Madam, – I never met David Marcus but every so often, out of the blue, I would receive a note from him encouraging me, in effect, to keep writing. For a period that lasted for over a decade, these communications were practically the only sign I received that my work had been read, let alone appreciated, by a disinterested third party. There is no need to spell out the importance of such signs.
I mention my experience merely as a small example of the attentiveness, always touched by humility, David Marcus offered to even the obscurest of Irish writers, and of the respect and gratitude we offered him in return. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – Thirty three years on, I still have my first ever publication acceptance slip. Signed by David Marcus and typed neatly on blue paper, it arrived on a red-letter day; an occasion I celebrated like the host of others who also were delivered into print for the first time by Ireland’s literary midwife. Now he’s gone I grieve, but also offer up a gratias for his patience and integrity in bringing so many of us into the writers’ world, as well as bringing so much of the world of writing to readers everywhere. Thank you Mr Marcus; you certainly left your mark on us. – Yours, etc,