Today is  a public holiday in New Zealand, to mark the passing of Queen of Elizabeth II and her seventy years as Aotearoa-New Zealand’s head of state.

Flowers for remembrance, Christchurch

Perhaps all eras are times of change, but it certainly feels like we are living through one where the degree of change is major, perhaps even unprecedented. So the end of the Queen’s 70-year reign does feel, more than usually, like the end of an era — not least because for so many of us, it spans a considerable part of our lifetimes.

Although not a monarchist per se, I also feel that Queen Elizabeth’s seventy years as Aotearoa-NZ’s head of state exemplified service and duty, so I consider that taking—or giving—a day to mark both her passing and the end of an era, is appropriate.

~*~

As a writer, I am also using the day to mark the passing of Hilary Mantel, whom Maggie O’Farrell has dubbed “the queen of literature.” She wrote twelve novels in all, and two of them, Wolf Hall and Bring Up The Bodies won the Booker Prize, making Hilary Mantel the first woman author, and the first British novelist, to win the prize more than once.

If you would like to read tributes from nine of Mantel’s peers, including Margaret Atwood and Colm Toíbín, go to The Guardian’s:

Hilary Mantel Remembered: ‘She Was The Queen of Literature’

I also loved the photo of Hilary Mantel, that was shared on Twitter by Liv Marsden of HarperCollinsUK (Mantel’s publisher.) Click on the link to read the tweet and see the photo:

Hilary Mantel at Hampton Court, 2020

Hilary Mantel’s literary contribution is a matter of public record, but one of her quotes that really speaks to me is on the art of writing itself. I say “art” intentionally, because although writing is also very much a craft when it comes to honing and refining inspiration, I believe this observation is centered in, and reflects upon, the art:

“Many kinds of writing can be done in the unabashed light of day and by a precise intellectual process, but I think fiction that has layers and depths — the kind you can read twice* — has to come from an inner location that is in some way fogged, a place that is a continuing mystery to the author. When you begin  a project you don’t want to see your whole purpose in one clear glance. You need shadows in the landscape, to keep you alert and expectant. If you know too much about a story, the work is already done, and writing it down becomes a chore. You want a story to form up secretly in the dark hours, and to surprise you at dawn by being bigger than you thought and a different shape, and perhaps of a different nature entirely.” ~ Hilary Mantel, 1952 – 2022

The quote comes, I believe, from a (UK) Society of Authors feature.

* HL: Or even many times, as I often read and reread favourite works, 
something I've definitely talked about here before.