Virginia Kidd

Virginia Kidd
Born	Mildred Virginia Kidd (1921-06-02)June 2, 1921 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Died	January 11, 2003(2003-01-11)(aged 81) Milford, Pennsylvania
Nationality	American
Known for	Literary Agency

Virginia Kidd(June 2, 1921 – January 11, 2003) was an Americanliterary agent,writer and editor, who worked in particular inscience fictionand related fields. She represented science fiction American authors such asUrsula K. Le Guin,R.A. Lafferty,Anne McCaffrey,Judith Merril,andGene Wolfe.Wolfe modeled Ann Schindler, a character in his 1990 novelCastleview,in large part on Kidd.

Early life and career

Kidd was bornMildred Virginia Kiddin the Germantown district ofPhiladelphia,Pennsylvania,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 theBerlitz School of Languageswhere she developed fluency in Spanish,Latin,Italian, French, and German. Kidd discovered science fiction at the age of nine, and became an activescience fiction fan.She was aFuturianand, in 1941, became one of the founding members of theVanguard Amateur Press Association.She did not attend college, saying "because I couldn't go to theUniversity of Chicago,and I wouldn't go to any other. "She marriedoperasinger Jack Emden in 1943 (the marriage lasted until 1947), and then fellow writerJames Blish;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,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 publishedKinesis,alittle magazinedevoted topoetrywhich helped to launch the careers of writers includingSonya Dorman.

Her short stories included "Kangaroo Court", published in 1966 inDamon Knight'sOrbit 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(withRoger Elwood,1973);The Wounded Planet(1974);The Best ofJudith Merril(1976);Millennial Women(1978);Interfaces: An Anthology of Speculative Fiction(1980) andEdges: 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,inMilford, Pennsylvania,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 ofJudith Merrill,rooming with her in New York City in the 1940s. In 1961, Merrill introduced Kidd toAnne McCaffreyat 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 ofDragonquest.Her clients includedDavid R. Bunch,Juanita Coulson,George Alec Effinger,Alan Dean Foster,Richard E. Geis,Ursula K. Le Guin,Zach Hughes,Laurence Janifer,R. A. Lafferty,Anne McCaffrey,Judith Merril,Ward Moore,Christopher Priest,Frank M. Robinson,Joanna Russ,andGene Wolfe.

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 authorDamon Knightand husbandJames Blish,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 theMilford Writer's Workshopand 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 Tales55, 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 asThe 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,Vol. 21, No. 3, 1961

Further reading

• Kidd, Virginia, "Agent First, Anthologist Sometimes, Writer in the Cracks," inWomen of Vision,edited by Denise DuPont. St Martin’s Press: 1988.
• The Futurians: the Story of the Science Fiction "Family" of the 30s That Produced Today's Top Sf Writers & Editors(1977) byDamon Knight.

External links

• Virginia Kiddat the Pennsylvania Center for the Book
• Virginia Kiddat theInternet Speculative Fiction Database
• Kidd's obituary from the SFWA website
• Virginia Kidd Literary Agency
• "About Virginia Kidd"by Ursula K. Le Guin, one of her writers
• Mildred "VK" Virginia (Kidd) Blishat Blish Genealogy (blish.org)
• Virginia KiddatLibrary of CongressAuthorities — with 5 catalog records