Ann Durell (1930–2018)

[excerpted from Publishers Weekly online obituary]
Durell developed her taste for writing early on when she was asked to review some titles for the Junior Literary Guild. Durell joined the Doubleday training program, during which she acquired bookselling experience in one of the Doubleday shops. By 1953, she landed a position as secretary to Margaret Lesser, editor of young people's books at the company. She took a course in writing for children taught by Phyllis Whitney at New York University and sold a few short stories for children to such magazines as American Girl. Whitney suggested Durell expand one of her short stories to book length, and it became Holly River Secret, a novel acquired by Lesser and published in 1956.

She was selected as editor of the Junior Library Guild in 1959. She became a children's book editor for Holt in 1961 and later became editor-in-chief of the children's department at Holt, Rinehart and Winston. In 1969, Durell joined Dutton Children's Books where, over a nearly 20-year span, she worked with a roster of authors and illustrators that included Lloyd Alexander, Judy Blume, David McPhail, Diane Goode and Laurene Krasny Brown and Marc Brown, all of whom have received numerous prestigious accolades, the Newbery and Caldecott Medals among them. Durell retired in 1987 as v-p and publisher of Dutton's children's division.

Durell married James T. McCrory on May 8, 1982. The couple traveled to England each spring and fall where she loved to indulge in one of her greatest passions: walking. In an obituary, her family noted the hundreds of miles Durell trekked during her retirement, in her New York City neighborhood of the Upper West Side as well as at vacation spots in the White Mountains and New Hampshire. Among other pursuits during retirement, Durell was active in St. Michael's Episcopal Church, served as a tutor for local public school children, and was honored as a 40-year member of the New York Society Library.