The Right Honourable

The Lady Berkeley of Knighton
Born
Deborah Jane Coltman Rogers

(1938-04-06)6 April 1938
London, England
Died30 April 2014(2014-04-30) (aged 76)
OccupationLiterary agent
SpouseMichael Berkeley
Children1
AwardsLifetime Achievement Award in International Publishing at the London Book Fair

Deborah Jane Coltman Rogers, Baroness Berkeley of Knighton (6 April 1938 – 30 April 2014) was a British literary agent, who founded her own agency in 1967.

Biography

Born at her parents' London home in Thurloe Square, South Kensington, 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] Ishiguro said of Rogers that "she taught me to be a writer".[11]

Rogers married the composer Michael Berkeley in 1979;[12] the couple had an adopted daughter.[13] Rogers died from a heart attack in 2014, aged 76.[14]

References

  1. ↑ Ion Trewin, "Deborah Rogers obituary", The Guardian, 4 May 2014.
  2. 1 2 "Deborah Rogers – obituary", 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. ↑ Farrington, Joshua (14 March 2014). "Lifetime achievement award for Rogers". The Bookseller.
  9. ↑ Spanier, Gideon (11 April 2014). "Better read than dead: why books will endure". The Independent.
  10. ↑ Hunnewell, Susannah (Spring 2008). "Kazuo Ishiguro, The Art of Fiction No. 196". The Paris Review (184).
  11. ↑ Blasdel, Alex (9 November 2023). "Days of The Jackal: how Andrew Wylie turned serious literature into big business". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 21 November 2023. Retrieved 23 November 2023.
  12. ↑ Lister, David (29 March 1998). "An artist in the Garden: Michael Berkeley - Profile". The Independent on Sunday. Retrieved 16 April 2022.
  13. ↑ "Deborah Rogers". The Times. London. 2 May 2014. Retrieved 16 April 2022.
  14. ↑ Horne, Nigel (2 May 2014). "Deborah Rogers was here: death of a literary lioness". The Week.
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