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| Marni Hodgkin obituary | Marni Hodgkin obituary |
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| Marni Hodgkin, who has died aged 97, was an outstanding editor of children’s books in an era before it was obvious that they would become one of the most important areas of the publishing business. She was one of a great group of female editors, including Grace Hogarth, Julia Macrae and Judy Taylor, who transformed the children’s book world in the 1960s. | Marni Hodgkin, who has died aged 97, was an outstanding editor of children’s books in an era before it was obvious that they would become one of the most important areas of the publishing business. She was one of a great group of female editors, including Grace Hogarth, Julia Macrae and Judy Taylor, who transformed the children’s book world in the 1960s. |
| She was both the daughter and wife of winners of the Nobel prize. Born in New York, Marion, known as Marni, was the eldest of three daughters of the distinguished pathologist Peyton Rous. She was educated at the progressive Dalton school in Manhattan, and at Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania. In 1937 a young Englishman, Alan Hodgkin, on a year’s research in the US, was invited to the Rous home for tea. The Rous girls had been finding the regular tea parties tedious and their father had promised to discontinue them if, on this occasion, none of the visitors pleased them. Alan was particularly pleasing. | She was both the daughter and wife of winners of the Nobel prize. Born in New York, Marion, known as Marni, was the eldest of three daughters of the distinguished pathologist Peyton Rous. She was educated at the progressive Dalton school in Manhattan, and at Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania. In 1937 a young Englishman, Alan Hodgkin, on a year’s research in the US, was invited to the Rous home for tea. The Rous girls had been finding the regular tea parties tedious and their father had promised to discontinue them if, on this occasion, none of the visitors pleased them. Alan was particularly pleasing. |
| Marni and Alan wrote to each other regularly after his return to Cambridge. She fell in love with a painter while beginning her career in children’s book publishing at the Viking Press in New York, where, with what Marni called “monotonous regularity, we won either the Newbery or the Caldecott medal and usually felt that we deserved both”. In 1944, in the middle of the second world war, Alan was again in New York, in connection with his work on airborne radar, and convinced Marni very quickly to marry him. | Marni and Alan wrote to each other regularly after his return to Cambridge. She fell in love with a painter while beginning her career in children’s book publishing at the Viking Press in New York, where, with what Marni called “monotonous regularity, we won either the Newbery or the Caldecott medal and usually felt that we deserved both”. In 1944, in the middle of the second world war, Alan was again in New York, in connection with his work on airborne radar, and convinced Marni very quickly to marry him. |
| They crossed the Atlantic on separate ships, hardly an auspicious start to a marriage, but it turned out to be “ideally successful”, as Andrew Huxley put it in his 1999 obituary of the by then much honoured biologist, winner of the Nobel prize in 1963. While their four children were young, and Marni was necessarily at home in Cambridge, she wrote two detective stories, Student Body (1950) and Dead Indeed (1955), the first closely related to her time at Swarthmore, the second to her years at the Viking Press. They were published on both sides of the Atlantic and she longed to get back to publishing herself. | They crossed the Atlantic on separate ships, hardly an auspicious start to a marriage, but it turned out to be “ideally successful”, as Andrew Huxley put it in his 1999 obituary of the by then much honoured biologist, winner of the Nobel prize in 1963. While their four children were young, and Marni was necessarily at home in Cambridge, she wrote two detective stories, Student Body (1950) and Dead Indeed (1955), the first closely related to her time at Swarthmore, the second to her years at the Viking Press. They were published on both sides of the Atlantic and she longed to get back to publishing herself. |
| In London, she found that children’s books were not considered very important. The publishing company Rupert Hart-Davis, where she first worked, had never had a children’s list. At Macmillan, to which she moved in 1966, there had never been a children’s books department, in spite of a splendid back list that included Lewis Carroll and Rudyard Kipling. Looking back in 1984, Marni stressed how determined she had been to convince her fellow editors how much it matters what children read. She said: “Children’s books wield a power that adult books, save only the truly great, never equal.” | In London, she found that children’s books were not considered very important. The publishing company Rupert Hart-Davis, where she first worked, had never had a children’s list. At Macmillan, to which she moved in 1966, there had never been a children’s books department, in spite of a splendid back list that included Lewis Carroll and Rudyard Kipling. Looking back in 1984, Marni stressed how determined she had been to convince her fellow editors how much it matters what children read. She said: “Children’s books wield a power that adult books, save only the truly great, never equal.” |
