'Superstar' Talbot steps up at United Agents

United Agents (UA) has promoted Emily Talbot to agent.

Talbot joined UA in 2013 working in the foreign rights department before moving to assist Jodie Hodges, head of books, on her list of children’s authors and illustrators.

She became an associate agent in 2018 and has curated a dynamic, inclusive and successful list of children’s clients of her own, the company said. This includes Andy Sagar, whose fantasy middle-grade novel Yesterday Crumb and the Storm In a Teacup (Orion Children’s Books) was Sunday Times Children’s Book of the Week; author and illustrator Jion Sheibani, whose YA novel The Silver Chain (Hot Key Books) is a Waterstones top pick for 2022; and Abigail Balfe, writer and illustrator of the British Book Award-shortlisted middle-grade non-fiction title A Different Sort of Normal (Puffin) charting her experiences of being neurodivergent.

Hodges said: “I’ve been lucky enough to work alongside Emily for a number of years now and I know what a superstar she is. She’s got a sharply tuned eye for new talent and commercial opportunities for existing clients. She’s working with fantastic authors and illustrators and I’m enormously excited for the future. We’re currently missing her in the office while she’s on parental leave with her first baby and we’re delighted to promote her to agent so she can return ready to continue her brilliant contribution to the growing children’s book department of the agency.”