Marie Freid Rodell (January 31, 1912 – November 9, 1975) was a literary agent and author who managed the publications of much of environmentalist

Rachel Carson Rachel Louise Carson (May 27, 1907 – April 14, 1964) was an American marine biologist, writer, and conservation movement, conservationist whose influential book ''Silent Spring'' (1962) and other writings are credited with advancing the ...

's writings, as well as the first book by civil rights activist

Martin Luther King Jr. Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr.; January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American Baptist minister and activist, one of the most prominent leaders in the civil rights movement from 1955 until his assassination in 1968 ...

Rodell was born in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

, and attended

Vassar College Vassar College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Poughkeepsie, New York, United States. Founded in 1861 by Matthew Vassar, it was the second degree-granting institution of higher education for women in the United States, closely fol ...

(B.A. 1932). When Duell, Sloan, & Pearce was formed in December 1939, Rodell was one of their first hires and would spend the next nine years as the editor for mystery novel imprint, The Bloodhound. Rodell left Duell, Sloan & Pearce to form her own literary agency in 1948.Rodell, Marie Freid (1912-1975)
, ''King Encyclopedia'', accessed September 11, 2007 That year she met Rachel Carson, who hired her. She worked with Carson for the remainder of Carson's life, and after Carson's death in 1964 became her literary executor; she compiled and organized the Rachel Carson Papers (which took over two years) and arranged for the posthumous publication of ''A Sense of Wonder''.Priscilla Coit Murphy, ''What a Book Can Do: The Publication and Reception of ''Silent Spring, (University of Massachusetts Press, 2005), pp. 28-29 In 1957, she was King's literary agent for ''

Stride Toward Freedom ''Stride Toward Freedom: The Montgomery Story'' (published 1958) is Martin Luther King Jr.'s historic account of the 1955–1956 Montgomery bus boycott. The book describes the conditions of African Americans living in Alabama during the era, and ...

''. Rodell wrote three mystery novels under the pen name Marion Randolph. She was also a member of

Mensa Mensa may refer to: * Mensa International, an organization for people with a high intelligence quotient (IQ) * Mensa (name), a name and list of people with the given name or surname * Mensa (constellation), a constellation in the southern sky * Men ...

. Rodell wrote ''Mystery Fiction: Theory and Technique''; in his column of November 7, 1943, ''Chicago Tribune'' book columnist Vincent Starrett called this “one of the most entertaining textbooks ever written.” She was the editor of the Regional Murder Series. She also wrote and published books under the pen name Marion Randolph.

References

* ''Who Was Who in America'', Volume 6 1912 births 1975 deaths 20th-century American novelists American mystery writers American women novelists Literary agents Vassar College alumni Writers from New York City Women mystery writers 20th-century American women writers Mensans Novelists from New York (state) {{US-writer-stub