A mighty dramatist, a champion of free speech and a towering figure in the literary world at large, Tom, with his huge generosity of spirit, has sat at the heart of Faber publishing for six decades. He was a delight to work with and a true friend.

Tom Stoppard arrived when Faber’s drama list was in its infancy with his first play, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead. It was a hit at the 1966 Edinburgh Festival, then at the National Theatre, London, and on Broadway, and it is one of our bestselling plays to this day. Tom recalled holding up the play’s cover proof to a mirror, so that he could see it in three dimensions before the book itself was printed.

Initially, recognising his brilliance, Faber had tried to persuade Stoppard that he was a prose fiction writer (just as Faber had encouraged John Osborne to write a novel after the success of Look Back in Anger ten years previously), and he obligingly contributed to Faber’s Introduction series of new fiction, as well as writing a novel, Lord Malquist and Mr Moon. But it was clear that Stoppard was an exceptional playwright rather than a closet novelist, and before long he had become integral to the drama list.

In those early years of Faber Drama, plays were published after the event, but by 1972 Tom’s play Jumpers was announced in the Faber catalogue, hardback and paperback, before it had been staged: a breakthrough. Publishing Stoppard’s plays in hardback continued right up until his final, extraordinary and deeply moving play, Leopoldstadt, in 2020.

With the death of Tom Stoppard, the theatrical and literary landscape changes. His loss will be felt across the globe. But, closer to home, he was the dearest of friends and will be missed beyond measure.

Dinah Wood
Editorial Director, Drama