Charlie Campbell
Charlie represents a wide range of fiction and non-fiction, both literary and commercial. He is looking for original work and to build long-lasting and significant careers for his clients.
His first job in the books world was at Literary Review, where he reviewed both fiction and non-fiction and became deputy editor. After three years he moved into agenting, first as a maternity cover at Johnson & Alcock, before moving to Ed Victor Ltd, where he spent ten years, building his list and learning from one of the greatest literary agents in the business. He also worked on the film and TV side there, as well as handling audio and speaking engagements for the agency’s clients.
He set up his own agency in 2014, believing that independent companies have a vital role in launching new talent. In 2022, Sam Edenborough joined as Rights Director and they renamed the agency Greyhound Literary. Their focus is on books with international appeal, with early successes including Victoria Belim’s extraordinary memoir The Rooster House.
Charlie is looking for stimulating and well-written non-fiction. Recent titles that showcase his taste include Owain Mulligan’s blackly comic memoir, The Accidental Soldier, which has been compared to the war writing of Spike Milligan, George MacDonald Fraser and Joseph Heller. An instant Sunday Times bestseller, it was described as ‘very very funny’ by Marina Hyde. In fact, if you are the next Marina Hyde, he would love to hear from you. Charlie has just sold Harry Waight’s Once Upon a Time in Tokyo in both the UK and US. This is the epic tale of the Pride Grand Prix in 2000, when 8 of the world’s most fearsome fighters competed in a Yakuza-funded mixed martial arts tournament for a suitcase of money. But it is about much more than MMA, looking at post-war Japanese culture and the texture of lives lived at the extremes. He is always receptive to a book which takes the reader straight into a new world, as Michael Lewis or John Lanchester do with their books on finance.
This may not be a golden age for travel writing, but Charlie would love to find a modern successor to Norman Lewis, with the same eye for the absurd. He is keen on sport – Al Alvarez’s The Biggest Game in Town is a stone-cold classic and Andre Agassi’s Open set incredibly high standards for other sports stars (and Prince Harry). Patrick Radden Keefe’s New Yorker article about the death of a teenager in London (soon to be a book) was one of the most extraordinary pieces of writing he has read recently.
When it comes to fiction, Charlie is predominantly looking for crime and thrillers. Philip Kerr’s novels starring Bernie Gunther set the standard. Gunther is a Berlin police detective struggling to remain untainted in 1930s Germany and rubs shoulders with prominent Nazis. The depth of research is remarkable and yet the narrative never sags under its weight. He also loves the work of Jane Harper, Mick Herron, Michael Connelly and SJ Parris.
Charlie is always on the lookout for that rare beast – the truly comic novel. Julian Gough was one of the first clients he signed up, for the prizewinning short story ‘The Orphan and the Mob’, also the opening of his novel Jude in Ireland. Otherwise, recent fiction he loved include Alexander Starritt’s Drayton & Mackenzie, Douglas Stuart’s Shuggie Bain, Oyinkan Braithwaite’s My Sister, the Serial Killer; anything Jonathan Coe writes; likewise Gwendoline Riley and Paul Murray.
