Alice Lutyens: 'I represent some very different books across my list, and what connects them all is excellent writing . . .'
BY Emily Powter-Robinson
12th Sep 2024
We caught up with Curtis Brown literary agent Alice Lutyens to discuss what she looks for from debut writers and what she's hoping to find as the judge for this year's The Caledonia Novel Award (the international writing competition for unpublished and self-published novelists).
You joined Curtis Brown in 2003 and have had a real variety of roles since then! From literary agent assistant to Jonny Geller and then Jonathan Lloyd, to heading up the podcast and audio department. What do you think has been the biggest change to the way literary agents work in the past 20 years?
I think the role of literary agents has become far more all-encompassing. It used to be about overseeing the writing career of our authors, getting them the best deals, caring for them as they wrote. Now, we must do not only that but also drill right down at the workface and work alongside the editor and PR team every day. Only by a total collaboration can we ensure that the books are published as well as possible. The sheer minutiae of our every day work has grown monumentally.
We also now have to think all the time about the 360 degree picture. Film, TV, podcasts, branding opportunities . . . plumb every single opportunity to bring our authors to the forefront. There are many, many more books being published now than 20 years ago. You need to work seriously hard and cunningly to get them and their books to stand out in such a sea of hardcore talent.
Fast forward to 2024 and you are now an incredibly successful Book Agent at Curtis Brown, with clients including former CBC students Anna Bailey, Kate Hamer, Wendy Joseph KC and Rachel Marks, (to name but a few!) What have been some of your biggest career highlights to date?
Gosh very flattering of you! Kate Hamer was my first big success, she was on the Sunday Times bestseller list for a number of weeks (The Girl in the Red Coat) and profiled everywhere. She was my first CBC client! Discovering Jane Harper through her CBC project The Dry will always be a source of pride. Alex Hay (also CBC by the way) has had his The Housekeepers be Waterstones Book of the Month which was beyond exciting. Maybe Next Time by Cesca Major was optioned by Hello Sunshine and was a Reese’s Book Club Pick.
Another highlight was brightening up lockdown by convincing my Old Bailey judge client, Wendy Joseph KC, to write a book about being at the Old Bailey – she wrote the most devastatingly good book, told with the flair of a novel – also a Sunday Times bestseller.
Actually, there have been so many highlights and I have the best clients in the world – plenty of bestsellers but most importantly, all stunning writers. A MASSIVE highlight was judging the Caledonia Novel Award in 2022 . . . more of this below!
Although you have lots of established authors on your client list, you still take on and champion debut authors, including many former CBC students. What really grabs your attention in an exciting new debut?
The voice. Do I believe in it? Whether it is a baddie, a good girl, a manky pigeon – do I truly believe in it? And really good writing. I represent some very different books across my list, and what connects them all is excellent writing that is so fluid and seamless that it doesn’t interrupt my immersion into the story.
You are a judge for the Caledonia Novel Award 2025. What will you be looking for when you judge this year's awards?
Oh I am so excited about this. The CNA is the best award out there in my opinion! The entries are always of such high calibre and working with Wendy Bough the founder is a joy. It is also very accessible and welcoming – we have entries from all over the world, from every background. We offer free entry places to those on low income too, so it really does offer an amazing opportunity. I will be looking for excellent characters and writing (as per above) but I would especially love to discover a cracking thriller (perhaps some AI/hi-tech sprinkles?), and I would adore a generational story of family or of friends . . . but I am as open as a wide blue sky.
You discovered your client Alex Hay, author of The Housekeepers (an Edwardian heist novel) when you were a judge for the 2022 Caledonia Novel Award. How was it working on Alex’s second novel The Queen of Fives together?
That was the most exciting discovery – and even better he was previously of CBC! His second novel is even better – yup it is – and working with him has always been such a pleasure. He takes advice/tips/thoughts and absolutely runs with them and turns them into jewels on the page. He is an exceptional author and would himself say to you that CBC really helped him with honing this skill.
Do you have any advice to share with the aspiring authors reading this, particularly those who are thinking of submitting to the Caledonia Novel Award?
Don’t let self-doubt get in the way. Self-doubt and comparing ourselves to others are our biggest obstacles to success. If you have lost sight of what you're writing, then PUT IT AWAY. Go and do something else. Write something else. Walk. Do things that mean you can’t doomscroll on your phone. You will find your subconscious percolates away, and that solution or insight will present itself like a lightbulb!
If you write a book that doesn’t work, you haven’t failed. You have simply done a practice run for the Real Thing.
And finally, you have nothing to lose by submitting your book to this award. DO IT!
What’s one book you wish you could have represented?
The Most Fun We Ever Had by Claire Lombardo. It is just too good. Read it for yourself!
The Caledonia Novel Award is currently accepting applications. Deadline 15 October 2024.
The books linked in this blog can be found on our Bookshop.org shop front. Curtis Brown Creative receive 10% whenever someone buys from our bookshop.org page.