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Phew! Proud to say I've successfully completed this very challenging puzzle. As the earlier commenters have noted, the identity of the writer being honoured is not easily Google-able, and the perimeter clue answers are not immediately illuminating either. It's a very "insidery" puzzle, to be sure. The only remaining mystery for me is the connection between the writer and the thematic words...

Can someone clarify the preamble (re the extra letters) for me?
In the 15 cases, is there an extra letter added to the clue, and then same letter added to the answer before entry?
And in the other 20, just add a letter to the clue, these ones giving the hint.

Lumen, from the one example of those 15 cases I've found so far, the extra letter is added to both the clue and the grid entry.

I am progressing well at the bottom of the grid and have three stand out extra letters in row 12. However I have hit a problem with the thematic 36. I have the answer to clue 36 and E as the first letter of 19 across. Both of these seem fairly obvious. However that gives a Q as the penultimate letter of the thematic item. Surely this can’t be right!

Unclued - E isn’t the first letter of 19a

Thanks CD. I had EWAN which seems the fit the clue changing pert to Perth. Can you see where I have gone wrong?
I now have a name revealing down the middle!

Got it. Need to anagram my answer!

Can I have a hint to 26 please? I have ??oca but can’t see where the extra letters is coming from both in the clue and answer.

26 is a French surgeon. He appears as part of an entry in Chambers. The second word has the missing letter.

Thanks loge. That was a really obscure answer!