Andrew Wylie (literary agent)
Andrew Wylie is one of the world's leading literary agents.
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[edit] Early life
Wylie is the son of Craig Wylie, one time editor-in-chief at Houghton Mifflin.[1] He grew up in Sudbury, Massachusetts, and attended St. Paul's School in Concord, New Hampshire, from which he was dismissed in 1965: an interview with his university alumni magazine stated that this was for arranging illicit excursions to Boston for fellow students and supplying them, illegally, with alcohol.[2] This did not prevent his acceptance at Harvard, where he studied Romance Languages & Literatures, graduating magna cum laude in 1969 (class of 1970).
[edit] Poet
In 1972, Wylie published a short collection of poetry, Yellow Flowers. Many of the verses cited in public sources are sexually explicit in nature. In a 2007 interview, fellow agent Ira Silverberg suggested that Wylie has since attempted to acquire the remaining copies of the collection.[3] Wylie himself denied this allegation, describing Yellow Flowers as a 'youthful indiscretion'.[4]
[edit] Literary agent
Wylie founded his eponymous literary agency in New York in 1980. He opened a second office in London in 1996.[2] It now represents more than 700 clients and literary estates.
[edit] Controversies
Throughout his career as a literary agent, Wylie has attracted attention for poaching clients from other agents.[1] Most notably, in 1995 Martin Amis left his agent of 22 years, Pat Kavanagh for Wylie, who was reported to have secured an advance of £500,000 for Amis's novel The Information.[2] The move created a rift between Amis and his long-time friend Julian Barnes, who was married to Kavanagh.
In July 2010, Wylie launched a new business, Odyssey Editions, to publish ebooks. The first twenty titles were launched on 21 July, available exclusively from Amazon.com.
[edit] Clients
[edit] Estates
[edit] References
- ^ a b Brockes, Emma. "Agent provocateur", The Guardian, London 24 November 2003. Retrieved on 2010-07-22.
- ^ a b c Lambert, Craig. "Fifteen Percent of Immortality", Harvard Magazine, Cambridge July 2010. Retrieved on 2010-07-22.
- ^ Schambelan, Elizabeth. "He is curious (yellow)", Bookforum, April 2007. Retrieved on 2010-08-20.
- ^ Grove, Lloyd. "The world according to Andrew Wylie", Portfolio, December 2007. Retrieved on 2010-08-20.
