Jo Unwin to leave publishing for new career

Literary agent Jo Unwin is leaving the Jo Unwin Literary Agency (JULA) and starting a new career outside publishing.

Unwin, who founded JULA in 2013, has discovered and championed new voices throughout her career. She has helped establish prizewinners such as Candice Carty-Williams and Kit de Waal, and to have worked with Booker Prize nominees Gabriel Krauze and Stephen Kelman, as well as bestsellers such as Emma Flint, A J Pearce and Jenny Colgan. 

Her non-fiction authors range from Charlie Brooker and Philomena Cunk to Richard Ayoade, the poet Brian Bilston along with children’s authors such as Sarah Moore Fitzgerald and Nadia Shireen. 

Unwin came into publishing in 2008, joining Conville & Walsh, after a successful career as an actress and a writer. 

From Literary Dog Walks to her social media brand on X (“Literary Agent but Nice”), Unwin said she always aimed to “break down the seemingly impenetrable walls of publishing, and invite unheard voices to be in touch with her”.  

Unwin added: “I’ve sadly had to acknowledge that you can’t do everything, and there is so much I want to do. I will miss the thrill of working with my clients and the brilliance of their writing and I’ll miss being alongside them to help confront the many challenges on the path to publication and beyond.  

“Telling my fantastic team was pretty unbearable, but sometimes you have to make hard, even horrible choices, and with great regret I have to accept that I can’t be a full-time literary agent and even a part-time anything else as well.”

Unwin added: “I will miss the wisdom and intelligence of the many friends I have made in publishing since starting at Conville & Walsh in 2008.  

“I owe them an impossible debt of gratitude for their help and advice and the trust they’ve shown in me over the years.  And I look forward to celebrating from afar the many great successes that await my wonderful authors in the years to come.” 

Unwin has not yet shared what she will do next.