RCW's Peter Robinson leaves publishing after 30 years as agent

Rogers, Coleridge and White’s Peter Robinson is leaving the publishing industry after 30 years of being an agent.

Robinson relocated to Malaysia two years ago and he has now decided to leave the business and “begin a fresh chapter in his life,” RCW m.d. Peter Straus said. 

Robinson said of the decision to leave publishing: “My life in agenting has been blessed by working with some hugely talented and driven people, both at RCW and formerly at Curtis Brown. I owe them all a huge thank you, those present and those departed. My greatest debt, however, is to the authors without whom nothing in the past 30 years would have been possible. They taught me how to do the job and I could not have done it without their support, confidence, friendship and occasional capacity for forgiveness - not to mention an endless flow of wonderful books."

He added: "I shall miss the anticipation of a new manuscript or proposal arriving, but I know their futures are in the safest possible hands. I wish them and my colleagues every success in the coming years.”

Robinson joined Waterstones after graduating from university before becoming an editor at Michael Joseph. In 1989, he became a literary agent at Curtis Brown where he was eventually joint m.d. of the book department. In 2005, he left to set up his own agency, Robinson Literary Agency Ltd and went on to join RCW in 2009.

He has represented both fiction and non-fiction with particular interests in crime, thrillers and historical fiction, together with history and popular science. His authors have included Ian Rankin and Joanne Harris along with David Starkey, Steve Jones and many others.

Straus said of Robinson’s departure: “This is a big loss, not just to RCW, but to the wider world of publishing and the industry itself.  For over 30 years Peter Robinson has been at the top of the agenting profession, handling an illustrious list of bestselling novelists, historians and general non-fiction writers.”

Staus added: “My colleagues and I are immensely grateful for his good counsel, his expertise and his shrewd judgments over the years as well, of course, as his stellar client list.  We will miss him greatly, as I know will all his authors and many others in the business. But we are both proud and honoured that his writers remain with us and we will endeavour to give them the same exemplary service that Peter himself provided.”

Straus told The Bookseller that Robinson's clients would be distributed amongst RCW: "We have a great team of agents here who will handle his clients. In the main they will be taken on by Natasha Fairweather and Jon Wood. But Sam Copeland, Georgia Garrett  and Zoe Waldie are also representing some of them too."

Author and longtime client Ian Rankin also gave tribute to Robinson. “It may not be strictly true, but Peter always insisted that my second Inspector Rebus Hide and Seek was his first deal as an agent,” Rankin said. “That gives you an idea of how long we have worked together.  Over three decades, there have been many more deals, a lot of fabulous dinners, no blood shed and no fallings-out.  He has always been assiduous, just gossipy enough, great fun to be around, and a shrewd negotiator.  If Le Carre were writing the book, he might title it 'The Perfect Agent'.”

Rankin added: “It's been my pleasure and privilege having him work so hard on my behalf, and I'm honoured to be able to call him a friend.”

Orion m.d. Katie Espiner said: “Peter Robinson is just a class act. His stellar roster of clients and their devotion to him speaks absolute volumes about his impeccable taste and his skill as an agent. Our relationship over very many years has been an enormously happy, productive and collegiate one. I know I speak on behalf of everyone at Orion when I say he will be hugely, hugely missed.”

Robinson can be contacted on peterinout@hotmail.com. Straus can be contacted on peters@rcwlitagency.com.