Lucy Carson is a literary agent with The Friedrich Agency. She says: ÒI was an over-achieving Òtheater kidÓ who joined every club I could jam into my high school schedule, and never missed a staged production. I attended The University of Michigan, but rarely attended any football games because the library was so blissfully quiet and empty on those SaturdaysÑa temptation too rare to pass up. At Michigan, I studied Film & Television, with an emphasis on production, and when some Juniors spent their semester abroad, I spent mine in Los Angeles, working for The Weinstein Company. I had planned to move to LA after graduation, but when MollyÕs then-assistant had a maternity leave that coincided with graduation in April 2008, I decided to postpone LA for a few months, since the agency was newly formed and my mother needed a trusted temp. Working together proved to be far more fun than either of us expected, so I simply never left.
In my 14 years at the agency, I have cultivated a list of mostly fiction and narrative non-fiction for the adult trade audience. I have a particular weakness for voice-forward fiction that asks complicated questions about the intersection of tech, media, and modern relationships. Always with eyes peeled for elevated and stylish writing, I read widely across many genres, including thrillers, horror, sci-fi, and magical realism. Often the novels that are hardest to definitively categorize are the ones that most readily seduce me. In non-fiction, I always crave narrativeÑwhether itÕs a previously untold chapter of history, or an intimate memoir, or the portrait of a contemporary cultural phenomenon.
In addition to brokering domestic publishing deals for my own clients, I also oversee all Film, Television & Dramatic business for the wider agency list. This does not mean I represent screenplays! These services only apply to existing print publishing clients and their underlying intellectual property (i.e. the book, the short story, the article). The Friedrich AgencyÕs Film/TV relationships are non-exclusive and customized for each project, and have resulted in all manner of adaptations, from serialized TV shows to one-woman Broadway plays.
Five non-agency books that I loved: ASSEMBLY, CHEMISTRY, SPECIAL TOPICS IN CALAMITY PHYSICS, MAYBE YOU SHOULD TALK TO SOMEONE, DRIVE YOUR PLOW OVER THE BONES OF THE DEAD.”