Curtis Brown is a literary and talent agency based in London, UK. One of the oldest literary agencies in Europe, it was founded by Albert Curtis Brown in 1899. It is part of The Curtis Brown Group of companies.[1]
Albert Curtis Brown was an American journalist who was the London correspondent for The New York Press. He also ran a press syndication agency. Because of his extensive contacts in both the UK and America, he fell into representing authors who were looking for publishing opportunities on the two continents.
The first deal he transacted was selling serial rights in John Oliver Hobbes’s The Vineyard. The literary agency element of Brown’s business was accommodated alongside his press agency in Henrietta Street, Covent Garden. In 1914, Curtis Brown opened its first international office in New York; subsequently, offices were opened in Paris, Berlin, Milan and Copenhagen. Brown believed in the exchange of literature between countries as a point of principle to foster international understanding. The company retains a translation rights department to this day.
Curtis Brown wrote an autobiography called Contacts – published by Cassell in 1935. He ran the agency until 1935 when he was succeeded by his son Spencer Curtis Brown. Spencer ran the agency until his retirement in 1968 when he sold it to an investment company.
In 1953 Spencer Curtis Brown Black head hunted Kitty Black and she became chief play reader at Curtis Brown. She played golf and used her connections to find clients that included Somerset Maugham and Samuel Beckett.[3] She was involved with the noted production of Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot in 1956. She notably told John Osborne to "think again" about his play Look Back in Anger (1956) that would later transform British theatre.[4]
The agency was bought back by its management team in 1982.
In 1995, Jonathan Lloyd was recruited from the publishers HarperCollins to become managing director and two years later Nick Marston joined from rival agents AP Watt to begin the new film, theatre and television department.
A further buy-out in 2001-2002 resulted in the present ownership of the agency by its management.[citation needed]
Recent history
Curtis Brown underwent a management buyout in 2002, when agents Jonny Geller, Ben Hall, Jonathan Lloyd, Peter Robinson and Nick Marston bought the company from the then senior director shareholders at the agency. In the same year Sarah Spear, Jacquie Drewe and their teams joined Curtis Brown from London Management to form what is now known as Curtis Brown's Talent Department.
In 2008, Curtis Brown and ICM (International Creative Management) signed a deal for Curtis Brown to represent ICM’s clients in the UK and across the world.[5]
In addition to its books, actors, presenters, theatre and television departments, the company has a film production arm launched in 2008, Cuba Pictures, headed by Nick Marston as CEO and with Dixie Linder as Head of Film and Television.
In May 2012, the company restructured its management team with Jonathan Lloyd becoming Chairman and with Ben Hall and Jonny Geller becoming joint Chief Executives.[6] Curtis Brown also runs a creative writing school, Curtis Brown Creative,[7] directed by Anna Davis. CBC courses span across creative and screen writing.
In March 2013, Curtis Brown acquired a major stake in leading literary agency Conville and Walsh, finally acquiring the company in early 2015.[8][9][10]
Curtis Brown was acquired by The Curtis Brown Group (formerly Original Talent) in 2016 as its first and flagship acquisition.
Jonny Geller remains as Chairman of Curtis Brown as well as CEO of The Curtis Brown Group.
Further acquisitions by The Curtis Brown Group include Ed Victor Ltd and Debi Allen's DAA Management (2017), Meryl Hoffman Management, Tavistock Wood, Open Book Productions (2018), and Markham Froggatt and Irwin (2020).
The Curtis Brown Prize was established in 2006 in memory of agent Giles Gordon (1940-2003).[1] Worth £1,500, it is awarded annually for the best writer of prose fiction on the University of East Anglia MA in Creative Writing (Prose Fiction) course, based on the material submitted by students for their MA assessment. The winner is chosen by a panel of Curtis Brown agents from a shortlist comprising all students in the year who achieve an MA with distinction.[15] The inaugural award was made to Joe Dunthorne in 2006 for his novel Submarine. Other recipients are: Tamara Britten (2007), Daniel Timms (2008), Lauren Owen (2009), Gillian Daly (2010), Chelsey Flood (2011), Charlotte Stretch (2012).[1]
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↑ "Black, Dorothy [Kitty] (1914–2006), theatrical agent and translator | Oxford Dictionary of National Biography", The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004, doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/97548
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