Hilary Jane McPhee AO, the celebrated Australian editor, writer and publisher, has died in 2026 at the age of 85. Melbourne University Publishing confirmed her death, describing her as a trailblazer whose partnership with Diana Gribble helped transform Australian publishing. Her passing marks the loss of a woman whose influence reached generations of writers, readers and people working across Australia’s literary and cultural life.
In 1975, McPhee and Gribble founded McPhee Gribble Publishers, an independent company that became one of the most influential publishing houses in Australian literary history. The company championed writers including Helen Garner, Tim Winton, Rodney Hall and Drusilla Modjeska, helping bring distinctive Australian voices to a much wider audience. Their partnership was built not simply around publishing books, but around discovering writers and giving important ideas a place to be heard.
McPhee’s own career continued to grow long after the McPhee Gribble years. She became publishing director at Pan Macmillan Australia, served as Chair of the Australia Council for the Arts from 1994 to 1997 and later became the inaugural Vice-Chancellor’s Fellow at the University of Melbourne. She was also recognised with appointment as an Officer of the Order of Australia, reflecting the breadth of her contribution to Australian arts and culture.
She was also a gifted writer who eventually turned her own experiences into literature. Her memoir Other People’s Words chronicled the friendship, ambition and publishing journey behind McPhee Gribble, offering readers an intimate account of a remarkable period in Australian cultural history. A revised edition was published in February 2026, and ABC Radio National interviewed McPhee about the book and her career in February, just months before her death.
In remembrance of Hilary McPhee, Australian publishing can look back on a life defined by curiosity, courage, friendship and an enduring belief in the power of good writing. Her legacy lives in the authors she encouraged, the books she helped bring into the world and the literary culture she helped shape alongside Diana Gribble. As Melbourne University Publishing noted in its tribute, her influence continues through the writers, books and ideas she helped introduce to readers, ensuring that Hilary McPhee’s contribution will remain part of Australia’s literary story for generations to
