Wendy Weil, 72, died September 22 at her country home in West Cornwall, CT. Her career as an agent spanned more than 40 years and she was president of the Wendy Weil Literary Agency, which she founded in 1987, counting Rita Mae Brown, Andrea Barrett, Mark Helprin, Alice Walker, Anthony Doerr, Phillip Lopate, and Amity Gaige among the agency’s clients. Donations in her name may be made to Teachers & Writers Collaborative. Plans for a memorial service will be announced in early fall. Emily Forland and Emma Patterson and long-time office manager Ann Torrago remain at the agency and plan to continue Wendy’s legacy.
In personnel news, Shelby Meizlik has been promoted to group publicity director for William Morrow and Avon.
Erin Harris has moved from the Irene Skolnick Literary Agency to Folio Literary Management, where she will continue to work with existing clients and focus on growing the agency’s fiction list, in addition to representing YA and select narrative non-fiction titles.
Shana Smith has been promoted to associate editor at Harlequin’s Love Inspired imprint.
In Awards news, the Dayton Literary Peace Prize announced its fiction and nonfiction winners, who will be honored at a ceremony on November 11:
Fiction: Andrew Krivak, THE SOJOURN (Bellevue Literary Press)
Nonfiction: Adam Hochschild, TO END ALL WARS (HMH)
Denmark’s top literary prize, the Hans Christian Andersen Literature Award (worth about $86,000), has gone to Isabel Allende “for her qualities as a magical storyteller and her ability to spellbind her audience.”