Keeping up today’s agent theme, the Observer’s Stephanie Merritt profiles Ed Victor, who may be Andrew Wylie‘s mirror twin or at least his equal in terms of longstanding, reputation and dealmaking. But when it comes to society mentions, Victor is the clear, um, victor – a few years ago, he and his wife, Carol, were named second on Tatler’s list of the most invited guests in London, just behind Elton John. “The adjective that has most often accompanied my name in the press is “flamboyant”,” Victor has said, though it can hardly be a complaint.
He may be known for mingling with celebrities and his multimillion dollar deals, Merritt explains, but he does literary substance as well: he represented Iris Murdoch and continues to look after her estate, and recently took on John Banville after his Booker Prize win. “I was surprised that he didn’t do more authors like her, for such a clever man,” says fellow agent David Godwin, “but he chose to concentrate on the popular books. It may be that as an enterprising agent, he felt he could do more to build those kind of authors than for someone like Iris.” And considering how big Victor seems to have scored with the Alastair Campbell diaries most recently, he still feels that way…