Marion "Marni" Hodgkin, Lady Hodgkin (28 November 1917 – 11 March 2015) was an American children's book editor. She was regarded as one of the notable and influential children's book editors of the 1960s. She was the daughter of

Francis Peyton Rous Francis Peyton Rous () (October 5, 1879 – February 16, 1970) was an American pathologist at the Rockefeller University known for his works in oncoviruses, blood transfusion and physiology of digestion. A medical graduate from the Johns Hopki ...

and wife of

Alan Lloyd Hodgkin Sir Alan Lloyd Hodgkin (5 February 1914 – 20 December 1998) was an English physiologist and biophysicist who shared the 1963 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Andrew Huxley and John Eccles. Early life and education Hodgkin was ...

, both

Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; sv, Nobelpriset ; no, Nobelprisen ) are five separate prizes that, according to Alfred Nobel's will of 1895, are awarded to "those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind." Alfr ...

winners.

Early life

Born Marion Rous in New York, she was the eldest of three daughters of the American pathologist

, winner of the 1966 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, and his wife, Marion de Kay. She studied at the

Dalton School The Dalton School, originally the Children's University School, is a private, coeducational college preparatory school in New York City and a member of both the Ivy Preparatory School League and the New York Interschool. The school is located in ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, and

Swarthmore College Swarthmore College ( , ) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1864, with its first classes held in 1869, Swarthmore is one of the earliest coeduca ...

in Pennsylvania.

Career

Hodgkin's career as a children's book editor started in New York, working for

Viking Press Viking Press (formally Viking Penguin, also listed as Viking Books) is an American publishing company owned by Penguin Random House. It was founded in New York City on March 1, 1925, by Harold K. Guinzburg and George S. Oppenheim and then acquire ...

. She then worked for

Rupert Hart-Davis Sir Rupert Charles Hart-Davis (28 August 1907 – 8 December 1999) was an English publisher and editor. He founded the publishing company Rupert Hart-Davis Ltd. As a biographer, he is remembered for his ''Hugh Walpole'' (1952), as an editor, f ...

in London. Hodgkin became Children's Book Editor at

Macmillan Publishing Company Macmillan Publishers (occasionally known as the Macmillan Group; formally Macmillan Publishers Ltd and Macmillan Publishing Group, LLC) is a British publishing company traditionally considered to be one of the 'Big Five' English language publi ...

, which she joined in 1966. Until her arrival, Macmillan had never had a children's literature department, even though its authors included

Lewis Carroll Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (; 27 January 1832 – 14 January 1898), better known by his pen name Lewis Carroll, was an English author, poet and mathematician. His most notable works are ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' (1865) and its sequel ...

and

Rudyard Kipling Joseph Rudyard Kipling ( ; 30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936)''The Times'', (London) 18 January 1936, p. 12. was an English novelist, short-story writer, poet, and journalist. He was born in British India, which inspired much of his work. ...

. Picture books that she edited included

Kevin Crossley-Holland Kevin John William Crossley-Holland (born 7 February 1941) is an English translator, children's author and poet. His best known work is probably the Arthur trilogy (2000–2003), for which he won the Guardian Prize and other recognition. Cros ...

's ''The Green Children'' (1969) and

Graham Oakley Graham and Graeme may refer to: People * Graham (given name), an English-language given name * Graham (surname), an English-language surname * Graeme (surname), an English-language surname * Graham (musician) (born 1979), Burmese singer * Clan Gr ...

's ''Church Mouse'' series. She rejected

Roald Dahl Roald Dahl (13 September 1916 – 23 November 1990) was a British novelist, short-story writer, poet, screenwriter, and wartime fighter ace of Norwegian descent. His books have sold more than 250 million copies worldwide. Dahl has be ...

's work twice. She retired from Macmillan in 1978 when her husband was named master of

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by Henry VIII, King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge ...

. She was a successful writer of children's literature in her own right, including ''Young Winter's Tales'', ''Student Body'' (1950), and ''Dead Indeed'' (1955). The last two were detective stories, based on her time at Swarthmore College and Viking Press, respectively.

Personal

She married

in 1944; they had met while he was working at the Rockefeller Institute in 1938. They had three daughters and one son. Jonathan Hodgkin became a molecular biologist at Cambridge University. Deborah Hodgkin is a psychologist. Her husband won the Nobel Prize for biology in 1963. She died on 11 March 2015 at the age of 97 in

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hodgkin, Marni 1917 births 2015 deaths Dalton School alumni Swarthmore College alumni Writers from New York City American book editors American emigrants to the United Kingdom