SPONSOR
DESCRIPTION
LITERARY AGENT OF THE YEAR BECKY THOMAS
THE SHORTLIST
Diana Beaumont MARJACQ SCRIPTS
Camilla Bolton DARLEY ANDERSON LITERARY, TV AND FILM AGENCY
Ludo Cinelli
EVE WHITE LITERARY AGENCY
BLAKE FRIEDMANN
OWN IT!
Kate Nash
KATE NASH LITERARY AGENCY
FELICITY BRYAN ASSOCIATES
I
n another disrupted year for authors, Becky Thomas was the perfect example of the immense value that literary agents bring to their clients.
After time at Faber and agencies including
Johnson & Alcock, Thomas struck out on her own in 2021. Many of her authors followed her to the Lewinsohn Literary Agency, which quickly established a strong reputation for inclusivity and taking underrepresented authors from the margins to the mainstream. Within a few months of launching, the agency’s roster had produced two Sunday Times bestsellers— from Hollie McNish with Slug & Other Things I’ve Been Told to Hate and Carl Anka, Marcus Rashford’s co-author on You Are a Champion— while others on the list, including Will Burns and Kae Tempest, burnished their reputations. Beyond star names, Thomas combined exemplary author care with tenacious deal-
making and excellent collaboration with publishers. Her proactive approach helped clients find new sources of income during lockdowns— particularly important for her clutch of perfor- mance poets, who rely on live events. She is an agent who does not rely on big advances but instead carves out new channels and modest deals that cumulatively make a substantial difference to her authors’ careers. “Starting up an agency in the middle of a
pandemic and doing things on your own terms takes guts… it says a lot that so many of her authors went with her,” said the judges, who also applauded her efforts to make publishing more inclusive, and support of genres like poetry that are tough in commercial terms. “She is a different and dynamic voice in agenting and doing so much to achieve proper representation. She is totally committed to her authors and looks for every possible revenue stream.”
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