My colleague and friend Marilyn Malin, who has died aged 86, was a doyenne of children’s literature, both as a publisher and as an agent. For many years the managing director of Methuen Children’s Books, she was fair and considerate, generous spirited and open to new ideas – indeed, she was ahead of her time.
As well as being an excellent caretaker for the Kenneth Grahame and AA Milne estates, she was responsible for the acquisition of many notable titles, including several early books by Floella Benjamin (now Lady Benjamin), and stories and poems by the then unknown Caribbean writers James Berry and John Agard.
