Literary Agent Debuts as Memoirist [1]
Literary agent Bill Clegg [2] of William Morris Endeavor who represents authors such as Rivka Galchen, Shane Jones, Daniyal Mueenuddin, and Salvatore Scibona—and even a few poets, including Mary Jo Bang, Mark Doty, and Rebecca Wolff—made publishing headlines this month, not for a recent sale, but for debuting as an author.
On June 9, Little, Brown released Portrait of the Addict as a Young Man, a memoir about his years in the early aughts when he suddenly disappeared from agenting after succumbing to a private battle with crack addition. After recovering, Clegg was hired by the William Morris agency, and his book was sold for a reported $350,000 advance to legendary editor Pat Strachan [3] whose books include those by Joseph Brodsky, Lydia Davis, Marilynne Robinson, and Tom Wolfe. An excerpt of Clegg’s debut was published in New York Magazine [4]’s May 23, 2010, issue. Listen to a sample audio clip [5]of Portrait of the Addict as a Young Man read by the author.