Feb 15, 2011

Thank you, Margaret K. McElderry

I never met Margaret McElderry, but she gave me a lot, as a reader, as a writer, and as a woman.

She published The Borrowers, one of my very favorite childhood books.

She trained the two women who became my agents, and she taught them well, and now I'm the beneficiary of that knowledge and expertise.

She established the imprint that will publish my next book; an imprint that I'm already honored to be associated with; an imprint with the name of a real person still behind it; a name synonymous with the love of literature for literature's sake.

She was a role model for women-- someone who followed her passions and didn't let anyone tell her she couldn't, and as a result was very successful and very influential.

Thank you, Margaret K. McElderry.

4 comments:

  1. Margaret would LOVE you, Stacy, and she would be so very proud to have her name on your forthcoming Margaret K. McElderry book!

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  2. Thanks, Tracey! I hope so. I promise to do her proud.

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  3. Early in my career, she rejected one of my manuscripts or proposals, but with a letter that told me to keep my dream alive. About ten years ago, she came to a conference in her native Pittsburgh, and I was able to thank her for that letter in person.

    She touched so many of us by believing in the power of books for young readers.

    And congratulations to you, Stacy, for having a book as part of her imprint!

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  4. Fred, it's cool that she's from your hometown. And it was nice to know there was a real, warmhearted person behind the imprint.

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