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Andrew Wylie (literary agent)

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Andrew Wylie
Born1947 (age 76–77)
Other namesThe Jackal
OccupationLiterary agent
Known forFounder of The Wylie Agency
Websitewww.wylieagency.com

Andrew Wylie (born 1947), known as The Jackal, is an American literary agent.

Early life

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Wylie is the son of Craig Wylie (1908–1976) and Angela (1915–1989) of Oatlands, New York[1][2][3][4] (son of judge Robert Ludlow Fowler, author of many legal texts).[5][6][7][8]

Wylie 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.[9] When he was a teenager, he spent 9 months in Manhattan's Payne Whitney clinic, a psychiatric hospital, for punching a police officer.[10] He attended, and graduated from, Harvard.[10]

Family

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In 1969, Wylie married his first wife, Christina, whom he had met in college. They had a son together, Nikolas. They got divorced c.1974. In 1980 he remarried. Larry Clark was his best man. He has two additional children.[10]

Poet

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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.[11] Wylie himself denied this allegation, describing Yellow Flowers as a "youthful indiscretion".[12]

Literary agent

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Wylie founded the literary agency named after himself in New York in 1980 with a $10,000 loan from his mother.[10] He opened a second office in London in 1996.[9] It now represents more than 1,300 clients, approximately 10% of which are literary estates.[10]

Throughout his career as a literary agent, Wylie has attracted attention for poaching clients from other agents,[5] and has been nicknamed "The Jackal" for his business tactics.[13] He has been criticized by other agents and publishers for harming the culture of the book industry.[10] 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.[9]

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. Wylie's friendly attitude towards Amazon was short-lived, however; in 2014 he advised: "If you have a choice between the plague and Amazon, pick the plague." He later went on to liken Amazon's tactics to those of the Islamic State.[14]

References

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  1. ^ "[Robert L. Fowler Jr.'s 'Oatlands' Estate, Bedford, NY]". digitalcollections.smu.edu.
  2. ^ "TROTH ANNOUNCED OF ANGELA FOWLER; Katonah, N.-Y., Girl Affianced to Craig Wylie, a Master at St. Paul's School TWO PROSPECTIVE BRIDES OF THE SUMMER". The New York Times. May 2, 1938.
  3. ^ "Robert Ludlow Fowler Jr. | The Cultural Landscape Foundation". www.tclf.org.
  4. ^ "ROBERT FOWLER JR., LANDSCAPE PLANNER". The New York Times. September 4, 1973.
  5. ^ a b Brockes, Emma (November 24, 2003). "Agent provocateur". The Guardian. London. Retrieved July 22, 2010.
  6. ^ Silver of the Americas, 1600-2000: American Silver in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Jeannine J. Falino, Gerald W. R. Ward, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 2008, p. 15
  7. ^ Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society, Massachusetts Historical Society, 1976, p. 137.
  8. ^ "BRIDAL IN BEDFORD FOR MISS FOWLER; Kin of Late Prominent Jurist Wed to Craig Wylie, Master at St. Paul's, Concord, N. H. Seven Bridesmaids Serve Member of Colony Club". The New York Times. July 3, 1938.
  9. ^ a b c Lambert, Craig (July 2010). "Fifteen Percent of Immortality". Harvard Magazine. Cambridge. Retrieved July 22, 2010.
  10. ^ a b c d e f Blasdel, Alex (November 9, 2023). "Days of The Jackal: how Andrew Wylie turned serious literature into big business". The Guardian. Archived from the original on November 21, 2023. Retrieved November 23, 2023.
  11. ^ Schambelan, Elizabeth (April 2007). "He is Curious (Yellow)". Bookforum. Retrieved August 20, 2010.
  12. ^ Grove, Lloyd (December 14, 2007). "World According to... Andrew Wylie", Portfolio.com. Retrieved August 20, 2010. Archived April 1, 2012, at the Wayback Machine.
  13. ^ Gordon, Ken (February 14, 2013). "Sympathy for the Jackal: Making Peace With Publishing's Most Infamous Agent". The Atlantic.
  14. ^ Ellis-Petersen, Hannah (October 30, 2014). "Top literary agent Andrew Wylie calls Amazon 'Isis-like distribution channel'". The Guardian.
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