Lorella Belli

“I’ve always liked reading and very early in my life I knew I wanted a job working with books. I was always a good student and I’m a very fast reader – which helps!

“I knew I didn’t want to be a translator – I wanted more variety. At university in Italy my lecturer suggested I do a dissertation on the history of the literary agent and this was how I learned about the role. I got a scholarship to come to England and interviewed all the big agencies and ended up working both at publishers, and also at literary agencies. But I always knew I wanted to have my own company so when I’d had three years experience of being an agent I took the plunge!

“It’s been four years now and I’ve been lucky. I already had a stable of writers who followed me to my new venture and then signed up some new young novelists. I also approached journalists with book ideas. I had one American writer who has been very successful with her first book and translated into sixteen languages.”