Becoming a Londoner

More about the book

In the 1960s, David and Nikos, newcomers from New York and Athens, began a life together in London, a partnership that would last forty years. Despite being considered criminals by law for their love, they found acceptance and freedom in the city, where societal conventions felt irrelevant. Their relationship flourished amidst friendships with notable figures like Stephen and Natasha Spender, Francis Bacon, and W. H. Auden, as well as connections to Bloomsbury icons like E. M. Forster. This vibrant social circle opened up new worlds and interconnections that enriched their lives. David Plante has maintained a diary for over fifty years, and this first volume captures his first two decades in London. Through fragments of diaries, notes, sketches, and drawings, he weaves a deeply personal memoir that also serves as a significant cultural history. It offers an intimate portrait of his relationship with Nikos and a luminous depiction of a dynamic community of writers, poets, artists, and thinkers, reflecting the transformative power of love and friendship in a time of great social change.