Featuring: How Jenny started out; learning from the iconic British agent Deborah Rogers (who represented authors from Ian McEwan to Angela Carter); championing writers; the importance of trust and rapport; choosing the right publishers for authors; the art of contracts; and working for Lutyens and Rubinstein. This interview took place at the end of 2020. The title of Jenny’s last book recommendation is ‘Love after Love’ by Ingrid Persaud.
Jenny Hewson is a literary agent based in London. She worked for 13 years as an agent at one of England’s best agencies, Rogers Coleridge and White or RCW as it’s known, representing authors across fiction and non-fiction. A year ago she joined the prestigious Lutyens & Rubinstein agency, bringing her list of authors with her, including Sarah Perry, Melissa Harrison, Amy Sackville and Alexander Macleod.
Lutyens and Rubinstein was the first literary agency to own an independent bookshop when they opened their doors in Notting Hill in 2009. The bookshop itself has a beautifully curated selection which makes it a pleasure to browse – and of course having a bookshop means the agents can witness the appetite of readers daily.