List of UK literary agencies

This is a list of the major UK literary agencies, by order of the year of their establishment.

Literary agencies

Year founded	Agency	Management	Notable clients	Website	Comments
1875	A P Watt	Caradoc King (Chairman and Joint Managing Director), Derek Johns (Joint Managing Director)	Philip Pullman	www.apwatt.co.uk www.unitedagents.co.uk/ap-watt	Oldest literary agency in the world. In December 2012 A P Watt joined the United Agents Partnership.[1]
1898 (USA)	WME (UK)	Simon Trewin (Head of UK Literary Division)[2]		www.wmeauthors.co.uk	Formerly William Morris Endeavor. The largest talent agency in the world, having been created in 2009 by the merger of the William Morris Agency and the Endeavor Agency.
1899	Curtis Brown	Jonathan Lloyd (Chief Executive), Jonny Geller (Managing Director, Books Division)	Jeffery Deaver	www.curtisbrown.co.uk
1919	AM Heath	Bill Hamilton (Managing Director)	Hilary Mantel, George Orwell (estate)	www.amheath.com
1924	Peters Fraser & Dunlop (PFD)	Caroline Michel (Chief Executive)	Simon Schama, Jeanette Winterson, C. S. Forester (estate)	www.petersfraserdunlop.com	Part of The Rights House Group, which was established in 2010. PFD is the result of a 1989 merger between the A. D. Peters Agency and the Fraser and Dunlop Agency.
1935	David Higham Associates	Anthony Goff (Managing Director)	J. M. Coetzee, Roald Dahl (estate), Stephen Fry, Eric Hobsbawm, Jacqueline Wilson	www.davidhigham.co.uk	Originally Pearn, Pollinger & Higham; David Higham Associates since 1956.
1956[3]	Johnson & Alcock	Michael Alcock, Andrew Hewson		www.johnsonandalcock.co.uk	Created in 2003 by the merger of Michael Alcock Management and the John Johnson Agency.[4]
1962	Sheil Land Associates	Sonia Land (Chief Executive)[5]	Peter Ackroyd, Melvyn Bragg,[6] Susan Hill,[7] Patrick O’Brian (estate)[8]	www.sheilland.co.uk	Based in London, UK. Incorporates Richard Scott Simon Ltd (1971) and Christy & Moore Ltd (1912). Overseas associates: Georges Borchardt, Inc. (USA).[9]
1963[10]	Greene & Heaton	Carol Heaton		www.greeneheaton.co.uk	Founded by Elaine Greene, who was later joined by Carol Heaton.[11]
1973 (USA)[12]	Janklow & Nesbit (UK)	Claire Conrad (Director, London Office)[13]		www.janklowandnesbit.co.uk	London office opened in 2000.[12]
1974[14]	Independent Talent	Duncan Heath (Chairman), Paul Lyon-Maris (Deputy Chairman and Managing Director), Lyndsey Posner (Managing Director - Corporate Affairs)[15]		www.independenttalent.com	Originally founded as Duncan Heath & Associates, which was bought by ICM in 1985.[16] In 1991, ICM merged Duncan Heath & Associates with its UK office and, in 2002, a management buyout took place.[17] The agency was renamed Independent Talent in August 2007.[17]
1974	MBA	Diana Tyler (Joint Managing Director), Laura Longrigg (Joint Managing Director)		www.mbalit.co.uk
1976[18]	Ed Victor Literary Agency	Ed Victor (Executive Chairman), Sophie Hicks (Joint Managing Director), Margaret Phillips (Joint Managing Director)[3]		www.edvictor.com
1976	Aitken Alexander Associates	Gillon Aitken (Chairman), Clare Alexander (Joint Managing Director), Sally Riley (Joint Managing Director)		www.aitkenalexander.co.uk	Originally Gillon Aitken Associates, and operated for a time as Aitken & Stone.
1982	Blake Friedmann	Carole Blake (Joint Managing Director), Julian Friedmann (Joint Managing Director)		www.blakefriedmann.co.uk	Created by the merger of Julian Friedmann Literary Agency and the Carole Blake Literary Agency, which were founded in 1976 and 1977 respectively.
1985	Caroline Sheldon Literary Agency	Caroline Sheldon		www.carolinesheldon.co.uk
1988	Andrew Lownie Literary Agency	Andrew Lownie (Managing Director)		www.andrewlownie.co.uk
1988	Darley Anderson	Darley Anderson (Founder and Proprietor)[19]	Lee Child, Martina Cole	www.darleyanderson.com
1995	David Godwin Associates (DGA)	David Godwin (Director), Heather Godwin (Director)[20]		davidgodwinassociates.com
1996[21]	Lucas Alexander Whitley (LAW)	Mark Lucas (Director), Julian Alexander (Director), Araminta Whitley (Director), Philippa Milnes-Smith (Managing Director)[21]	Frank Gardner, Sophie Kinsella, Andy McNab, Kate Mosse, Condé Nast, Philip Reeve, Chris Riddell, Nigel Slater, Alison Weir	http://www.lawagency.co.uk/	Based in London, UK, LAW was founded in 1996[22] by literary agents Mark Lucas, Julian Alexander, and Araminta Whitley. In 2001 Philippa Milnes-Smith joined the agency from Penguin Children's Books to create a children's and YA department.[23]
2000[24]	Conville & Walsh	Clare Conville, Patrick Walsh, Jake Smith-Bosanquet (Managing Director), Alan Oliver (Finance Director)[25]	DBC Pierre, S. J. Watson, Charlie Brooker, Belle de Jour, Vic Reeves, Francis Bacon (estate)	www.convilleandwalsh.com
2002[26]	Jenny Brown Associates	Jenny Brown		www.jennybrownassociates.com	The largest literary agency in Scotland.[26]
2003	Eve White Literary Agency	Eve White	Andy Stanton, Tracey Corderoy, Rae Earl Johnson	www.evewhite.co.uk
2005	Graham Maw Christie Literary Agency	Jennifer Christie, Jane Graham Maw	Rosie Millard, Sheila Chandra	www.grahammawchristie.com	Based in London, UK.
2007	United Agents	Peter Bennett-Jones (Co-Chairman), Lindy King (Co-Chairman), St. John Donald (Managing Director)[27]		www.unitedagents.co.uk	In October 2013 Jon Elks of United Agents sold the North American rights for Tina Seskis’s debut novel One Step Too Far to HarperCollins’s William Morrow imprint for $500,000.[28]
2008	Writers House UK	Angharad Kowal (Managing Director)		www.writershouse.com	In April 2008, Writers House opened Writers House UK, a London-based office run by Angharad Kowal, dedicated to selling and supporting US Authors directly in the United Kingdom, British Commonwealth, Australia, and New Zealand. Angharad is now actively looking to expand her representation of UK authors.
2012 [29]	Madeleine Milburn Ltd	Madeleine Milburn (Director and Literary Agent)	CJ Daugherty, Cally Taylor	www.madeleinemilburn.co.uk	Literary, TV & Film Agency based in Mayfair, London, founded by Madeleine Milburn in February 2012 and expanded in 2015 with two new agents [30] Representing adult fiction and non-fiction, and children's and YA, with a reputation for launching new writers on a global level in major deals[31]
2012	Hardman & Swainson	Caroline Hardman & Joanna Swainson (Founders & Literary Agents), Hannah Ferguson (Literary Agent)		www.hardmanswainson.com	Based in London, UK, Hardman & Swainson was founded in June 2012[32] by Caroline Hardman and Joanna Swainson. In September 2014, Hannah Ferguson joined the agency from the Marsh Agency. [33]Hardman & Swainson represents a range of fiction and non-fiction.
2013	Rocking Chair Books: A Literary Agency	Samar Hammam (Director & Literary Agent)		www.rockingchairbooks.com	Dedicated to original page-turning books.
2014	Skylark Literary	Amber Caraveo, Joanna Moult		http://www.skylark-literary.com	Specialist Children's and YA Literary Agency
2016	Blue Boar Books			www.blueboarbooks.yolasite.com	Children's, YA and Adult Fiction/Non-Fiction Literary Agents
2016	Outlaw Agents UK	Sam Bellis, Tom Edwards	Adam Manuel, Danny Martin	http://www.outlawagentsuk.com	UK Screenwriting Agent specialising in Film, TV, Video Games and viral campaign industries.

