Kate Ormand: Hi, Isabel! So nice to be chatting to you on the brand new site. The old website didn’t have a blog, so what made you decide to add one this time?
Isabel Atherton: Hello, dear, Kate! I think social media has really moved on since I first set up the agency. With that in mind, I want to reach out to a wider audience and let people know about the awesome talent we represent and to show all the fantastic things our clients are up to. I hope it’ll be a place people visit and enjoy reading about the industry.
KO: What made you want to give the agency website a makeover?
IA: The old website is as old as Creative Authors – seven years in fact. It has done us proud over the years attracting new talent. I did feel it was time for a refresh and with my move to New York and our growing list of illustrators – I felt we needed a website to reflect these changes.
KO: The agency has grown, and is continuing to, with new talent being added and exciting new deals being shared. New Year, new site – what are your hopes/goals for 2015?
IA: I very much want to keep working with lovely people and helping them to realise their dreams of being published. I also want to continue building up my publishing contacts in the US while retaining those in the UK.
KO: What kinds of books are you currently looking to acquire? What are you open to?
IA: I represent the extremely talented, Tristan Donovan, who has written a fascinating title: Feral Cities: Adventures in Urban Wildlife, where he digs below the urban gloss to uncover the wildlife that we share our streets and homes with. It’s such a great premise and directly impacts us. I’d love to see more thoughtful non-fiction submissions.
KO: And to finish, can you give us a selection of your favourite books? Ones you haven’t worked on!
IA: Goodness, this is a tough question! I have a BA(hons) and MA in English Lit, so I have read a lot. Off the top of my head I would say the following books have really stayed with me:
The Ballad of the Sad Café – Carson McCullers
A Confederacy of Dunces – John Kennedy Toole
If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler – Italo Calvino
The Drowned World – JG Ballard
The Master and Margarita – Mikhail Bulgakov
The Collector – John Fowles
Just Kids – Patti Smith
The Great Gatsby – F. Scott Fitzgerald
KO: Thanks so much, Isabel!
IA: Thank you, Kate!
“Isabel has great taste, and is a pleasure to work with. She’s flexible, reasonable and professional.”
Lee Wade, VP & Publisher, Random House Studio