Marion Ursula Boyars, ''née'' Asmus (26 October 1927 – 1 February 1999), was a British book publisher who in 1975 founded her own imprint, Marion Boyars Publishers.

Biography

She was born Marion Asmus in New York, daughter of German publisher Johannes Asmus.

Peter Owen Peter Owen is a makeup artist who won at the 74th Academy Awards in the category of Best Makeup for the film '' The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring''. He shared his win with Richard Taylor. Selected filmography * ''The Dark Cry ...

"Marion Boyars obituary"
''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', 2 February 1999.

Sarah Lyall Sarah Lambert Lyall is an American journalist who has worked for ''The New York Times'', including an 18-year period as the title's London correspondent. Biography Raised in New York City, Lyall attended the Chapin School and is a graduate of Ph ...

"Marion Boyars, Publisher Of Eclectic Books, Dies at 71"
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', 4 February 1999. She attended school in New York and Switzerland, living with her mother and sister, before going on to

Keele University Keele University, officially known as the University of Keele, is a public research university in Keele, approximately from Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire, England. Founded in 1949 as the University College of North Staffordshire, Keele ...

to read for a degree in politics, philosophy and economics. After graduating, she married George Lobbenberg and had two daughters. The marriage ended in divorce, and in the 1960s she was married for a second time to poet and translator Arthur Boyars. In 1960 she answered an advertisement in ''

The Bookseller ''The Bookseller'' is a British magazine reporting news on the publishing industry. Philip Jones is editor-in-chief of the weekly print edition of the magazine and the website. The magazine is home to the ''Bookseller''/Diagram Prize for Oddest ...

'' that led to her buying a 50 per cent stake in the small independent publishing company run by

John Calder John Mackenzie Calder (25 January 1927 – 13 August 2018) was a Scottish-Canadian writer and publisher who founded the company Calder Publishing in 1949. Biography Calder was born in Montreal, Canada, into the Calder family associated with the ...

in London. The resultant publishing house, Calder and Boyars, published books by authors including

Samuel Beckett Samuel Barclay Beckett (; 13 April 1906 – 22 December 1989) was an Irish novelist, dramatist, short story writer, theatre director, poet, and literary translator. His literary and theatrical work features bleak, impersonal and tragicomic expe ...

Marguerite Duras Marguerite Germaine Marie Donnadieu (, 4 April 1914 – 3 March 1996), known as Marguerite Duras (), was a French novelist, playwright, screenwriter, essayist, and experimental filmmaker. Her script for the film ''Hiroshima mon amour'' (1959) ea ...

Henry Miller Henry Valentine Miller (December 26, 1891 – June 7, 1980) was an American novelist. He broke with existing literary forms and developed a new type of semi-autobiographical novel that blended character study, social criticism, philosophical ref ...

Eugene Ionesco Eugene may refer to: People and fictional characters * Eugene (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Eugene (actress) (born 1981), Kim Yoo-jin, South Korean actress and former member of the sin ...

and

William S. Burroughs William Seward Burroughs II (; February 5, 1914 – August 2, 1997) was an American writer and visual artist, widely considered a primary figure of the Beat Generation and a major postmodern author who influenced popular cultur ...

, until the firm split in 1975. She then formed

Marion Boyars Publishers Marion Boyars Publishers is an independent publishing company located in Great Britain, publishing books that focus on the humanities and social sciences. The company was formed in 1975. When Marion Boyars died in 1999, her daughter Catheryn Kilg ...

, and working with her husband Arthur (described as her "literary guide and cheerleader")Nicholas Jacobs
"Arthur Boyars, gifted poet and publisher with a passion for music"
''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'', 14 August 2017. built up an eclectic list of translated fiction (including by such authors as

Julio Cortázar Julio Florencio Cortázar (26 August 1914 – 12 February 1984; ) was an Argentine, nationalized French novelist, short story writer, essayist, and translator. Known as one of the founders of the Latin American Boom, Cortázar influenced an ent ...

Latife Tekin Latife Tekin (born 1957) is one of the most influential Turkish female authors. Biography She was born in 1957 in the village of Karacahevenk, in the Bünyan district of Kayseri. She came to Istanbul with her family in 1966 when she was 9 year ...

Vasily Shukshin Vasily Makarovich Shukshin (russian: Василий Макарович Шукшин; 25 July 1929 – 2 October 1974) was a Soviet Russian writer, actor, screenwriter and film director from the Altai region who specialized in rural themes. A ...

and

Witold Gombrowicz Witold Marian Gombrowicz (August 4, 1904 – July 24, 1969) was a Polish writer and playwright. His works are characterised by deep psychological analysis, a certain sense of paradox and absurd, anti-nationalist flavor. In 1937 he published his f ...

), as well as books on music and cinema. She died of

pancreatic cancer Pancreatic cancer arises when cell (biology), cells in the pancreas, a glandular organ behind the stomach, begin to multiply out of control and form a Neoplasm, mass. These cancerous cells have the malignant, ability to invade other parts of t ...

at her home in London in 1999, aged 71. On her death, her younger daughter Catheryn Kilgarriff took over the running of Marion Boyars Publishers."About Marion & Arthur Boyars"
Marion Boyars Publishers. Retrieved 7 December 2020.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Boyars, Marion 1927 births 1999 deaths 20th-century British businesspeople 20th-century British businesswomen Alumni of Keele University British book publishers (people) British people of German descent Deaths from cancer in England Deaths from pancreatic cancer People from New York (state) Women book publishers (people)