- Curtis Brown (literary agents)
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Curtis Brown (Curtis Brown Literary and Talent Agency) is a literary and talent agency based in London, UK. It was founded in 1899 by Albert Curtis Brown.
Contents
History
Albert Curtis Brown was an American journalist who was the London correspondent for New York Press. He also ran a press syndication agency. Because of his contacts in both the UK and America, he fell into representing authors who were looking for publishing opportunities on the two continents.
The first deal he transacted was selling serial rights in John Oliver Hobbes’s "The Vineyard". The literary agency element of Brown’s business was accommodated alongside his press agency in Henrietta Street, Covent Garden. In 1914, Curtis Brown opened its first international office in New York; subsequently, offices were opened in Paris, Berlin, Milan and Copenhagen. Brown believed in the exchange of literature between countries as a point of principle to foster international understanding. The company retains a translation rights department to this day.
During this period, Brown carried out agency business on behalf of a large number of well-known writers such as Kenneth Grahame, AA Milne and DH Lawrence. It also worked on behalf of prominent figures of the day including Winston Churchill, David Lloyd George and President Woodrow Wilson.
Recent history
In 1995, Jonathan Lloyd was recruited from publishers Harper Collins to become managing director and two years later Nick Marston joined from rival agents AP Watt to begin a new film, theatre and television department.
The company underwent a management buy out in 2002, when agents (Jonny Geller, Ben Hall, Jonathan Lloyd, Nick Marston and Peter Robinson), bought the company from the senior staff at the agency. Lloyd remained as managing director and subsequently became CEO. Robinson left in 2006 to form a solo agency.[1]
In 2008, Curtis Brown and ICM NY Books inked a deal for Curtis Brown to represent ICM’s clients in the UK and across the world.[2]
Clients
Novelists and non-fiction writers
- Margaret Atwood, Canadian writer
- Tony Benn, British politician and diarist
- Isaiah Berlin, British philosopher and historian of ideas
- Winston Churchill
- Daphne du Maurier, English author and playwright
- Lawrence Durrell
- Kenneth Grahame
- James Hilton
- Howard Jacobson British novelist who won the Man Booker Prize in 2010 for "The Finkler Question"
- Antonia Fraser, British writer
- Michael de Larrabeiti, author best known for The Borrible Trilogy
- A. A. Milne
- David Mitchell, British author of Cloud Atlas
- David Nicholls, English novelist, author of "One Day" and screenwriter
- Vita Sackville-West
- Charles Gidley Wheeler, British novelist
- Lauren Davies, novelist and screenwriter
Playwrights
- Samuel Beckett
- Colin Teevan
- Conor McPherson
- RC Sherriff
- Nick Payne
Screenwriters
- David Wolstencroft, creator of the BBC series, Spooks
- Kevin Cecil, co-writer of Channel 4 sitcom Black Books
- Andy Riley, co-writer of Channel 4 sitcom Black Books
TV presenters
- Cat Deeley, TV presenter of "So You Think You Can Dance"
- James Hyman, DJ, music supervisor and TV presenter
Actors and actresses
- Dev Patel, British film and television actor best known for his roles in Skins and Slumdog Millionaire
- Robert Pattinson, English actor, model and musician best known for his role in Twilight
- Thomas Sangster, British film and television actor best known for his roles in Love Actually, Nanny McPhee, The Last Legion, and voice of Ferb in Phineas and Ferb.
- Kaya Scodelario, English actress and model best known for her role in Skins
- Sophie McShera, English actress known for her roles in Waterloo Road and Downton Abbey.
- Laura Carmichael, English actress who played Lady Edith Crawley in "Downton Abbey"
Personnel
- Naomi Burton Stone, literary agent at Curtis Brown, 1939-1965
References
External links
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