Contact Joëlle Delbourgo

Joëlle Delbourgo is President and Founder of Joëlle Delbourgo Associates.  A highly energetic former publishing executive and editor turned entrepreneur and literary agent, she has devoted more than three decades to identifying and developing literary talent.  A passionate bibliophile and advocate for writers, she strives to guide their careers, with an eye to bringing their work to as many readers as possible,  in as many forms as possible .  She brings in-depth “insider” knowledge of the industry from her prior editorial and executive publishing positions at Random House and HarperCollins to literary management. She is a member of AAR (Association of Authors’ Representatives).

Joëlle looks for distinctive voices, groundbreaking research, “big think” books, memorable writing.  Her clients include journalists, business leaders, commercial and literary novelists (both adult and young adult), medical experts, historians, scientists, self-help experts, psychologists, entrepreneurs, bloggers, food writers and ghostwriters.

Joëlle is as sought-after speaker and instructor at writing conferences and workshops worldwide. Joëlle holds a Master of the Arts in English and Comparative Literature with Honors from Columbia University, and a Bachelor of the Arts from Williams College, where she graduated Magna Cum Laude, Phi Beta Kappa with a double concentration in History and English Literature. Born in Alexandria, Egypt, she has lived on three continents, is fluent in French, and considers herself to be a citizen of the world.

Sample clients:

• New York Times’ bestselling writer and crusader for the rights of foster and adopted children, Ashley Rhodes-Courter. In THREE LITTLE WORDS, she recounts the true story of her childhood odyssey in 14 foster homes before being adopted at age 12. (Simon & Schuster) THREE LITTLE WORDS has been optioned for film.
• Pulitzer-Prize winning Wall Street Journal writer Geeta Anand, author of THE CURE: How A Father Raised $100 million – And Bucked the Medical Establishment – In a Quest to Save His Children, which inspired a major motion picture by CBS Studios starring Harrison Ford and Brendan Fraser.  (HarperCollins)
• George Polk Award-winning journalist and Wall Street Journal financial editor and reporter, Ellen Schultz. In her new book, RETIREMENT HEIST, she reveals the shocking ways American corporations plunder workers’ retirement benefits to boost earnings and compensate their highest paid executives. (Portfolio/Penguin)
• Chris Farrell, host of public radio’s Marketplace and Sound Money and contributing economics editor at Business Week. His all too timely book, THE NEW FRUGALITY offers innovative strategies for ordinary Americans to deal with recessionary times – and live well even as they must adapt to live within their means. (Bloomsbury USA)
• Congresswoman and Democratic National Committee Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz is writing a polemic that articulates a vision of America that will benefit our children and grandchildren. (St. Martin’s Press)
• Former UBS Paine Weber chief, Joseph J. Grano, Jr., who in YOU CAN’T PREDICT A HERO offers six lessons in courage, leadership and determination drawn from a life that has included leading Green Berets on classified missions, steering dispirited brokers after the 1987 crash, and helping to reopen Wall Street after 9/11 as chair of the President’s Security Advisory Council. (Jossey-Bass/Wiley)
• Top-rated, nationally syndicated business blogger and consultant, Pamela Slim, author of ESCAPE FROM CUBICLE NATION: From Corporate Prisoner to Thriving Entrepreneur, is working on a new book ( Portfolio Penguin/Berkley)
• Popular historian Julie M. Fenster, who is researching and writing THOMAS JEFFERSON:  The Adventure of America, the first book to focus of the Founding Father’s role as a conservationist whose love of the land was reflected in his ideas about land-use at his beloved Monticello and also in the four expeditions out West that he sponsored and supported. (Crown/Random House)
• Michele Borba, Ed.D., internationally renowned and award-winning parenting and education expert and Today Show and iVillage contributor. She is the author of many successful parenting books, including the prize-winning BIG BOOK OF PARENTING SOLUTIONS: 101 Answers to Your Everyday Challenges and Wildest Worries from Preschool to Tween (Jossey-Bass/John Wiley Publishers)
• Classicist and historian, Philip Freeman, whose most recent books include immensely readable biographies of JULIUS CAESAR and ALEXANDER THE GREAT that bring the ancient world to life for mainstream readers (Simon and Schuster).  Freeman’s contemporary retelling of the classical myths of Greece and Rome, OH MY GODS!,  will be published both in a trade edition for adults and a children’s illustrated edition by Simon & Schuster in 2012, and a translation of a text believed to have been written by Cicero’s brother in 64BC, HOW TO WIN AN ELECTION, will be translated with notes and an intro by Freeman in February 2012 (Princeton University Press).
• Former Washington Post reporter, Dale Russakoff, whose PRIZE FIGHT, will chronicle the collaboration of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, Newark’s dynamic mayor, Cory Booker and blunt-talking Governor of NJ, Chris Christie, to reform the schools of one of the nation’s poorest school districts.
• Business executives Christopher J. Frank and Paul F. Magnone, whose DRINKING FROM THE FIREHOSE (Portfolio/Penguin) addresses information overload and how we can deal with it to make smarter business decisions.