Pamela Mary Royds (née Maycock; 17 August 1924 – 31 May 2016) was a British publisher and children's book editor.

Early life

Royds was born in London, the daughter of Lilian (née Youngman) and Thomas Maycock, who ran a

Smithfield Market Smithfield, properly known as West Smithfield, is a district located in Central London, part of Farringdon Without, the most westerly ward of the City of London, England. Smithfield is home to a number of City institutions, such as St Bartho ...

import business. She was educated at

Eothen School (Truth without Fear) , established = , closed = , type = Public schoolIndependent day and boarding school , religious_affiliation = Protestant (United Reformed Church) , president = , head_label = Headmaste ...

, Caterham, and

St Hugh's College, Oxford St Hugh's College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford. It is located on a site on St Margaret's Road, to the north of the city centre. It was founded in 1886 by Elizabeth Wordsworth as a women's college, and accepte ...

Career

In 1964, Royds joined the British publishing firm André Deutsch to stand in for the then editor,

Philippa Pearce Ann Philippa Pearce OBE (22 January 1920 – 21 December 2006) was an English author of children's books. Best known of them is the time-slip novel ''Tom's Midnight Garden'', which won the 1958 Carnegie Medal from the Library Association, as ...

, while on maternity leave. The poet Michael Rosen credits Royds with "discovering" him, after being rejected by several other publishers.

Personal life

In 1952, she married Alex Royds, an '' Eastern Daily Press'' journalist, and they had three daughters and a son together.

References

1924 births 2016 deaths Alumni of St Hugh's College, Oxford British book publishers (people) People educated at Caterham School Women book publishers (people) English book editors Women print editors Place of death missing Publishers (people) from London 20th-century English businesspeople {{Publish-bio-stub