The Blake Friedmann Literary Agency is a leading literary agency, with an office based in London but with international reach — both in the authors we represent and through the publishers and producers we sell to around the globe. We have clients from and based in Scotland, Wales, England, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, as well as Australia, India, South Africa, the USA, and various European countries.

Blake Friedmann was founded in 1982 with the merger of the Julian Friedmann Literary Agency and the Carole Blake Literary Agency. Julian Friedmann is now Chairman of the Agency, with Isobel Dixon MD and Head of Books, and Conrad Williams Head of Media. If you would like to read more about Carole Blake’s life and career, click here, and for a fuller agency history, click here. You can learn more about the team below, or by going straight to individual agent pages to see what they are looking for.

Our agents love discovering new voices, of any age, and have also had notable successes in helping authors to refocus and refresh their careers, sometimes in new genres. We’re always in it for the long term. We are proud to have represented many clients for decades, and for writers at every stage of their careers we provide individual, hands-on guidance — from close editorial support to experienced deal and contract negotiation and beyond, staying abreast of industry developments around the world, and promoting our writers’ work with vigour and expertise. We welcome submissions from writers across many genres, and from any background, and enjoy developing their work with them.

Our book, translation and media departments work very closely together and we have an excellent track record in selling translation rights as well as books for film, TV and theatre adaptation, and we also place our scriptwriters’ original works. You can read more about our work in book-to-media adaptation here. Our enduring aim is to represent writers' careers, rather than just individual books or projects, and to sell those writers into as many markets, languages and media platforms as possible.

We are long-standing and active members of the Association of Authors’ Agents (AAA). Carole Blake was President of the AAA in the past, and Isobel Dixon served on the committe from 2016 and as President from 2020-2022. We adhere to the AAA Code of Practice and support the industry-wide commitment to professional conduct in bookselling and publishing, which you can read here.

Our authors have won a wide range of prestigious prizes, including the Costa Book of the Year Award, the Windham-Campbell Prize, the RNA Historical Novel of the Year, RNA Romantic Novel of the Year, the Caine Prize, International Horror Guild Award, Prix Femina Etranger, Authors' Club First Book Award, ITV People's Bestseller Dagger Award, the Commonwealth Prize, McIlvanney Prize and PEN Awards. They have been shortlisted for, among others, the Man Booker Prize, the International Man Booker Prize, the IMPAC and International Dublin Literary Award, Theakstons Crime Novel of the Year, Guardian First Book Award, the Women’s Prize, the Nero Awards, and selected for the Richard and Judy, Zoe Ball and Beyond the Covers TV Book Clubs. Our books top bestseller charts around the world, and regularly appear in the Sunday Times bestseller lists. 

Our screenwriters and writer/directors have also garnered many awards, including BAFTAs, Emmys, Oscar nominations, Directors Guild Awards, Edinburgh Festival Fringe First Awards, Sony Gold Radio Awards, Special Mention at the Berlin International Film Festival, and a Palme D'Or at Cannes.

Click through to see more about our Book Clients and Media Clients.