The Strothman Agency, LLC

12/16/2022

AEVITAS CREATIVE MANAGEMENT ANNOUNCES NEW ALLIANCE WITH THE STROTHMAN AGENCY

New York, NY, December 15, 2022–Aevitas Creative Management, one of the nation’s top literary agencies, today announced their new alliance with the Strothman Agency. Strothman Agency President, Wendy Strothman, and Vice President, Lauren MacLeod, will agent under the Aevitas banner starting January 1, 2023.

“After serving as a publisher of two distinguished trade houses for two decades, I approached agenting as a publisher would and sought to build a list with its own internal integrity and logic. I’m very proud of what we’ve accomplished on our own and now look forward to having the support and wisdom of a sharp and talented group of colleagues while assuring that our clients are well served going forward,” said Wendy Strothman.

The Strothman Agency’s strong list of impeccable clients will move with Strothman and MacLeod to Aevitas; all subsidiary rights inquiries for their clients will now be handled by Aevitas Creative Management for past and future projects.

Said Aevitas Co-CEO’s David Kuhn and Todd Schuster: “Wendy’s standing in the publishing industry and her track record of spotting award-winning talent and nurturing their careers over multiple books are second to none, and we’re honored that she chose Aevitas as her and her clients’ next home. The kinds of books Wendy and Lauren work on beautifully reflect our agency’s mission to promote work that is timely and timeless and that spark debate and challenge conventional wisdom.”

11/10/2022

“[ Gene Andrew Jarrett's PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR] is one of those classic biographies that I think readers will just love diving into. Rich in detail and nuance, it drops readers into Dunbar’s life and times, offering a fascinating look at both the literary and personal life of this great American poet.”-- Book Riot

From celebrity bios to experimental memoirs, find the best biographies 2022 had to offer to add to your reading list!

11/07/2022

By Alan Mikhail, author of the forthcoming MY EGYPT ARCHIVE (Yale, 2023).

For two centuries, Egypt’s infrastructural projects have realized some goals — but most also turned into disasters of different kinds.

10/27/2022

Delighted to see both Gene Andrew Jarrett's PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR: The Life and Times of a Caged Bird (Princeton) and David I. Kertzer's THE POPE AT WAR: The Secret History of Pius XII, Mussolini, and Hi**er (Random House) on this list!

Reviews of the year’s notable new fiction, poetry, and nonfiction.

10/21/2022

"My 17-year-old daughter for my birthday gave me Donald Hall’s “A Carnival of Losses: Notes on Nearing 90,” which was, you know, he basically said, I can’t write poems anymore, but I can write these little prose poems. I knew Donald Hall fairly well. My brother knew him even better. One of his great poems is about a pig roast back in Ann Arbor that my brother had been involved in. And while he was living, he lived near me in New Hampshire. And I just said, Oh that’s so thoughtful, Olivia. And then something happened and I read the entire thing cover to cover in one sitting. And I just thought, Oh my God, what a great gift. And it was because some work I finished early and I was able to just, you know, pull aside and do it."

“What about ‘O Pioneers!’ or ‘My Ántonia’?” asks the documentarian and author of the forthcoming photo book “Our America.” “For that matter, what about Gabriel García Márquez? We do not have a copyright on the word ‘American.’”

09/29/2022

"[A] heart-filled debut ... Full of realistic elements and engaging moments throughout, the story effectively portrays the ups and downs that come with discovering new things about yourself as a person." --Booklist

Booklist Online Book Review: Just Your Local Bisexual Disaster. By Andrea Mosqueda.May 2022. 352p. Feiwel and Friends, $18.99 (9781250822055). Grades 9-12. REVIEW. First published September 23, 2022 (Booklist Online). Books For Youth - Fiction - General Fiction

09/29/2022

"[C]onvincing, and deeply disturbing...."

Tim Parks reviews THE POPE AT WAR: The Secret History of Pius XII, Mussolini, and Hi**er by David Kertzer for The New York Review of Books.

Should outrage and atrocity always be denounced whatever the consequences? And will the answer be the same for a private individual, a political leader,

09/08/2022

The The New York Times picks BLACK SNOW: Curtis LeMay, the Firebombing of Tokyo, and the Road to the Atomic Bomb by James M. Scott as one of their "15 Works of Nonfiction to Read This Fall":

An examination of the 1921 Tulsa massacre’s continued resonance today, Siddhartha Mukherjee’s sweeping history of the cell, a dive into the forces that shaped Donald J. Trump and more.

08/04/2022

"If, as the spiritualist Ram Dass said, “we’re all just walking each other home,” then [Alora] Young has taken her ancestors’ hands, the ones who lived and died without the right to their full humanity, and walks them as far as she can down their own paths." -- The New York Times on WALKING GENTRY HOME

Three women pay homage to their painful pasts with grace, lyricism and a sense of humor.

