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Andrew Wylie (literary agent)

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Andrew Wylie (born 1947 in New York City) is an American literary agent, known in the book industry as The Jackal.

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).

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]

Literary agent

Wylie founded the literary agency named after him 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. For his business tactics, Wylie has acquired "The Jackal" as a nickname.

Controversies

Throughout his career as a literary agent, Wylie has attracted attention for poaching clients from other agents.[1] 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 e-books. The first twenty titles were launched on 21 July, available exclusively from Amazon.com. Wiley's friendly attitude towards Amazon was short-lived, though: In 2014 he advised: “If you have a choice between the plague and Amazon, pick the plague!” [1] He later went on to liken Amazon's tactics to those of the ISIS terrorist organization.[2] Guardian

Clients

Estates

References

  1. ^ a b Brockes, Emma. "Agent provocateur", The Guardian, London 24 November 2003. Retrieved on 2010-07-22.
  2. ^ a b c Lambert, Craig. "Fifteen Percent of Immortality", Harvard Magazine, Cambridge July 2010. Retrieved on 2010-07-22.
  3. ^ Schambelan, Elizabeth. "He is curious (yellow)", Bookforum, April 2007. Retrieved on 2010-08-20.
  4. ^ Grove, Lloyd. "The world according to Andrew Wylie", Portfolio, December 2007. Retrieved on 2010-08-20.
  5. ^ http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/07/30/jonah-lehrer-resigns-from-new-yorker-after-making-up-dylan-quotes-for-his-book/
  6. ^ http://dish.andrewsullivan.com/2013/10/10/quote-for-the-day-272/
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