Bill Clegg

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Bill Clegg
BornWilliam Robert Clegg
Occupation
  • Literary agent
  • author
NationalityAmerican
Alma materWashington College
Spouse
Van Scott Jr.
​
(m. 2013)​
ParentsWilliam Clegg Jr.
Kathy Jeanne Ruscoe

Bill Clegg is an American literary agent and author. Clegg's first two memoirs detail his addiction to crack cocaine.[1] His debut novel, Did You Ever Have a Family, received offers from four publishers[2] and was longlisted for the 2015 Man Booker Prize.[3]

Biography[edit]

William Robert “Bill” Clegg grew up in Sharon, Connecticut. His father William Clegg Jr. was a pilot with TWA. His mother is Kathy Jeanne née Ruscoe. He has two sisters and a brother.[4]

Clegg is a graduate of Washington College.

He is openly gay and was in a long-term relationship with filmmaker Ira Sachs. Sachs based his film Keep the Lights On (2012) on their relationship.[5][6]

In 2013, he married Van Scott Jr., a communications manager at CNN.[7]

Career[edit]

Upon the urging of a girlfriend,[8] Clegg took the Radcliffe Publishing Course in 1993. This led to an entry-level position at the Robbins Office.[9]

In March 2001, he and Sarah Burnes cofounded the literary agency Clegg and Burnes.[10] The firm's roster of clients included: Nicole Krauss, Susan Choi, Anne Carson, Heather Clay, Nick Flynn, Salvatore Scibona, Akhil Sharma, Heather McGowen, David Gilbert, Stephen Elliott, and Andrew Sean Greer.

Clegg and Burnes abruptly closed under mysterious circumstances. It was later revealed that a contributing factor to the firm’s closure was Clegg disappearing on a drug binge.[11][12]

After getting sober, Clegg returned to publishing and was an agent with William Morris Endeavor. Many of his former clients returned to him. He then moved on from WME to start the Clegg Agency. While at WME, Clegg began writing his memoirs.

Bibliography[edit]

  • Portrait of an Addict as a Young Man: a memoir (2010)
  • Ninety Days: a memoir (2012)
  • Did You Ever Have a Family: a novel (2015)
  • The End of the Day: a novel (2020)

Awards[edit]

Did You Ever Have a Family was longlisted by both the National Book Awards[13] and the Man Booker Prize.[14]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Breslin, Yale (6 June 2012). "The GQ+A: Bill Clegg on the Music Behind His Recovery". GQ. Retrieved 8 August 2015.
  2. ^ Alter, Alexandra (26 January 2015). "A Literary Agent Writes His Own Novel". The New York Times. Retrieved 8 August 2015.
  3. ^ Brown, Mark (29 July 2015). "Man Booker prize 2015: US literary agent among 13 writers on longlist". The Guardian. Retrieved 8 August 2015.
  4. ^ "Capt. Bill Clegg Flies West". Tarpa. 21 August 2015. Retrieved 19 September 2015.[permanent dead link]
  5. ^ Olsen, Mark (9 September 2012). "Life is a story for 'Keep the Lights On' maker". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 16 October 2012.
  6. ^ Symonds, Alexandria (7 September 2012). "Ira Sachs: Everything Is Illuminated". Interview Magazine.
  7. ^ "Weddings: Bill Clegg and Van Scott Jr". The New York Times. 2 June 2013.
  8. ^ Benjamin, Rich (9 July 2010). "A Portrait of an Addict as a Young Man". Alternet.
  9. ^ Lee, Denny (8 May 2010). "Tale of a Life, Unabridged". The New York Times.
  10. ^ "Literary Agents Take Wing". Publishing Trends. 1 February 2002.
  11. ^ Tivnan, Tom (29 July 2015). "Bill Clegg Interview". The Book Seller.
  12. ^ Fischer, Molly (18 June 2010). "Bill Clegg, Ex-Addict, Apologized Just in Time for Memoir". The Observer.
  13. ^ "The National Book Awards Longlist: Fiction". The New Yorker. 17 September 2015.
  14. ^ "Man Booker prize 2015: US literary agent among 13 writers on longlist". The Guardian. 29 July 2015.
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