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Thanks keepatit for confirming my 42D.
Sunray look at SW to NE diagonal.

Thanks uncle_w.

I am not at all familiar with this author so I will have to go back to wiki to see what name I am missing.
I just noticed that for 15a, I have first letter missing.
Plus I have three conflicts only. 10d, 30a and 27d.

Will continue to work on it.

Sunray - You must be all but completed. presume the thematic name missing is a friend of one of the characters you have, The clashes appear once in each thematic name.

Thanks, crates.

I did go back and count and yes, I have all 5 conflicts. I made the change and forgot 2 cases.

I now have 15a left and central letter remaining.
What is the def in 15a?

I see a poet with 12 letters beginning with R. But I do not have all 12 letters (jumbled) in that line. Is that the person?

Sunray, if you have the 5 thematic names, then the surname of the writer (8 letters) appears in jumbled form, together with the letters from the puzzle title, in the SW - NE diagonal. Reading from SW to NE, this spells a word. The centre cell is not ambiguous since there are 2 of a certain letter in the writer's surname.

Thanks meursalt. Got it.

I was barking up the wrong tree. I was thinking of the judge or the poet in the story. Both of them have 12 letters and most of the letters appear in the diagonal.

Everyone has been helpful and yet no one has answered my question on 15a.

Appreciate everyone's help.

Sunray- Meursault explained the central cell - great word to add to my vocabulary (not sure how I bring it into a conversation!).
15A - Def: Aussie (jocular name for the language and people) - word play - changing initial of negative to initial of positive would give remaining word in clue.

Thanks crates.

I just solved it a second ago when I looked up that word. It seemed the only word that would fit. I was thinking it starts with A for Aussie.

Did not know that word. Never heard that Aussie or Aussie English could be described by that word.

Again thanks to you and all who have helped.
Now to EV.

Only learned the word 10 years ago - when my daughter arrived back from a gap year including 6 months in Oz - and she told me everyone said when she left ' You're already speaking S****E!' She still raises her pitch at the end of a sentence if it is a question!!!

Can't parse 29d . Aware of clash at 3rd letter but been stupidly staring at it now for ages.