RIP Ian Hornby – My Play Publisher

Dear Ian,
I never met you. You were my play publisher for ten years and an internet friend. After I had lost hair and a voice getting my first play on to the London Fringe, you picked it up, put the full stops in the right places and moved the photos to the places I wanted on the page. One month before you died you sent me a new cover for one of my plays and assured me that the ‘ampersand’ would replace an ‘and’ in the title. You received no remuneration for your work but had a passion for plays and playwrights.
I’ve observed you on Facebook and I’ve observed zebras. Zebras are kind, gentle, gregarious, family oriented, fun loving, energetic and they have a keen eye for predators. They are, above all, guiding. You are one of the handful of ‘zebras’ I have had the luck to ‘meet’. You were a positive and productive influence in my life. I was the richer for knowing you and I now am diminished by your sudden departure.
I hope, wherever you are, your plays run on, Ian as I am sure they will here. Alison and family, my thoughts are with you. God bless you.
Jan