It’s a great pleasure to share news of significant promotions and appointments within the Blake Friedmann agency team.

We’re thrilled that Kate Burke will be stepping up to become a director on the company’s executive board, working closely with Julian Friedmann, Chairman, and Isobel Dixon, MD and Head of Books, in the management of the agency, along with Head of Finance, Daisy Way and Vice Head of Books, Juliet Pickering, who both joined the Executive Board last year.

Kate Burke joined Blake Friedmann in 2019 from Northbank Talent Management after working as an editor for ten years at Headline, HarperCollins and Penguin Random House. She represents a stellar list of crime, thriller, historical and commercial women’s fiction, including writers Will Dean, Dani Atkins and Allie Reynolds. We’re delighted to be able to recognise Kate’s sterling contribution to the agency, not just through the work of her authors, but also in her sharing of expertise and mentoring support for colleagues. We look forward to developing the company’s future together.

We’re also very happy to announce that Sian Ellis-Martin, who joined the agency three years ago, has been promoted to Associate Agent. She will continue to support Kate Burke’s authors and some of the authors on Isobel Dixon’s list, but will be taking on clients for direct representation too. You can see more about her interests for potential submission here.

Earlier this year we welcomed Tabitha Topping to Blake Friedmann as Book Department Assistant, after she had worked with us part-time since her stint as our Carole Blake Open Doors candidate in 2020 – the first person to do this virtually with the agency. Antonia Coker, who took part in the Carole Blake Open Doors project earlier this year, is also now working with us part-time as an Office Assistant. It’s a joy to see new entrants to the publishing industry flourish in this way.

We continue to work with Kay Peddle of Kay Peddle Literary, and Emma Shercliff of Laxfield Literary Associates, selling rights for their clients internationally and we are very pleased to have expanded our associate agent work with Becky Thomas, at her newly established agency, Lewinsohn Literary.

Further in the Book Department, Samuel Hodder is building a strong list of literary clients and Roya Sarrafi-Gohar supports on Isobel and Juliet’s authors. James Pusey is Head of Rights and Hana Murrell is Senior Rights Manager in the translation rights team, selling our authors’ work in many languages around the world.

Julian Friedmann and Conrad Williams, Head of the Film, TV and Theatre Department, are supported by Louisa Minghella, who also represents a number of her own writers. Lizzy Attree is our Office Manager and Ane Reason is our Contracts Manager – having joined us, like Roya, just as the first lockdown began in March 2020.

We’re exceptionally proud of this talented team, who have done such brilliant work for the agency’s clients over the most challenging time during the pandemic. None of this would be possible without our wonderful clients, and we look forward to sharing more of their work with the world, as we take the agency forward with our excellent colleagues into 2022 and beyond.

We are delighted to announce significant promotions within the Blake Friedmann agency team. Juliet Pickering, Vice Head of Books, and Daisy Way, currently Finance Manager, will both be stepping up to roles as directors on the newly formed executive board, working closely with Julian Friedmann, Chairman, and Isobel Dixon, MD and Head of Books, in the management of the agency.

We’re thrilled to be able to recognise Juliet and Daisy’s commitment to Blake Friedmann and their sterling work, not just in their own areas of expertise, but also in contributing to the general welfare of the agency, our colleagues and our authors, and thinking creatively about the company’s future.

Before joining Blake Friedmann seven years ago Juliet Pickering was an Associate Agent at A.P. Watt. Daisy Way joined the company first as an intern, then in contracts and accounts support, with further experience at Rogers, Coleridge and White, before returning to Blake Friedmann in 2017. Juliet has developed a brilliant list of writers here, which speak to the agency’s consistent commitment to inclusivity, and has played a key role in mentoring colleagues too. Daisy has made an invaluable contribution to agency life and the wellbeing of colleagues in our close-knit team, in addition to her central finance role.

In further promotions, James Pusey becomes Head of Rights and Hana Murrell Senior Rights Manager in the translation rights team. Translation rights expertise has always been key at Blake Friedmann and we’re thrilled to have such an exceptional duo with wide industry experience selling our authors’ work in many languages around the world. We’re also delighted to be working closely with Kay Peddle of Kay Peddle Literary and Emma Shercliff of Laxfield Literary Associates in selling rights for their clients internationally.

Together with Isobel and Juliet, the book agenting team includes Kate Burke, who joined in 2019 from Northbank Talent Management and represents a broad list of crime, thriller and commercial fiction, and Samuel Hodder, who initially joined in a finance role and has moved across to agenting, building a list of literary clients. The book agents are supported by Agents’ Assistants Sian Ellis-Martin and Roya Sarrafi-Gohar, and Tia Armstrong as Book Department Assistant.

Julian Friedmann and Conrad Williams, Head of the Media Department, are supported by Louisa Minghella, who joined in 2019 and also represents a number of her own writers. The agency welcomed Lizzy Attree as Office Manager in 2019 and Ane Reason as Contracts Manager in March 2020. Tabitha Topping was this year’s Carole Blake Open Doors candidate, the first to complete the shadowing period virtually, and is now doing some freelance support work for the agency while she continues with her Open University studies.

We’re proud of this talented team and all they’ve achieved across an extraordinary year and we look forward to an exciting future for the agency in 2021 and beyond.