Virginia Kidd (June 2, 1921 – January 11, 2003) was an American

literary agent A literary agent is an agent who represents writers and their written works to publishers, theatrical producers, film producers, and film studios, and assists in sale and deal negotiation. Literary agents most often represent novelists, screenwrit ...

, writer and editor, who worked in particular in

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

and related fields. She represented science fiction American authors such as

Ursula K. Le Guin Ursula Kroeber Le Guin (; October 21, 1929 – January 22, 2018) was an American author best known for her works of speculative fiction, including science fiction works set in her Hainish universe, and the '' Earthsea'' fantasy series. She was ...

, R.A. Lafferty,

Anne McCaffrey Anne Inez McCaffrey (1 April 1926 – 21 November 2011) was an American-Irish writer known for the ''Dragonriders of Pern'' science fiction series. She was the first woman to win a Hugo Award for fiction (Best Novella, ''Weyr Search'', 19 ...

Judith Merril Judith Josephine Grossman (January 21, 1923 – September 12, 1997), who took the pen-name Judith Merril around 1945, was an American and then Canadian science fiction writer, editor and political activist, and one of the first women to be wid ...

, and

Gene Wolfe Gene Rodman Wolfe (May 7, 1931 – April 14, 2019) was an American science fiction and fantasy writer. He was noted for his dense, allusive prose as well as the strong influence of his Catholic faith. He was a prolific short story writer and nove ...

. Wolfe modeled Ann Schindler, a character in his 1990 novel ''Castleview'', in large part on Kidd.

Early life and career

Kidd was born Mildred Virginia Kidd in the Germantown district of

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

, the youngest daughter of Charles Kidd, a printer, and Zetta Daisy Whorley. She had polio at the age of 2, and was paralyzed for a year from the chest down. Growing up she attended the

Berlitz School of Languages Berlitz Corporation is a language education and leadership training company which is based in Princeton, New Jersey. The company was founded in 1878 by Maximilian Berlitz in Providence, Rhode Island in the United States. Berlitz Corporation is ow ...

where she developed fluency in Spanish,

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

, Italian, French, and German. Kidd discovered science fiction at the age of nine, and became an active

science fiction fan Science fiction fandom or SF fandom is a community or fandom of people interested in science fiction in contact with one another based upon that interest. SF fandom has a life of its own, but not much in the way of formal organization (although ...

. She was a Futurian and, in 1941, became one of the founding members of the Vanguard Amateur Press Association. She did not attend college, saying "because I couldn't go to the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...

, and I wouldn't go to any other." She married

opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librett ...

singer Jack Emden in 1943 (the marriage lasted until 1947), and then fellow writer

James Blish James Benjamin Blish () was an American science fiction and fantasy writer. He is best known for his ''Cities in Flight'' novels and his series of ''Star Trek'' novelizations written with his wife, J. A. Lawrence. His novel ''A Case of Conscienc ...

; the latter marriage lasted until 1963. She had four children: Karen Anne Emden (born 1944), Asa Benjamin Blish (born and died 1947), Dorothea Elisabeth Blish (born 1954), and Charles Benjamin Blish (born 1956). Kidd successfully worked as a freelance writer,

ghost writer A ghostwriter is hired to write literary or journalistic works, speeches, or other texts that are officially credited to another person as the author. Celebrities, executives, participants in timely news stories, and political leaders often h ...

, and proofreader. She is well known for her contributions to the feminist science fiction literary movement, by supporting and representing marginalized authors. Her success overcoming structural barriers in her field makes her a prominent example of a successful businesswoman that was able to work alongside companies such as Ace Publishing and Parnassus Books. She was an active poet, and published ''Kinesis'', a

little magazine In the United States, a little magazine is a magazine genre consisting of "artistic work which for reasons of commercial expediency is not acceptable to the money-minded periodicals or presses", according to a 1942 study by Frederick J. Hoffman, ...

devoted to

poetry Poetry (derived from the Greek ''poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings i ...

which helped to launch the careers of writers including

Sonya Dorman Sonya Dorman (June 4, 1924 – February 14, 2005), born Sonya Gloria Hess, was the working name of Sonya Dorman Hess. She was born in New York City in 1924 and died in Taos, New Mexico on February 14, 2005, at the age of 80. Dorman published arou ...

