30 July 2023

Scene & Word has learned with great sadness that our good friend David Lovell (1951–2023) has died at the age of 71. He was the nephew of Mona Lovell, Jonah’s close friend and mentor in the 1930s and ’40s. We will always be indebted to David for allowing us to edit and publish a selection of Jonah’s voluminous correspondence with Mona, which revealed important insights into his emergence as an artist and his experiences in wartime and its aftermath. The result was published as Dear Mona: Letters from a Conscientious Objector, edited by Peter Jones (Seren Books, 2018). Our sympathy goes out to David’s widow Anne and all his family.

Launch of Dear Mona at Insole Court, Llandaff, 14 November 2018. David Lovell standing fourth from left.