Miranda Seymour has a request. ‘I’m completing a commissioned life of Jean Rhys and hoping to talk with biographers who can advise me on the best strategy when dealing with permissions. The Rhys estate are well disposed but I don’t want to commit any disastrous errors, having promised (crossing my fingers) only to paraphrase Rhys’s words. This hasn’t caused problems in the past (re the Abinger Papers or the Lovelace Papers), but I’m always apprehensive. Do contact me on [email protected].’
Miranda Seymour’s books include lives of Mary Shelley, Robert Graves, Ottoline Morrell, a twin portrait of Lady Byron and Ada Lovelace (In Byron’s Wake), and a group portrait of Henry James and his literary circle (A Ring of Conspirators). Lighter-hearted biographies include Chaplin’s Girl (Virginia Cherrill) and The Bugatti Queen (Helle Nice). Her memoir, In My Father’s House, is a portrait of her relationship with her father. Currently, she is completing a life of Jean Rhys. Her most recent novel was The Telling, about Robert Graves and Laura Riding. She writes reviews, mainly for the NYRB, NYTBR and the Financial Times and is a member of the Critics’ Circle and FRSL.