Virgina Kidd

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

## Life and career

Kidd was born **Mildred Virginia Kidd** in the Germantown district of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She was the youngest daughter of Charles Kidd, a printer, and Zetta Daisy Whorley. She had polio at age 2. She was paralyzed for a year from the chest down. Growing up she attended the Berlitz School of Languages where she developed fluency in Spanish, Latin, Italian, French, and German. Kidd discovered science fiction at age 9. She became an active science fiction fan. 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, and I wouldn't go to any other."  She married opera singer Jack Emden in 1943. They divorced in 1947. She then married the writer James Blish. They were married 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 work in the feminist science fiction literary movement. She helped marginalized authors. She was a successful businesswoman who worked with major companies such as Ace Publishing and Parnassus Books.  She was also a poet, and published _Kinesis_, a little magazine for poetry. She helped to start the careers of writers including Sonya Dorman.

Her short stories included "Kangaroo Court", published in 1966 in Damon Knight's _Orbit 1_. She edited or co-edited several science fiction anthologies.
She edited two with her client and friend, Ursula K. LeGuin, _Interfaces: An Anthology of Speculative Fiction_ (1980) and _Edges: Thirteen New Tales from the Borderlands of the Imagination_ (1980). Kidd won the 12th Locus Award in 1979 for _Millennial Women_.

## Virginia Kidd Literary Agency

In 1965, she founded her Virginia Kidd Literary Agency. The agency was at her home, Arrowhead, in Milford, Pennsylvania. Soon, she had many clients from the science fiction community. She was the first female literary agent in speculative fiction.
Her clients included David 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, and Gene Wolfe.

She stopped managing the agency in the mid-1990s because of health problems from diabetes. She died in 2003, but the agency still exists.

## The Milford Method

Along with author Damon Knight and husband James Blish, Kidd developed a method of critique known internationally as the Milford Method.

### 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,_ Vol. 21, No. 3, 1961

## More reading

- Kidd, Virginia, "Agent First, Anthologist Sometimes, Writer in the Cracks," in _Women of Vision_, edited by Denise DuPont. St Martin’s Press: 1988.
- _The Futurians: the Story of the Science Fiction "Family" of the 30'S That Produced Today's Top Sf Writers & Editors_ (1977)  by Damon Knight.

## Other websites

- Virginia Kidd at the Pennsylvania Center for the Book
- 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) Blish at Blish Genealogy (_blish.org_)
- Virginia Kidd at Library of Congress Authorities — with 5 catalog records

## Infobox (artist)

- **name**: Virginia Kidd
- **caption**: Virginia Kidd
- **birth name**: Mildred Virginia Kidd
- **birth place**: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- **death place**: Milford, Pennsylvania
- **nationality**: American
- **field**: Literary Agency