United Agents' Kat Aitken and Seren Adams launch new agency Lexington Literary

Kat Aitken and Seren Adams have left United Agents after nine years to found new agency, Lexington Literary.

The agency will be looking for new writers of bold and emotive literary and upmarket fiction, narrative non-fiction with a strong hook, and general non-fiction by experts and academics.

Their clients include Caleb Azumah Nelson, winner of the 2024 Dylan Thomas Prize and bestselling author of Open Water and Small Worlds (Viking), #Merky Books Prize-winning debut novelist William Rayfet Hunter, Granta Best Young British Novelist Lauren Aimee Curtis, and forthcoming debut novelist Róisín Lanigan.

In non-fiction, Lexington Literary represents Forward Prize-shortlisted Ralf Webb, academic Orlando Reade, and Fitzcarraldo Essay Prize shortlistees Asa Seresin and Benoît Loiseau, among others.

Aitken worked as a bookseller before starting in the foreign rights department at United Agents in 2015, while Adams joined in the same year after working at Granta and Foyles.

Aitken and Adams said: “After nearly a decade at United Agents among brilliant colleagues and friends, we are thrilled to be launching Lexington Literary, an independent and ambitious literary agency dedicated to writing of the highest quality.”

Jodie Hodges, head of books at United Agents, said: “Everyone at United Agents wishes Seren and Kat all the very best with their exciting new venture, Lexington Literary. We look forward to seeing them, and their clients, continue to do great things.”

Translation rights will be handled exclusively by Rebecca Wearmouth at Peters Fraser + Dunlop.

They can be reached on kat@lexingtonliterary.co.uk and seren@lexingtonliterary.co.uk or at the website lexingtonliterary.co.uk.