Legendary children’s book marketing director Mimi Kayden, whose tenure at Dutton and Penguin Young Readers lasted 28 years, and who later held positions at HarperCollins and North-South, died on Monday, April 16, following a brief illness. She was 84.
After graduating from Wellesley College, Kayden began her career in publishing first as a temp, then as a full-time employee, doing children’s publicity at Harper & Brothers in New York City under the tutelage of Ursula Nordstrom in the 1950s. It was an era, she told PW, when “marketing just didn’t exist.” But the Russians’ launch of Sputnik had ushered in a publishing industry heyday of bountiful federal funding that was available to promote reading and science in schools, and soon inspired the new specialty of library promotion. Kayden often recalled the early days of her career when she was tasked with traveling to libraries around the country to observe and report on what was happening in that milieu.
In 2006, she was honored with the Distinguished Service Award given by the Association of Library Service to Children. In her remarks accepting the award she noted, “Obviously everything I ever learned, I learned on the job.” She also thanked the librarians in attendance, who represented all the professionals who, she said, had informed her work at every turn. “A job in marketing means working as a facilitator, working as a go-between books and libraries, authors and librarians, and that means I could not have done it without you.”
Author-illustrator Rosemary Wells, who had worked with Kayden for many years, and who was a close friend, offered this tribute: “I have lost one of my dearest friends, the best traveling companion in the world, and a virtual family member. I was not the only one. Mimi Kayden, by dint of her great heart had more friends than all of us put together! She is sorely missed."
Regina Hayes, publisher of Viking Children’s Books from 1982 to 2012 and currently editor-at-large for the imprint, shared some of the things she will remember most about her friend and colleague: “Mimi was a genuine force. She knew absolutely everyone in the library community. It was amazing at ALA to see her holding court in the booth. Everyone stopped by to see her and chat and she remembered every person and all their details; she should have run for office! Mimi had a great sense of humor. Her tart observations always made me laugh. She had a gift for friendship; her wide circle of friends included classmates from Wellesley, publishing colleagues, authors, and more, and she somehow kept in touch with them all. And they all will miss her.”
