Born on October 26, 1927 to German publisher Johannes Asmus, Marion Boyars spent her childhood in New York and Switzerland, going on to earn a degree in politics, philosophy, and economics from Keele University at a time when few women attended British universities (McNamara, 1997). Boyars (then Marion Asmus) married clothing manufacturer George Lobbenberg and had two daughters, Susan and Catheryn. Through an ad in The Bookseller shown to her by her financial advisor in 1960, Boyars bought a 50% stake – allegedly funded by the alimony of her divorce from Lobbenberg – in independent publisher John Calder's firm Calder Publishers. Boyars claims that her interest in publishing was due to a desire for "a career that was intellectually stimulating and demanding" as well as to "give voice to exciting new ideas" (McNamara, 1997). It was through this firm, which became Calder and Boyars Ltd. in 1964, that she met her second husband, translator and poet Arthur Boyars. The firm specialized in translated fiction, the writings of modern composers, social sciences, film studies, and controversial literature, notably including the works of Hubert Selby Jr. and Henry Miller. Due to insurmountable differences, Calder and Boyars began to dissolve the firm in 1975, dividing their published authors between them over the next five years while forming Calder Publishers and Marion Boyars Publishers, respectively.

As "the first woman in the United Kingdom to become a publisher in her own right – not through marriage or inheritance" as well as the "first woman British publisher to establish an American firm" (Reuter, 1978), Boyars continued to favor experimental fiction and politically radical non-fiction as Marion Boyars Publishers. According to Boyars, she "mainly broke the rules because she didn't know them" (McNamara, 1997), though she also firmly believed that obscenity and taboos were "necessary subjects" (McNamara, 1997). Though other publishers and authors' agents found her to be "slightly eccentric, publishing books no one else wants" (McNamara, 1997), they also noted her success at selecting and promoting authors and their works, often trying to steal authors from Boyars after she had discovered them. With roughly 20-25 books published annually, Marion Boyars Publishers published six authors who went on to win Nobel Prizes and was often the first publisher to bring international authors to English audiences. Boyars's conviction regarding the importance of publishing avant-garde and challenging subject matter also led her to publish a not-insignificant number of queer authors and stories; in 1976, Boyars was involved in challenging the obscenity and blasphemy charges of James Kirkup's poem "The Love that Dares to Speak its Name" as well as the magazine in which it was published, Gay Times. After Boyars's death in 1999, her daughter Catheryn Kilgariff continued to run the firm.

Cited Sources

Reuter, Madalynne. (1978, October 2). "London publisher launches U.S. firm.". The Publishers weekly (0000-0019), 214 , p. 38.

McNamara, Katherine. (1997). "Institutional Memory: A Conversation with Marion Boyars." Archipelago, Vol. 1 No. 3 : http://www.archipelago.org/vol1-3/boyers1.htm