Deborah Rogers

Deborah Jane Coltman Rogers (6 April 1938 – 30 April 2014) was a British literary agent.

Rogers was one of six children,[1] her mother Stella Moore was an actress, while her father worked in the City of London. She attended Hatherop Castle School in Gloucestershire, but did not go to university.[2]

Her agency, originally Deborah Rogers Ltd, was established in 1967. Pat White soon joined, and the two women were joined by a third partner, Gill Coleridge, two decades later.[3] At the end of her life, Rogers was the chairman of Rogers, Coleridge and White.[4]

Among the authors Rogers represented were A. S. Byatt, Ian McEwan and Peter Carey.[5] Earlier in her career she had represented Angela Carter, and (before he joined Andrew Wylie's agency) Salman Rushdie.[2] Shortly after the professional breach, Rogers offered Rushdie her second home as a refuge from the fatwā (death sentence) imposed by Ayatollah Khomeini in February 1989.[6] The remote farm in Powys was used by Rushdie during his decade in hiding.[7]

Rogers was presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award in International Publishing at the London Book Fair in April 2014.[8] The award was presented by another of her clients, Kazuo Ishiguro,[9] who had been introduced to Rogers by Angela Carter.[10]

She married the composer Michael Berkeley in 1979; the couple had a daughter.[11] Rogers died from a heart attack.[12]

References

  1. ↑ Ion Trewin Obituary: Deborah Rogers, The Guardian, 4 May 2014
  2. 1 2 Obituary: Deborah Rogers, Daily Telegraph, 2 May 2014
  3. ↑ "Legendary literary agent Deborah Rogers dies", The Independent, 1 May 2014
  4. ↑ Sarah Shaffi "'Inspirational' agent Deborah Rogers dies", The Bookseller, 1 May 2014
  5. ↑ Richard Lea "Deborah Rogers, 'legendary' literary agent, has died", theguardian.com, 1 May 2014
  6. ↑ Helen Brown "The inspiring truth behind Salman Rushdie's exile", Daily Telegraph, 19 September 2012
  7. ↑ Robin Turner "Sir Salman Rushdie hid out in Mid Wales during fatwa years", Wales Online, 9 September 2012
  8. ↑ Joshua Farrington "Lifetime achievement award for Rogers", The Bookseller, 14 March 2014
  9. ↑ Gideon Spanier "Better read than dead: why books will endure", The Independent, 11 April 2014
  10. ↑ Susannah Hunnewell "Kazuo Ishiguro, The Art of Fiction No. 196", The Paris Review, No. 184, Spring 2008
  11. ↑ David Lister "An artist in the Garden: Michael Berkeley - Profile", The Independent on Sunday, 29 March 1998
  12. ↑ Nigel Horne "Deborah Rogers was here: death of a literary lioness", The Week, 2 May 2014
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