Illingworth to join D H H Literary Agency as full-time agent

Bookseller Harry Illingworth is set to leave Goldsboro Books at the end of the year to become a full-time agent at The D H H Literary Agency.

After six years as a bookseller at the London bookshop and also working as an agent's assistant at the D H H Literary Agency, Illingworth will become a full-time agent on 6th January. 

He is looking for genre fiction novelists who push boundaries and cross genres; high-concept crime and thrillers, upmarket speculative fiction, accessible science fiction and epic fantasy are always on his wish list.

Illingworth’s clients have had notable successes, said the D H H Literary Agency. Stuart Turton’s bestselling debut novel The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle (Raven Books) has sold 130,496 copies across all print editions through BookScan, has been translated into 30 languages and won the Costa First Novel Award and The Books Are My Bag Novel Award. Earlier this year, Illingworth sold Femi Kayode’s debut novel Lightseekers, winner of the UEA/Little, Brown Crime Fiction Award in a four-way auction to Raven Books, with rights selling in a further seven territories so far.

D H H Literary Agency and Goldsboro Books m.d. David Headley said: “The D H H Literary Agency has gone from strength to strength in the past few years and my vision was always to invite Harry to move to agenting full-time. Harry has become one of the most highly respected new agents in the market and will be instrumental in shaping our genre fiction list. Harry has a fantastic eye for talent, an already stellar list of authors and his energy and ambition fits perfectly with the ethos of the agency.”

Illingworth added: "I am hugely excited to be joining The D H H Literary Agency full-time with a vision to growing my already excellent list of authors. Having more time to discover new voices and look after existing clients will only be beneficial to all involved and I’m grateful to David and the directors of the agency for this opportunity. I’ll be hitting the ground running in January, getting out to see everyone, and in the meantime, I’d love to find a new cross-genre thriller or a meaty epic fantasy, but if the book has a strong hook and a clear voice, I’d love to see it.”

Illingworth can be reached on Harry.Illingworth@dhhliteraryagency.com. Submissions can be sent to HI.Submission@dhhliteraryagency.com.