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Leeke joins the Madeleine Milburn Agency
Jessica Leeke is joining the Madeleine Milburn Literary, Film & TV Agency as literary agent.
She will start on 8th January, specialising in upmarket and book club fiction with global appeal.
Leeke began her career in advertising in New York before spending more than 15 years as an editor at Bloomsbury, Simon & Schuster and most recently Penguin Michael Joseph, where she was fiction publisher.
Shortlisted for the Kim Scott Walwyn Prize, she has acquired and edited authors who have become bestsellers and been shortlisted for prizes such as the Booker, Costa, Desmond Elliott, and Irish Book Award as well as securing picks for Richard & Judy, Radio 2 and the US TV book club.
She has published novels including Fran Littlewood’s Amazing Grace Adams, Charmaine Wilkerson’s Black Cake, Fredrik Backman’s Anxious People and Mary Beth Keane’s Ask Again, Yes and the memoir The Penguin Lessons currently in production for film starring Steve Coogan.
Leeke said: “I’ve loved working with the Madeleine Milburn Agency as a publisher. Their business prowess speaks for itself, but I’ve particularly enjoyed their collaborative spirit and exemplary author care. I’m fascinated by the other side of the publishing story and feel very fortunate to have the opportunity to explore it with such a happy, motivated and talented team of agents.
“I couldn’t be more excited about this new direction which will allow me to continue working with colleagues I’ve admired as a publisher here and in the US as well as get to know new faces across the business. But most importantly I’m looking forward to continuing the real privilege that is discovering and nurturing writers and their careers.”
Milburn said: “Jessica was an absolute dream to work with when she was on the other side of the table, as publisher. We have collaborated together with New York Times bestselling author Charmaine Wilkerson’s Black Cake, now a US TV series.
“But even when not working directly on a book together, I have always been deeply impressed by Jessica’s professionalism, expertise and undying enthusiasm for her authors and the industry, as evidenced by the high esteem with which she is held by colleagues and authors old and new. She has every attribute needed to be a huge success here at MMA, and I am overjoyed that we will be welcoming her to the team in January.”
To send Leeke a submission, see the MMA submissions instructions on the website.
