Literary Agent Christopher Little Passes Away at Age 79
We are sad to report that literary agent Christopher Little, who launched J.K. Rowling’s career as an author, has died at the age of 79. The Bookseller reports that Little died surrounded by his family at home on January 7 “following a long illness.”
A statement from Curtis Brown president Jonathan Lloyd expressed the agency’s condolences to Little’s family.
It is with deep regret that we can confirm that Christopher Little died last Thursday after bravely battling a long illness. He died at home surrounded by his close family. He was a wonderful man who will be very sadly missed.
Our thoughts and prayers are with his wife, Gilly; sons, Kim (and his wife, Emma, who worked with Chris for 25 years) and Nicholas; [and] Chris’s PA of 18 years, Jules.
Additionally, Lloyd revealed that Little had been working with Curtis Brown to ensure that his clients at the Christopher Little Literary Agency would be represented by Curtis Brown agents upon his death.
In anticipation of his death, Chris had been working in association with Curtis Brown so that there would be a seamless transfer of representation for all his clients at the Christopher Little Literary Agency, which is now in place.
Little is known for having taken a chance on Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone in 1995, although the only British publisher to purchase the book was Bloomsbury. An obituary published in the Times notes that Rowling chose Little’s name from a list of literary agents because she thought that “he sounded like a character from a children’s story.” (Bryony Evens, formerly an employee of the Christopher Little Literary Agency, was interviewed back in 2015 about being one of the first people to read Philosopher’s Stone prior to its publication.) The franchise has grown exponentially since that time, though Rowling chose to follow one of Little’s agents, Neil Blair, to his new agency in 2011.
Christopher Little’s legacy will live on, and we at MuggleNet send our condolences to his loved ones and colleagues at this difficult time.