| It was in her years at Macmillan that I got to know Marni. She published my novel The Camelthorn Papers in 1969, following the first edition of the Allsorts annual that I edited. We worked together on that and four subsequent volumes, with a lot of good writers, some of whom, such as William Trevor, James Fenton and Michael Frayn, had never written for children before. We commissioned some of the best artists of the day, as well as many new young writers and illustrators. Marni herself, as MR Hodgkin, edited Young Winter’s Tales (1970), new writing for older children. | It was in her years at Macmillan that I got to know Marni. She published my novel The Camelthorn Papers in 1969, following the first edition of the Allsorts annual that I edited. We worked together on that and four subsequent volumes, with a lot of good writers, some of whom, such as William Trevor, James Fenton and Michael Frayn, had never written for children before. We commissioned some of the best artists of the day, as well as many new young writers and illustrators. Marni herself, as MR Hodgkin, edited Young Winter’s Tales (1970), new writing for older children. |
| When Marni was 80, Di Denney, who had been her assistant, got together a handsome book of tributes to her. I remember particularly a wonderful spread by Graham Oakley, author of the Church Mice stories. When I asked recently to look at the book again, Marni, rather typically, refused. It was embarrassingly full of “accolades”. They were from such distinguished writers as Robert Westall and Diana Wynne Jones. Marni had called herself a “polisher”, but Jill Paton Walsh admitted that “Marni invented me as a writer.” Few publishers can claim as much. | When Marni was 80, Di Denney, who had been her assistant, got together a handsome book of tributes to her. I remember particularly a wonderful spread by Graham Oakley, author of the Church Mice stories. When I asked recently to look at the book again, Marni, rather typically, refused. It was embarrassingly full of “accolades”. They were from such distinguished writers as Robert Westall and Diana Wynne Jones. Marni had called herself a “polisher”, but Jill Paton Walsh admitted that “Marni invented me as a writer.” Few publishers can claim as much. |
| When I was working on a biography of Frances Hodgson Burnett, I discovered to my surprise that Marni’s family had known her and, indeed, that, as a child of six, Marni had been taken to see the famous author of The Secret Garden not long before her death. Hodgson Burnett told Marni that, when the doors of the dolls’ house closed, the dolls were at work and play. Such was her magic, that Marni, a sensible little girl, for a moment believed it must be so. | When I was working on a biography of Frances Hodgson Burnett, I discovered to my surprise that Marni’s family had known her and, indeed, that, as a child of six, Marni had been taken to see the famous author of The Secret Garden not long before her death. Hodgson Burnett told Marni that, when the doors of the dolls’ house closed, the dolls were at work and play. Such was her magic, that Marni, a sensible little girl, for a moment believed it must be so. |
| It was in 1978, when Alan was appointed master of Trinity College, Cambridge, that Marni left Macmillan, feeling lucky that she had got out while it was still fun, before the money men insisted that each book “must stand on its own feet”, so that it would become difficult to take risks, to publish books with minority appeal. Being wife of the master of Trinity gave Marni little time to miss publishing. She told me the master’s lodge was “less formidable” than she had expected, though. Marni and Alan were a great team, hospitable, approachable, considerate, ungrand and generally delightful. | It was in 1978, when Alan was appointed master of Trinity College, Cambridge, that Marni left Macmillan, feeling lucky that she had got out while it was still fun, before the money men insisted that each book “must stand on its own feet”, so that it would become difficult to take risks, to publish books with minority appeal. Being wife of the master of Trinity gave Marni little time to miss publishing. She told me the master’s lodge was “less formidable” than she had expected, though. Marni and Alan were a great team, hospitable, approachable, considerate, ungrand and generally delightful. |
| After Alan’s eventual death, books, friends and her family sustained Marni in Cambridge, as they had always done. In her extreme old age, she kept remarkably in touch. I remember on one visit in 2009 she was talking animatedly about Wolf Hall and the latest AS Byatt and had just seen the Jane Campion film Bright Star. She loved the cinema. She went on travelling, too, enjoying Italy. | |
| Marni always had an elegant turn of phrase and what a friend called “an ear for nuance”. Words mattered. She could send emails, but said she would rather not. | Marni always had an elegant turn of phrase and what a friend called “an ear for nuance”. Words mattered. She could send emails, but said she would rather not. |
| She is survived by her children, Sarah, Deborah, Jonathan and Rachel. | She is survived by her children, Sarah, Deborah, Jonathan and Rachel. |
| • Marni (Marion) Hodgkin, editor, born 28 November 1917; died 11 March 2015 | • Marni (Marion) Hodgkin, editor, born 28 November 1917; died 11 March 2015 |
| • This article was amended on 27 March 2015. Due to an editing error, we stated that Marni Hodgkin retired to London. In fact, she remained in Cambridge. |
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