5-784: Gillon Reid Aitken (29 March 1938 – 28 October 2016) was an English literary agent and founder of the agency Aitken Alexander Associates. He was born in Calcutta , India, and spent his early years in Darjeeling , before attending boarding-school in the UK. Skipping university, he studied Russian at the Joint Services School for Linguists in London, and then worked in Berlin for British intelligence. Moving on to publishing, he worked at Chapman & Hall for
10-657: A commission and do not charge a fee upfront. The commission rate is generally 15%. Literary agencies can range in size from a single agent who represents perhaps a dozen authors, to a substantial firm with senior partners, sub-agents, specialists in areas like foreign rights or licensed merchandise tie-ins, and clients numbering in the hundreds. Most agencies, especially smaller ones, specialize to some degree. They may represent—for example—authors of science fiction, mainstream thrillers and mysteries, children's books, romance, or highly topical nonfiction. Very few agents represent short stories or poetry. Legitimate agents and agencies in
15-525: A number of years and then ran the publishing house of Hamish Hamilton . In the mid-1970s, he embarked on a new career as a literary agent. Among his many famous clients were the Nobel Prize winner V. S. Naipaul and the Booker Prize winner Salman Rushdie . As a literary translator, Aitken translated two books of short stories by Pushkin , as well as Alexander Solzhenitsyn 's gulag classic One Day in
20-495: A statuette, "The Charlotte", for each winner. Aitken died in October 2016. Literary agent A literary agent is an agent who represents writers and their written works to publishers , theatrical producers , film producers , and film studios , and assists in sale and deal negotiation. Literary agents most often represent novelists , screenwriters , and non-fiction writers. Reputable literary agents generally charge
25-567: The Life of Ivan Denisovich . Aitken married Cari Bengtsson in 1982 and they divorced in 1998. Their daughter Charlotte was born in 1984 and died aged 27 in 2011. Aitken's will established the Charlotte Aitken Trust in her memory: it "aims to continue Gillon’s work of encouraging literary talent". In 2023, it was announced that the trust would fund the £30,000 prize for the new Women's Prize for Non-Fiction for its first three years, and provide
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