Two boutique literary agencies are merging to create a new firm that will have over 20 agents and offices in three cities. In a letter sent out this morning, the leaders of the Kuhn Project and Zachary Shuster Harmsworth said that are combining forces to form Aevitas Creative Management, which they described as a “full service literary agency.”
ZSH was created 20 years ago in Boston, while Kuhn was formed about 15 years ago in New York. (There is a third office in Washington, D.C.) Two years ago, the two began sharing office space in New York where, according to the letter, it became clear how the list and the operating culture of the firms complemented one another.
Moving forward, Aevitas will implement “the best practices and traditions of both agencies,” the letter said. One of the goals of the merged firm will be to “to create more opportunities for younger colleagues.”
Aevitas agents will now represent “hundreds” of clients that range from Cheryl Strayed, Ha Jin, Amy Schumer, Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Anthony Marra, Dan Barry, Steven Brill, and Amanda Ripley. Their authors have won an array of literary prizes ranging from the National Book Award to the Pulitzer Prize to the Whiting Writers Award.
The managing partners of the firm are David Kuhn, Todd Shuster, and Esmond Harmsworth. Its senior partners are Jennifer Gates, Laura Nolan, Janet Silver, and Lane Zachary, while additional partners include Rick Richter and Jane von Mehren.
In a final note in the letter, the agency said that since Aevitas will service all agreements previously executed by ZSH and Kuhn, and since both will remain in legal existence, all prior ZSH and Kuhn publishing agreements will remain in full force and need not be assigned to Aevitas at this time.
