The Randell Cottage Writers Trust pays tribute to renowned author and playwright, Renée, whose passing on 11 December at the age of 94 has been announced by her family.

“As well as being a very fine playwright, novelist, and memoirist, Renée was my colleague and friend, a wise woman and an inspiration to women of my generation”, says Dame Fiona Kidman, founding member of the Trust and current president of the Friends of Randell Cottage.

“She offered outstanding and collegial generosity to both fellow writers and beginning writers and, in her own writing, a passionate commitment to the way the lives of women are portrayed. In my view, she inhabits a similar space to those of pioneering writers like Katherine Mansfield and Janet Frame. But she also had a wicked sense of humour, and will be particularly remembered for her contribution to the theatre company Hen’s Teeth, which delighted audiences with the comic flair of their song and dance routines.”

Renée was the Writer in Residence at Randell Cottage in 2005. Contemplating her experience of the residency, she wrote:

“…the over-riding image I have of Randell Cottage is one of sitting at the table in the dining room surrounded by friends, good food and lots of talk. The cottage (and the committee) wrapped their collective arms around me from the time I went there until I left and on September 10, when I locked the door behind me, I said au revoir to a house that not only held its own memories but now stored parts of my life, both past and present, within its walls.”