me to attend, damn it, but I am so tempted to go along anyway and maybe get a wheelchair to save enough energy to listen to a panel or two about Mitchison or the guests, Rebecca Roanhorse & Amal El-Mohtar. Unlikely, but a nice dream.

If you’ve read Travel Light and would like to read more Mitchison, I recommend The Fourth Pig, in part because it’s in print and mostly because it’s fun.