Pioneering literary agent Morton L Janklow dies, aged 91

Pioneering literary agent and chairman and co-founder of Janklow & Nesbit Associates, Morton L Janklow, has died of heart failure aged 91 at his home in Water Mill, New York. 

His colleagues said he “revolutionised the role of agent in book publishing” and will be remembered as “a man of warm spirit and generous heart, a fierce advocate and a steely negotiator, and a person of insatiable curiosity”. 

Agency co-founder Lynn Nesbit added: “Mort was a beacon of positivity and hope in an uncertain world. He radiated optimism and his clients, family and friends were always leaning on and learning from him as a result. He was a bright light in the publishing world, devoted to his writers and passionate about our business. We will all miss him.” 

In the UK, agent Will Francis described Janklow as a “titantic figure who defined the role of the literary agent from the 1970s onward, and recalibrated the relationship between publishers and authors”.  

“He was a tireless and cunning advocate for his clients, and a warm, charismatic and formidable colleague and boss. We’ll all miss him enormously and continue to build on his legacy,” he said. 

Plans for a memorial will be announced at a later date. 

Janklow began his career as an attorney in 1960, having graduated from Columbia Law School, and founded the law firm Janklow & Traum in 1976. In 1972 he launched his career as a literary agent when his friend and client, William Safire, asked him to handle a book he was writing about Richard Nixon. 

In a tribute, the agency said: “Janklow, who knew little about the publishing industry at the time, quickly schooled himself in it. He agreed to represent Safire, securing a book contract for him almost immediately. When the Watergate scandal broke and the book’s publisher, William Morrow, tried to back out of the contract, Janklow sued, ushering in a new era of authors’ rights; he later sold the book to Doubleday.” 

Janklow established his own literary agency in 1977 and was soon representing bestselling authors, National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize winners, Nobel Laureates, celebrities, scientists, journalists, presidents, pundits, poets and even a pope. Among the roster of authors Janklow worked with were Jackie Collins, Al Gore, Pope John Paul II, Sidney Poitier, Nancy Reagan and Ronald Reagan. In 1989 he co-founded Janklow & Nesbit with Lynn Nesbit. 

Throughout his career, he maintained a strong commitment to the arts and education, founding the Morton L Janklow Program for Advocacy in the Arts at Columbia Art School. He also served on numerous advisory boards for philanthropic institutions including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the New York Public Library and the Solomon R Guggenheim Foundation.