It’s disorientating to discover that someone you never met has died, especially when you never knew what he even looked like while he was alive. But Norman Hidden was one of my important early influences. He died in April, having achieved the age of 93, and was awarded a civil list pension in recognition of his services to literature. I’d like to give him some kind of posthumous award for being the first person to publish my writing; it was an enormous confidence-boost and just the encouragement I needed. More…