The Bookseller 150 is sponsored by Mosaic Executive Search
Madeleine Milburn Madeleine Milburn Literary Agency Founder
MMLA’s clients triumphed this year: Mark Edwards’ books sold three million copies; C J Tudor’s The Chalk Man won several international awards; Poonam Mistry was shortlisted for the Kate Greenaway Medal; while débutant Anna Fargher picked up a Sainsbury’s Children’s Book Award. Oh, and the Eleanor Oliphant... paperback hit the million-copy mark. Milburn also struck huge deals for Ashley Audrain’s The Push (including a seven- figure UK deal with Michael Joseph) and Lizzy Goudsmit’s Seven Lies.
Caroline Michel Peters Fraser + Dunlop Chief executive officer
This year ended with quite a run for one of Michel’s longstanding clients, Edna O’Brien, claiming two major international gongs: the David Cohen Prize and Prix Femina. No Nobel, but the PFD boss must feel immensely satisfied with 2019. Highlights include Nelle Andrew’s author Sara Collins’ Costa shortlisting with The Confessions of Franny Langton, Silvia Molteni’s client Onjali Q Raúf winning the Waterstones kids’ award, and head of books Tim Bates selling Andrew Ridgeley’s memoir to Michael Joseph.
Chantal Noel Penguin Random House Group rights director
New Entry
Noel stepped up to rights director for the entire PRH group after 11 years leading the Penguin rights team. This
is part of a centralisation of the depart- ment, with the aim to make a “larger, more nimble structure”. This did mean the departure of well-respected veterans such as Transworld’s Helen Edwards and Penguin’s Alex Elam. But there is oodles of talent in situ, such as Sarah Scarlett in the new role of PRH adult international rights director, and PRH Children’s rights boss Zosia Knopp.
Cathryn Summerhayes Curtis Brown Agent
New Entry
Summerhayes has had a spec- tacular 2018/19, and it was no surprise to see her crowned Agent of Year at this year’s
Nibbies. Adam Kay’s star shows no signs of fading, with 1.25 million copies of his début sold and a strong showing for his second book. Novelist Lucy Foley has also been reinvented as a crime writer with an unmissable publicity campaign for The Hunting Party. This year Summerhayes pulled off a slew of successful deals, including for début author Rebecca Watson’s little scratch.
Patrick Walsh PEW Literary Founder
New Entry
Three years after setting up PEW Literary, the former Conville & Walsh founder is riding high, showing particular
nous for non-fiction and boosting the agency with strategic hires. He recently secured a Profile pre-empt for a title about anti-corruption journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, who was murdered in Malta two years ago, while a début non- fiction book by Irish scientist Olive Heffernan about the “Blue Gold Rush” led to three-way auctions in both the US and UK, again settling with Profile here.
TheBookseller.com 21
Rosemary Scoular United Agents Head of books
Another stonking year for Scoular’s mighty United Agents: a ramble through a handful of highlights include Sarah Ballard’s client Hallie Rubenhold’s The Five claiming the Baillie Gifford; Anna Webber’s literary list coming up trumps again with David Szalay winning the Edge Hill Prize; and a young fellow named Philip Pullman (repped by Caradoc King) having a pretty decent year with The Secret Commonwealth. All of this was underpinned by a top-notch new-ish rights team led by Georgina Le Grice, Amy Mitchell and Jane Willis.
Peter Straus Rogers, Coleridge & White Managing director
The godfather of literary publishing shows no sign of losing his touch in the 30th year of RCW. On the fresher-faced end of the scale he has recently negotiated great deals for Irish authors: Una Mannion’s début novel has gone to Faber, and Helen Cullen’s second outing went to Michael Joseph. Salman Rushdie’s Quichotte earned a Booker shortlisting, while Ian McEwan’s Machines Like Me was a bestseller. RCW’s 30th anniversary party in May was as starry as one would expect, highlighted by Kazuo Ishiguro’s speech.
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