Laura B. McGrath, "Middlemen: Literary Agents and the Making of American Fiction" (Princeton UP, 2026)
About this episode
Laura B. McGrath discusses her book 'Middlemen' which explores the role of literary agents in shaping American literature.
In this interview, we speak with Laura B. McGrath, an Assistant Professor of English at Temple University and the author of Middlemen: Literary Agents and the Making of American Fiction (Princeton University Press, 2026). Her writings have appeared in the Los Angeles Review of Books and The Atlantic. Middlemen rewrites literary history from the perspective of one of its most important but least visible figures: the literary agent. Chronicling the story of agents in the United States from the 1950s to today, Laura McGrath uncovers their critical role in the making of American literature. From the famed three-martini lunch to the Frankfurt Book Fair, Middlemen takes readers behind the scenes to show how agents influence what we read. Along the way, it explains why many debut novelists never publish another book, why agents champion short story collections even though they sell poorly, how agents advocate for writers of color in a system that values whiteness, and why there are so many New York novels. Weaving together original archival research, data analysis, and interviews with scores of agents and other publishing professionals, Middlemen demonstrates that…
People in this episode
Guest: Laura B. McGrath
Topics covered
- literary agents
- American fiction
- publishing industry
- literary history
- advocacy for writers
- cultural influence
Keywords
- literary agents
- American literature
- publishing
- debut novelists
- writers of color
- archival research
- data analysis
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Temple University, Princeton University Press, Los Angeles Review of Books, The Atlantic
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