Amanda Urban

Last updated

Amanda "Binky" Urban
Amanda Urban(cropped).jpg
Urban in 2011
Born1946or1947(age 77–78) [1]
Alma mater Wheaton College (Massachusetts)
OccupationLiterary Agent
Spouse Ken Auletta [1]
Awards2010 Maxwell E. Perkins Award

Amanda "Binky" Urban is an American literary agent and partner [2] at ICM Partners. [1]

Urban started at ICM as a literary agent, [3] worked as Co-Director of the ICM Literary Department in New York, and had been Managing Director of ICM Books in London from 2002 to 2008. [4] Before ICM, she was General Manager of New York Magazine [5] and The Village Voice , and Editorial Manager of Esquire Magazine . [6]

In December 2010, the Center for Fiction awarded Amanda Urban the Maxwell E. Perkins Award in recognition of her work and contribution to the field of fiction writing. [7] [8] She was the first book agent selected to receive the award. [9]

Urban attended Kent Place School [10] and graduated from Wheaton College in Massachusetts as an English major in 1968. [11]

She has represented dozens of authors, among them Jennifer Egan, Bret Easton Ellis, and Nora Ephron. [12] [13] [4] [14] [11]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wil Wheaton</span> American actor (born 1972)

Richard William "Wil" Wheaton III is an American actor and writer. He portrayed Wesley Crusher on the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation, Gordie Lachance in the film Stand by Me, Joey Trotta in Toy Soldiers, and Bennett Hoenicker in Flubber. Wheaton has also appeared in recurring voice acting roles as Aqualad in Teen Titans, Cosmic Boy in Legion of Super Heroes, and Mike Morningstar/Darkstar in the Ben 10 franchise's original continuity. He appeared regularly as a fictionalized version of himself on the sitcom The Big Bang Theory and in the roles of Fawkes on The Guild, Colin Mason on Leverage, and Dr. Isaac Parrish on Eureka. Wheaton was the host and co-creator of the YouTube board game show TableTop. He has narrated numerous audio books, including Ready Player One and The Martian.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas Wolfe</span> American novelist (1900–1938)

Thomas Clayton Wolfe was an American writer. The Encyclopedia of Twentieth-Century Fiction states that "Wolfe was a major American novelist of the first half of the twentieth century, whose longterm reputation rests largely on the impact of his first novel, Look Homeward, Angel (1929), and on the short fiction that appeared during the last years of his life." Along with William Faulkner, he is considered one of the two most important authors of the Southern Renaissance within the American literary canon. He remains an important writer in modern American literature, as one of the first masters of autobiographical fiction, and is considered among North Carolina's most famous writers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Creative Artists Agency</span> American talent and sports agency

Creative Artists Agency LLC (CAA) is an American talent and sports agency based in Los Angeles, California. With 1,800 employees in March 2016, it is regarded as an influential company in the talent agency business and manages numerous clients.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">ICM Partners</span> American talent and literary agency

ICM Partners was a talent and literary agency with offices in Los Angeles, New York City, Washington, D.C., and London. The company represented clients in the fields of motion pictures, television, music, publishing, live performance, branded entertainment and new media. Its corporate headquarters were in Constellation Place in Century City, Los Angeles. In 2022, ICM became part of Creative Artists Agency.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Donna Tartt</span> American novelist and writer

Donna Louise Tartt is an American novelist and essayist. Her novels are The Secret History (1992), The Little Friend (2002), and The Goldfinch (2013), which has been adapted into a 2019 film of the same name She was included in Time magazine's 2014 "100 Most Influential People" list.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Facinelli</span> American actor and producer (born 1973)

Peter Facinelli is an American actor. He starred as Donovan "Van" Ray on the Fox series Fastlane from 2002 to 2003. He played Dr. Carlisle Cullen in the film adaptations of the Twilight novel series, and is also known for his role as Mike Dexter in the 1998 film Can't Hardly Wait. Facinelli was a regular on the Showtime comedy-drama series Nurse Jackie, portraying the role of Dr. Fitch "Coop" Cooper. He portrayed Maxwell Lord on the first season of the TV series Supergirl.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ken Auletta</span> American writer, journalist, and media critic

Kenneth B. Auletta is an American author, a political columnist for the New York Daily News, and media critic for The New Yorker.

Ajai Singh "Sonny" Mehta was a British and American editor. Mehta was the editor-in-chief of Alfred A. Knopf and chairman of the Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group.

The Endeavor Talent Agency was a Beverly Hills-based talent agency founded by Ari Emanuel, Rick Rosen, Tom Strickler, and David Greenblatt. It was launched in March 1995 and went on to represent a wide variety of acclaimed film and television stars. In April 2009, Emanuel and Endeavor executive Patrick Whitesell orchestrated a merger with the William Morris Agency, resulting in William Morris Endeavor. William Morris Endeavor was renamed Endeavor in October 2017.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John M. Perkins</span>

John M. Perkins is an American Christian minister, civil rights activist, and author. He is the founder and president emeritus of the John & Vera Mae Perkins Foundation with his wife, Vera Mae Perkins. He is co-founder of the Christian Community Development Association (CCDA).

Atticus Lish is an American novelist. His debut, Preparation for the Next Life, caught its independent publisher, Tyrant, "off guard" by becoming a surprise success, winning a number of awards including the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction. Lish lives in Sunset Park, Brooklyn with his wife. He is the son of influential literary editor Gordon Lish.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nan A. Talese</span> American editor and publisher

Nan Talese is a retired American editor, and a veteran of the New York publishing industry. Talese was the senior vice president of Doubleday. From 1990 to 2020, Talese was the publisher and editorial director of her own imprint, Nan A. Talese/Doubleday, publishing authors such as Pat Conroy, Ian McEwan, and Peter Ackroyd.

