New Biography Of Iconoclast Disney Director And Animator Ward Kimball To Be Published In 2026

Ward Kimball, the iconoclast Disney director and animator, was born on this day in 1914.

And thus, it seems like a fitting day to announce that a new biography about his life and work — If It Ain’t Fun, To Hell With It! Ward Kimball’s Adventures in Disney, Jazz, Trains, and the Avant-Garde — will be published in late 2026.

The book is written by yours truly, and as many of animation fans are aware, it’s been a long journey to finish this book. When I completed the first manuscript, there were objections from The Walt Disney Company to the book’s contents, which was at odds with the corporation’s well-worn sanitized historical narrative, and this led my publisher to sacrifice me on the altar of Disney and cancel the book.

That disappointment, however, had a lovely silver lining. It led to a yearslong effort to write an entirely new biography that is many times longer (and more insightful and revealing) than the original version I’d written.

Writing about Ward is no easy task. He was so much more than just an animator and director. And to do his life justice, a biography has to be so much more than just a standard animation biography. While it’s true that this is a book about an individual who worked in the Hollywood animation industry for much of his career, it’s also a story about carving your own artistic path and making your own luck, with insights and lessons that I hope will resonate with everyone who works in the creative arts.

For regular updates about the book’s progress, I’m launching a new personal newsletter that you can subscribe to for free on my site amidamidi.com.