See also

• List of largest UK book publishers

References

1. "AP Watt". United Agents. Retrieved May 19, 2015.
2. Charlotte Williams, "Trewin made literary head at WME", The Bookseller, 18 June 2012.
3. Writers' Copyright Association, Directory of Literary Agents.
4. Johnson & Alcock, Agents.
5. Sonia Land, LinkedIn.com.
6. Sheil Land Associates, Authors A–E.
7. Sheil Land Associates, Authors F–L.
8. Sheil Land Associates, Authors M–R.
9. ”Sheil Land Associates Ltd” Writers’ and Artists’ Yearbook 2016 (London: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2016).
10. Greene & Heaton, About Us - The Agency.
11. Greene & Heaton, About Us - Carol Heaton.
12. About, Janklow & Nesbit (UK).
13. Janklow & Nesbit (UK), People - Claire Conrad.
14. Sathnam Sanghera, Agent Provocateur, The Financial Times, 29 January 2002.
15. Casting Call Pro, Independent Talent Group.
16. Sanghera, Agent Provocateur.
17. Wendy Mitchell, "London agency ICM changes name to Independent", Screen Daily, 31 August 2007.
18. Ed Victor Literary Agency, Welcome.
19. Darley Anderson Literary, TV and Film Agency, Darley Anderson - Proprietor.
20. DGA, About DGA.
21. "LAW Literary Agents London - Lucas Alexander Whitley Literary Agency". lawagency.co.uk.
22. "Literary Agents", Ragged.
23. "Agents", LAW.
24. Conville and Walsh FAQ
25. "Jake Smith-Bosanquet appointed to board", Conville and Walsh.
26. "About Us", Jenny Brown Associates.
27. Joel Rickett, Flying a United flag, The Bookseller, 3 April 2008.
28. "Frankfurt Book Fair 2013: HC Wins Self-Published Novel In Major Buy". Publishers Weekly. 10 October 2013. Retrieved 28 January 2014.
29. Madeleine Milburn, "Why Choose Our Literary agency", Madeleine Milburn Ltd.
30. Coen and O'Halloran join Madeleine Milburn, The Bookseller.
31. Seven-figure deal for debut writer, The Bookseller.
32. Hardman & Swainson Launch New Agency, The Bookseller.
33. Ferguson joins Hardman & Swainson, The Bookseller.