Katie Cunningham. Image: Nosy Crow, Erin Cunningham
By Porter Anderson, Editor-in-Chief | @Porter_Anderson
Kate Wilson: ‘Integrity, Careful Thought’
As Publishing Perspectives readers will recall, the United Kingdom’s now-14-year-old Nosy Crow in London opened a United States-based company in 2023. In the UK, the company has been widely recognized for working in digital as well as print formats in its output for young readers, frequently testing products that some in the industry assumed parents and their young readers would resist.Today (July 9), the company has notified members of the news media that the publisher of the North American company, Katie Cunningham, died on Friday (July 4) at home in Hudson, Massachusetts, following complications related to ovarian cancer. She was 43.
Cunningham joined Nosy Crow as its American publisher in March of this year, following a tenure at Candlewick Press, where she began her career in 2003 as an intern and rose to become SVP for editorial, and associate publisher. At Candlewick, she was especially valued for identifying, developing, and championing extraordinary works that reflect children’s experiences and interests. Those titles included Julian is a Mermaid, which earned author-illustrator Jessica Love the 2019 Klaus Flugge Prize; and the US edition of Maps, the intricately drawn book of maps by Aleksandra Mizielinska and Daniel Mizielinski.
The home office at Nosy Crow Ltd. today is recalling Cunningham once saying, “Every child deserves a favorite book.”
Kate Wilson
Kate Wilson, Nosy Crow’s group CEO, is quoted today, saying, “Every one of us who had anything to do with Katie knows how magnificent she was.
“Her integrity, careful thought, and shining vitality leave a profound mark. I count it a privilege and inspiration to have shared as much time as I did with her.”
John Mendelson, Nosy Crow president, says, “It’s difficult to convey not only Katie’s extraordinary talent as an editor and publisher, but also the light she brought into every room and every interaction.
John Mendelson
“Her energy, vision, and profound empathy were unique. She was kind and funny. She was a good friend.
“Her passing is an enormous loss, not only to us at Nosy Crow, but to the entire industry and to future readers.
“I am heartbroken for us all.”
Belinda Rasmussen
Belinda Rasmussen, president and publisher of Walker Books Group, the parent company of Candlewick Press, says, “Katie was an extraordinary publisher—the books she leaves behind are a testament to her talent and vision.
“But it was her wisdom, warmth, and empathy that made her presence a gift to us all—and her absence all the more deeply felt.
“The world is a lesser place without her.”
‘She Was Family’
The company today shares a note, saying that in the years after Cunningham’s diagnosis, she worked to bring attention to ovarian cancer research and fundraising.
Two months ago, her colleagues say, she wrote, “I hope you have never had a cancer diagnosis touch your life, but if you have or if you will, I want you to have every piece of weaponry humanity can dream up. I want you to have every tool to fight like hell to get to the other side.
“I don’t know if I’m on the other side, but I know where I am is absolutely beautiful.”
Kenneth M. Cadow
Gather author Kenneth M. Cadow, says, “There was simply nothing like being believed in by Katie. She made the hard work of writing, of addressing 3,500 edits, of painstaking page-break design fun. I knew I was a part of something beautiful and energetic and good, working with her. I also really appreciated her permission to take off my uncomfortable shoes at the National Book Awards and wear clogs. (This was because Katie was wearing sneakers.) Who could make
you laugh so hard, and also be so effective at calling people, systems, governments on their BS?”
Matt Tavares
And author-illustrator Matt Tavares (Dasher and the Polar Bear), says, “Katie Cunningham was my editor for 17 years. She was a brilliant editor, and more importantly, a dear friend. During those years, I watched her rise to senior vice president. But I don’t think she ever cared much about her job title. Her only professional ambition was to make great books.
“She will be missed by so many people who loved her, but I know her legacy will live on in all the books she helped put into the world, and in her son, and in all the lives she made better. I know that to so many of us in the children’s book world who knew her, Katie wasn’t just a coworker, or an editor. She was family.”
Cunningham is survived by her wife, Erin, and their son, Jack; her parents, Joyce and Warren Cunningham; her sister, Ellen, and partner Angelo Morales, nieces Moriana and Eva, and nephew, AJ; as well as “many aunts, uncles, and cousins; and a huge network of friends, including her lifelong best friend, Melissa Pimentel.”
A funeral is to be held at the Unitarian Church of Marlborough and Hudson at 80 Main Street in Hudson, at 11 a.m. ET on Friday (July 11). In lieu of flowers, her family has suggested donations in Katie’s memory to: The Pan Mass Challenge: Katie’s Ride, Team Ovarian Cancer, MGH Cancer Center, or The Center for Coastline Studies.
Memories of Katie, which are being compiled to share with her family, friends, and colleagues, may be emailed to phoebe@nosycrow.com.
More from Publishing Perspectives on children’s books is here; more on the United Kingdom’s market is here; more on the United States’ market is here; more on Nosy Crow is here, and more obituaries in publishing are here.