08/03/2022

"Alora Young, the 2021 Youth Poet Laureate of the Southern United States, was born to write. And at the ripe age of 19, she’s releasing her debut book. Told in verse, Walking Gentry Home follows the lives of the women who came before Young — from relatives who lived in slavery to her grandmother and her mother, as well as herself. Bolstered by archival research, Young honors Black womanhood while connecting it with the countless ways American culture has challenged, abused, and dismissed what it means to be both Black and a woman. She also explores how Black girls are called upon to quickly transform into women, ending their childhoods prematurely and the joy and freedom youth brings. With a true love for the South and the women who raised her, Young delivers a unique and powerful debut." -- Shondaland

This month’s offerings are exciting. From a wedding murder mystery to a memoir set in Paris, there’s something for everyone on this list.

08/02/2022

"Based on the 2016 YA historical fiction novels, the series will follow an irreverent young Tudor woman who dreads her arranged marriage, only to be surprised when it results in a steamy romance, her being crowned Queen and a heroic mission to save the magical people persecuted by her political rivals. Taking short-lived British monarch Lady Jane Grey as its inspiration, the popular novel was penned by Brodi Ashton, Cynthia Hand and Jodi Meadows." -- Deadline Hollywood

EXCLUSIVE: Amazon Studios has greenlighted historical comedy series My Lady Jane for Prime Video, with Emily Bader (Paranormal Activity: Next of Kin), Edward Bluemel (Killing Eve) and Jor…

08/01/2022

"At just 19, Alora Young, former Youth Poet Laureate of the Southern United States, has written a lyrical debut book in verse that traces her matrilineal family history through time. She starts with Amy, the first of her foremothers to arrive in Tennessee; next is Gentry, Young’s great-grandmother who was driven into marriage at 14; and finally, there is Young’s own mother, a teenage beauty queen. “The only way to tell this story is through poetry,” Young writes, “because Black girlhood is eternally laced with rhythm, from the Negro hymns Amy Coleman whispered as she bore her enslaver’s child to the rhythm of the gospel my mother sang at fifteen when she was hailed a child prodigy.”" -- TIME

From Emiko Jean and Taylor Jenkins Reid's latest novels to Beth Macy's new work of reporting

08/01/2022

Poet Alora Young discussed her powerful debut, WALKING GENTRY HOME, with NPR Morning Edition :

Alora Young is the 2021 Youth Poet Laureate of the Southern United States. Her debut poetry collection Walking Gentry Home is a memoir written in verse.

07/29/2022

On this, the 300th episode of the Tennessee Voices video podcast, Young spoke about her artistic journey, her creative influences and what drove her to write her book.

The Tennessee Voices podcast brings readers conversations with authors of insightful and compelling guest columns.

07/29/2022

"Kertzer’s books about the papacy are models of calm, uncluttered prose, prodigious research, and the ability to appeal to both a scholarly and a general audience. In his new book, “The Pope at War: The Secret History of Pius XII, Mussolini, and Hi**er,” Kertzer brings all of his usual detective and narrative skills to bear. " -- Washington Post

Using newly opened Vatican archives, David I. Kertzer presents a comprehensive account of the failures of Pope Pius XII.

07/28/2022

"From the Civil War to World War II to Vietnam; from the Great Depression to the height of the HIV pandemic to the murder of George Floyd; and from gospel songs to Sammy Davis Jr. to Lauryn Hill and Beyoncé, Young’s intimate family history also takes us through the history of the United States...It’s difficult not to feel like her family history is all of our families’ histories. You may see yourself reflected in Young’s verse. Like me, you may step back to imagine your foremothers and how they shape your becoming." --Nashville Scene

The former Nashville Youth Poet Laureate will discuss her debut poetry collection Aug. 2 at Parnassus Books

07/07/2022

Daniel Silva recommends David Kertzer's THE POPE AT WAR on the Today Show this morning, calling it the best nonfiction book of the summer and best book ever on the Catholic Church and WWII:

“Take a look at this month’s best beach reads 📖 ☀️”

07/05/2022

"The Pope at War, by David I. Kertzer (Random House). Afraid of jeopardizing the Vatican’s precarious neutrality during the Second World War, Pius XII was so reluctant to upset Mussolini and Hi**er that he refused to publicly condemn the slaughter of Europe’s Jews. Yet he has retained many defenders, and his legacy has been much debated, in part because his papers were sealed until 2020. Drawing on these newly available documents, this history offers both a masterly character study of a flawed, tormented leader and a cautionary tale about the perils of both-sides-ism. Although the Pope managed to protect the papacy during a tumultuous period, Kertzer definitively concludes that “as a moral leader, Pius XII must be judged a failure.”" -- The New Yorker

Short reviews of recent releases.