YMU launches US literary division led by Fox

Talent management company YMU is launching a US literary division led by Aram Fox. 

The company already has offices in Los Angeles, New York and Washington as well as London and Manchester and serves clients in music, sport, publishing, business management and entertainment, including The Rolling Stones, Nick Cave, Francis Bourgeois and Graham Norton. 

The launch of a US literary agency aims to replicate the success of the UK books division, headed by Amanda Harris. Reporting into Harris, Fox will be signing new clients to his division, and will be representing the North American interests of YMU from his base in New York. 

Fox joins from Aram Fox Literary Scouting, an agency he created at the age of 26, which represented international publishers and US film companies including HarperCollins UK, Disney Channel, Happy Madison Productions, and key imprints of Bonnier Media Deutschland and Vivendi/Editis, among others. His company guided clients to acquire writers including Brit Bennett, Susan Cain, Anthony Doerr, Lena Dunham, Billie Eilish, Gillian Flynn, Bill Gates, Dave Grohl, Honorée Fannone Jeffers, Celeste Ng, Taylor Jenkins Reid, Patrick Radden Keefe, Sally Rooney, Nicholas Sparks, Lisa Taddeo and Ocean Vuong. 

Fox said: “The opportunity to start something, build something and join something all at once is a dream scenario. And from my first conversations with Amanda and Mary Bekhait, this has been a seamless meeting of the minds. YMU and I are passionate about supporting a diverse and creative community of writers and creators, ambitious about building new pathways between writers and readers, serious about engaging with the complexities of the entertainment landscape, and obsessive about bringing a bespoke approach to representing our clients. I’m so excited to join Amanda’s team, launch YMU’s US literary agency and work closely with my new colleagues in the music, entertainment, sport, social, arts, and business management groups.” 

Bekhait, group c.e.o., added: “Aram’s appointment in the US demonstrates further our continued commitment to building a first-class integrated management business in North America — I am thrilled we have been able to attract someone of his calibre and cannot wait to see YMU Literary soar further as a result of this appointment. Amanda and Aram are a compelling, dynamic, and ambitious leadership team who place our clients at the heart of all they do — the sky is the limit.” 

Harris also commented: “We are thrilled to have Aram join the group and launch YMU’s literary agency in North America. His reputation for identifying global bestsellers is legendary, as is his granular knowledge of the US and global markets. Aram’s expert insights coupled with the client-first values of YMU make our representational offering a compelling one, and our offices in London and New York will present clients with a unified primary agent experience.  

“I’m excited to work with Aram to extend YMU’s bestselling reputation beyond the UK, help our UK-based literary clients, as well as our global talent clients, develop their literary careers in the US, and discover new authorial talent in genres ranging from prize-calibre fiction to pop culture and thrillers, from deeply researched history and politics to the explainers who make sense of the world we’re living in at this very moment.”