Kaye Webb
Kaye Webb | |
|---|---|
 Webb in 1972 | |
| Born | 26 January 1914 |
| Died | 16 January 1996(aged 81) |
| Occupation | Editor and publisher |
| Nationality | British |
| Notable awards | Eleanor Farjeon Award(1970)[1] |
| Spouse | Ronald Searle (1948–1967) |
Kathleen ( "Kaye" ) WebbMBE(26 January 1914 – 16 January 1996), was a British editor and publisher. She has been called an "enormously influential children's editor" and "brilliant as an innovator of highly successful marketing strategies".[1]She was awarded theEleanor Farjeon Awardin 1970.[1]
Early life and education
[edit]Kathleen Webb was born inChiswick, London,in 1914, the second of three children of Arthur Webb, a journalist, and Ann (née Stevens), a film and theatre critic.[2][3][4]Her paternal great-great-grandfather was W. G. (William George) Webb, publisher of toy theatres in the Victorian era.[2][3]
Webb was educated first at adame school,then atHornseyHigh School, and then, in 1926, aged twelve, started boarding at Ashburton School,Ashburton, Devon,where her older brother was already a student. Webb herself described her time there as "bullied, miserable, had jaundice", but was inspired and encouraged by the teacher of English, Ben R. Gibbs, author of textbooks about literature and history.[2][3]
She left the school in 1930, and although Gibbs had suggested that she go on to university, she was sent by her parents to stay with a family inBruges,Belgium,to be "finished".[3]
Career
[edit]Webb's first job after she left school, aged 16, was as an office girl atThe Times.[3]In 1931, after her time in Belgium, she was employed as editor's secretary atPicturegoer,where she was "George the Answerman".[2][3]At some point, she also worked forMickey Mouse Weekly,where she was paid 2penceper answer to reply to children's letters.[2][3]She later worked for motor magazinesCaravan WorldandSports Car.She joinedPicture Postas a secretary in 1938; and in 1941 became assistant editor of the magazineLilliput.[2]
During theSecond World War,Webb volunteered as "an ambulance driver, air-raid warden, canteen worker and member of theFleet StreetWomen's Rifle Brigade ".[5]
She remained atLilliputuntil her marriage in 1948, after which she began working freelance, writing features for theNews Chronicleand broadcasting onWoman's Hour,among other commissions. In 1955 she was invited byJohn Grigg,the owner, to edit the children's literary magazineThe Young Elizabethan(afterwards retitledThe Elizabethan). In 1961, she became editor ofPuffin Books,remaining until 1979. In 1967 she founded thePuffin Club,which she ran until 1981 (also editing its magazine,Puffin Post).[2][6]
The publisher Andrew Franklin has described Webb as "the first publisher to turn children’s writers into stars".[7]Nicholas Fiskwrote to her in 1979 that "it was the Kaye Webb 'fluence, permeating the whole field, that was so liberating and encouraging. Whatever the Scene is today, most probably you set it".[1]She had almost complete autonomy over what Puffin published.[1]She ensured that Puffin covers were eye-catching.[1]She preferred publishing texts with complex and sophisticated writing, and emphasised "fantasy and pleasure".[1]
In 1959, she and Searle were invited by theUnited Nations High Commissioner for Refugeesto visitrefugeecamps in Europe as part of the World Refugee Year of 1959; this resulted in a book,Refugees 1960: A Report in Words and Drawings.[8]
Webb was a castaway onDesert Island Discsin 1993.[7]
Personal life
[edit]
Webb was married three times: each of her marriages ended in divorce. Her third marriage (1948–1967) was toRonald Searle,who was the father of her son and daughter.[6][7]"They built a colourful and creative kind of domesticity in a house that would be painted in wild colours and filled with all the bizarre objects they collected on their travels".[7]
Webb was cremated atKensal Green Cemetery.[2]
Archives
[edit]Webb's archive and working library are held in theSeven Storiescentre for children's books collection, based inNewcastle upon Tyne.[1][9]
Books
[edit]- Looking at London and People Worth Meeting(1953), News Chronicle, with Ronald Searle
- Paris Sketchbook(1958), Perpetua Books, with Ronald Searle
- The St. Trinian's Story: the Whole Ghastly Dossier(ed) (1959), Perpetua Books
- Refugees 1960: A Report in Words and Drawings(1960), Penguin Books, with Ronald Searle
- A Book of Goblins(1972), withAlan Garner
- I Like This Poem(ed) (1979), Puffin
- Lilliput goes to war(ed) (1985),Hutchinson
- I Like This Story: a taste of fifty favourites(ed) (1986), Puffin
- Meet My Friends: Favourite characters and their adventures(ed) (1991),Viking Kestrel
- Round about six: new stories and poems(ed) (1992),Frances Lincoln
- Family tree: a collection of favourite poems and stories about all kinds of families(ed) (1994),Hamish Hamilton
- Let the sun shine: a read aloud collection(ed) (1998), Frances Lincoln
References
[edit]- ^abcdefghPearson, L. (2016).The Making of Modern Children's Literature in Britain: Publishing and Criticism in the 1960s and 1970s.Studies in Childhood, 1700 to the Present. Taylor & Francis.ISBN978-1-317-02475-0.Retrieved16 May2023.
- ^abcdefghMatthew, H. C. G.; Harrison, B., eds. (23 September 2004),"The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography",The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography,Oxford: Oxford University Press,doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/60767,retrieved6 December2023
- ^abcdefgGrove, Valerie (2011).So Much To Tell.Penguin Books.ISBN978-0-67-091908-6.
- ^Cooke, Rachel (16 May 2010)."So Much to Tell by Valerie Grove".The Observer.London, England.Retrieved30 September2019.
- ^Baines, P. (2010).Puffin by Design: 70 Years of Imagination, 1940-2010.Penguin.ISBN978-0-14-132614-6.Retrieved16 May2023.
- ^abcdBrown, Helen (30 April 2010)."Kaye Webb's Puffin adventure".The Telegraph.Retrieved16 May2023.
- ^Lawrance, Sarah (May 2022)."A Story from the Archives: Refugees 1960, a report in words and drawings by Kaye Webb and Ronald Searle".Books for Keeps.Retrieved16 May2023.
- ^"Kaye Webb Collection".Seven Stories Collection.Retrieved11 January2020.
External links
[edit]- Kathleen (Kaye) Webb,Seven Storiesarchive index
- Archive record of interview with Webb by a Puffin Club member,1969
- Portrait of Webbat theNational Portrait Gallery
- The Puffin phenomenon and its creator, Kaye Webb,thesis by Katharine Webb, 2012
- Desert Island Discs,BBC, 1993