Alexis Wright is a Waanyi writer best known for winning the Miles Franklin Award for her 2006 novel Carpentaria and for being the first writer to win the Stella Prize twice, in 2018 for her "collective memoir" of Leigh Bruce "Tracker" Tilmouth and in 2024 for Praiseworthy.

<i>Castle</i> (TV series) American crime comedy-drama TV series (2009–2016)

Castle is an American crime mystery/comedy-drama television series that aired on ABC for a total of eight seasons from March 9, 2009, to May 16, 2016. The series was produced jointly by Beacon Pictures and ABC Studios.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marjorie Liu</span> American writer

Marjorie M. Liu is an American New York Times best-selling author and comic book writer. She is acclaimed for her horror fantasy comic Monstress, and her paranormal romance and urban fantasy novels including The Hunter Kiss and Tiger Eye series. Her work for Marvel Comics includes NYX, X-23, Dark Wolverine, and Astonishing X-Men. In 2015 Image Comics debuted her creator-owned series Monstress, for which she was nominated for an Eisner Award for Best New Series. In 2017 she won a Hugo Award for the first Monstress trade paperback collection. In July 2018 she became the first woman in the 30-year history of the Eisner Awards to win the Eisner Award for Best Writer for her work on Monstress.

GrubStreet, Inc. is a non-profit creative writing center located in Boston, Massachusetts that hosts workshops, seminars, consultations, and similar events. It also offer scholarships.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David A. Unger</span> American film producer

David A. Unger is CEO of Artist International Group, a global talent management, branding and content production company representing clients in the fields of film, television and media advisory. Born in London, Unger has served as a talent and literary agent for over 20 years.

<i>King & Maxwell</i> American TV series or program

King & Maxwell is an American drama television series that ran on TNT from June 10 to August 12, 2013. The series featured Jon Tenney and Rebecca Romijn as Washington, D.C.–based former Secret Service agents solving crimes as private detectives. NCIS: Los Angeles creator Shane Brennan created the show based on David Baldacci's novels. On September 20, 2013, TNT canceled the series after one season.

Lori Perkins is an American literary agent, book publisher and author. In 2012, she founded Riverdale Avenue Books, an e-book publishing company, in Riverdale, Bronx.

<i>Beneath the Lions Gaze</i> 2010 novel by Maaza Mengiste

Beneath the Lion's Gaze is a 2010 novel by Ethiopian-American writer Maaza Mengiste. It describes a family in Addis Ababa in 1974, living through the transition from emperor Haile Selassie to rule by the Derg. Favorably reviewed, Beneath the Lion's Gaze was a nominee for several prizes.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Siegel, Tatiana (April 13, 2016). "New York Power Pairing: ICM Partners' 'Binky' Urban and New Yorker Writer Ken Auletta Share a Literary Life". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on April 13, 2016. Retrieved April 19, 2019.
  2. "ICM Partners Ups 11 Agents to Partner". The Hollywood Reporter. October 21, 2013. Archived from the original on April 19, 2019. Retrieved April 19, 2019.
  3. Chase, Lisa (October 16, 2018). "To Binky Urban, 'Power' Is a Male Word". The Cut. Archived from the original on April 19, 2019. Retrieved April 19, 2019.
  4. 1 2 "The Center for Fiction". www.centerforfiction.org. Archived from the original on April 19, 2019. Retrieved April 19, 2019.
  5. "Ken Auletta Weds Amanda J. Urban". The New York Times. June 18, 1977. ISSN   0362-4331. Archived from the original on April 19, 2019. Retrieved April 19, 2019.
  6. "Amanda Urban - ICM". www.curtisbrown.co.uk. Archived from the original on March 28, 2019. Retrieved April 19, 2019.
  7. "2010 Awards Dinner, Center for Fiction". centerforfiction.org. Archived from the original on July 18, 2017. Retrieved April 20, 2019.
  8. Kroll, Justin (December 6, 2010). "Insiders Kudos: Amanda 'Binky' Urban". Variety. Archived from the original on July 6, 2019. Retrieved July 6, 2019.
  9. Fleming, Mike Jr. (July 9, 2010). "Binky Urban Is First Book Agent To Win Center For Fiction's Maxwell Perkins Prize". Deadline. Archived from the original on April 20, 2019. Retrieved April 20, 2019.
  10. Horner, Shirley. "About Books" Archived October 25, 2019, at the Wayback Machine , The New York Times , September 4, 1994. Accessed October 25, 2019. "Its noted graduates include Assemblywoman Maureen Ogden, Republican of Millburn; Deborah Wiley, vice chairwoman of John Wiley & Sons, and Amanda Urban, a powerful literary agent."
  11. 1 2 Faught, Andrew (October 24, 2017). "The royal treatment". Wheaton Magazine of Wheaton College Massachusetts. Archived from the original on April 20, 2019. Retrieved April 20, 2019.
  12. ICM. "Amanda Urban, Clients". www.curtisbrown.co.uk. Archived from the original on March 28, 2019. Retrieved April 22, 2019.
  13. Simon, Lizzie (December 8, 2010). "Agent Wins Literary Prize". Wall Street Journal. ISSN   0099-9660. Archived from the original on November 9, 2017. Retrieved April 19, 2019.
  14. Alexander Nazaryan On 10/14/13 at 6:01 PM EDT (October 14, 2013). "Donna Tartt's The Goldfinch Neither Sings Nor Flies". Newsweek. Archived from the original on April 22, 2019. Retrieved April 22, 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)