. Her short stories included "Kangaroo Court", published in 1966 in

Damon Knight Damon Francis Knight (September 19, 1922 – April 15, 2002) was an American science fiction author, editor, and critic. He is the author of "To Serve Man", a 1950 short story adapted for ''The Twilight Zone''.Stanyard, ''Dimensions Behind th ...

's ''Orbit 1'', and later reprinted as "Flowering Season". She edited or co-edited several science fiction anthologies: ''Saving Worlds: A Collection of Original Science Fiction Stories'' (with

Roger Elwood Roger Elwood (January 13, 1943 – February 2, 2007) was an American science fiction writer and editor, who edited a large number of anthologies and collections for a variety of publishers in the early to mid-1970s. Biography Born and rais ...

, 1973); ''The Wounded Planet'' (1974); ''The Best of

'' (1976); ''Millennial Women'' (1978); ''Interfaces: An Anthology of Speculative Fiction'' (1980) and ''Edges: Thirteen New Tales from the Borderlands of the Imagination'' (1980) (the latter two with client and friend Ursula K. Le Guin). Millennial Women received the 12th Locus Award in 1979.

Virginia Kidd Literary Agency

In 1965, she founded her Virginia Kidd Literary Agency, headquartered at her home,

Arrowhead An arrowhead or point is the usually sharpened and hardened tip of an arrow, which contributes a majority of the projectile mass and is responsible for impacting and penetrating a target, as well as to fulfill some special purposes such as sign ...

, in

Milford, Pennsylvania Milford is a borough in Pike County, Pennsylvania and the county seat. Its population was 1,103 at the 2020 census. Located on the upper Delaware River, Milford is part of the New York metropolitan area. History The area along the Delaware Ri ...

, and quickly attracted clients from the science fiction community. Here, she established herself as the first female literary agent in speculative fiction. Kidd was a close friend of

Judith Merrill Judith Josephine Grossman (January 21, 1923 – September 12, 1997), who took the pen-name Judith Merril around 1945, was an American and then Canadian science fiction writer, editor and political activist, and one of the first women to be wid ...

, rooming with her in New York City in the 1940s. In 1961, Merrill introduced Kidd to

at a grocery store, a meeting that began a long and successful professional relationship. In addition to being McCaffrey's agent and editor, Kidd provided emotional support and graduate level English instruction to McCaffrey though she was at times a harsh critic, telling her to burn the first version of

Dragonquest ''Dragonquest'' is a science fantasy novel by the American-Irish author Anne McCaffrey. It is the sequel to ''Dragonflight'', set seven years later and the second book in the ''Dragonriders of Pern'' series. ''Dragonquest'' was first published ...

. Her clients included

David R. Bunch David Roosevelt Bunch (August 7, 1925 – May 29, 2000) was an American writer of short stories and poetry. He worked mainly in the genres of science fiction, satire, surrealism, and literary fiction. Although prolific and critically acclaimed, Bu ...

Juanita Coulson Juanita Ruth Coulson (née Wellons) (born February 12, 1933) is an American science fiction and fantasy writer most well known for her ''Children of the Stars'' books, published from 1981 to 1989. She was a longtime editor of the science fiction ...

George Alec Effinger George Alec Effinger (January 10, 1947 – April 27, 2002) was an American list of science fiction authors, science fiction author, born in Cleveland, Ohio. Writing career Effinger was a part of the Clarion Workshop, Clarion class of 1970 an ...

Alan Dean Foster Alan Dean Foster (born November 18, 1946) is an American writer of fantasy and science fiction. He has written several book series, more than 20 standalone novels, and many novelizations of film scripts. Career ''Star Wars'' Foster was the ghos ...

Richard E. Geis Richard E. Geis (July 19, 1927 – February 4, 2013) was an American science fiction fan and writer, and erotica writer, from Portland, Oregon, who won the Hugo Award for Best Fan Writer in 1982 and 1983; and whose science fiction fanzine ...

, Zach Hughes,

Laurence Janifer Laurence M. Janifer (born Laurence M. Harris; March 17, 1933 – July 10, 2002) was an American science fiction author, with a career spanning over 50 years. Biography Janifer was born in Brooklyn, New York with the surname of ''Harris'', but ...

R. A. Lafferty Raphael Aloysius "R. A." Lafferty (November 7, 1914March 18, 2002) was an American science fiction and fantasy writer known for his original use of language, metaphor, and narrative structure, Lafferty also wrote a set of four autobiographical n ...

Ward Moore Joseph Ward Moore (August 10, 1903 – January 29, 1978) was an American science fiction writer. According to ''The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction'', "he contributed only infrequently to the field, uteach of his books became something of a clas ...

, Christopher Priest,

Frank M. Robinson Frank Malcolm Robinson (August 9, 1926 – June 30, 2014) was an American science fiction and techno-thriller writer. He was a speechwriter for gay politician Harvey Milk and Milk's designated successor in the event of his death but decline ...

Joanna Russ Joanna Russ (February 22, 1937 – April 29, 2011) was an American writer, academic and feminist. She is the author of a number of works of science fiction, fantasy and feminist literary criticism such as ''How to Suppress Women's Writing'', as w ...

, and

. She withdrew from active management of the agency in the mid-1990s due to complications of diabetes. She died in 2003, but the firm survives her death. She continued to write "in the cracks" (as she put it) throughout her life, publishing her last short story, "Ok, O Che? by K.," in 1995, and her last poem, "Argument," in 1998.

The Milford Method

Along with author

and husband

, Kidd developed a method of critique known internationally as the Milford Method. Working by the Milford Method: *Writing is handed out and read by the critiquers. *Critiquers make their notes. *The writer listens silently while the critiquers, going around the circle one at a time, share their critiques. *The writer can answer only yes-or-no questions. *The writer is allowed to respond, uninterrupted, at the end of the circle. The Milford Method is still employed by the

Milford Writer's Workshop The Milford Writer's Workshop, or more properly Milford Writers' Conference, is an annual science fiction writer's event founded by Damon Knight, among others, in the mid-1950s, in Milford, Pennsylvania. It was so named because Knight, Judith Merr ...

and has spread to various other writing groups.

Publications

Works

*“Suburban Harvest.” 1952 *“Assignment Christmas Spirit.” 1966 *“Happily Ever Once Upon (A Play)” 1990 *“Ok, O Che.” ''Aberrations,'' 1995 *“A King of King.” ''With All of Love: Selected Poems,'' 1995 *“Kangaroo Court.” ''Orbit I,'' 1996 *“Argument.” ''Weird Tales'' 55, Fall 1998

Books edited

*McCaffrey, Anne. ''Dragonflight.'' New York: Ballantine, 1968. *Le Guin, Ursula K. ''The Eye of the Heron.'' New York: Victor Gollancz Ltd, 1982.

Anthologies edited

*''Saving Worlds: A Collection of Original Science Fiction Stories.'' New York: Doubleday & Company, 1973. (Republished as ''The Wounded Planet.'' New York: Bantam Books, 1974.) *''The Best of Judith Merril.'' New York: Warner Books, 1976. *''Millennial Women.'' New York: Delacorte, 1978. *''Edges: Thirteen New Tales from the Borderlands of the Imagination.'' New York: Pocket Books, 1980. *''Interfaces: An Anthology of Speculative Fiction.'' New York: Ace Books, 1980.

Translations

“The Monster in the Park.” Gérard Klein (translated from French by Virginia Kidd). ''

The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction ''The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction'' (usually referred to as ''F&SF'') is a U.S. fantasy and science fiction magazine first published in 1949 by Mystery House, a subsidiary of Lawrence Spivak's Mercury Press. Editors Anthony Boucher a ...

,'' Vol. 21, No. 3, 1961

Notes

External links

Virginia Kidd
at the Pennsylvania Center for the Book *

Virginia Kidd Literary Agency
by Ursula K. Le Guin, one of her writers

at Blish Genealogy (''blish.org'')
Virginia Kidd
at

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library is ...

Authorities — with 5 catalog records {{DEFAULTSORT:Kidd, Virginia 1921 births 2003 deaths American science fiction writers American women short story writers Futurians Literary agents Science fiction editors Science fiction fans Writers from Philadelphia Women science fiction and fantasy writers American women novelists 20th-century American novelists 20th-century American women writers 20th-century American short story writers Novelists from Pennsylvania 21st-century American women