Felicity Bryan

Felicity Bryan is a British literary agent, the founder of Felicity Bryan Associates based in Oxford. She is co-founder of the Laurence Stern Fellowship on the Washington Post.

Biography

Bryan, the second of three daughters of Paul Bryan and Betty Bryan, was brought up in Yorkshire. She took a degree in History of Art at the Courtauld Institute of Art, London University.

Journalism

From 1968 to 1970 she worked with Joe Rogaly on the Financial Times in Washington DC. She then returned to London to write for the American Survey of The Economist. From 1975 to 1979 she wrote the weekly Gardening Column for the London Evening Standard. She has contributed articles to many UK newspapers.

In 1980, with Godfrey Hodgson and Benjamin Bradlee, she founded the Laurence Stern fellowship in memory of her friend Larry Stern. Every year it sends a young British journalist to work on The Washington Post. Alumni include James Naughtie, Lionel Barber, Mary Ann Sieghart, Cathy Newman and Gary Younge.

Literary agency

In 1973 Bryan joined the London literary agency Curtis Brown, where she remained for 15 years. By 1988 she had moved with her family to Oxford, saw it as an ideal place for a literary agency and started Felicity Bryan Ltd. She represents major international authors, including Karen Armstrong, Iain Pears, Rosamunde Pilcher, Matt Ridley, Diarmaid MacCulloch, John Julius Norwich and Edmund de Waal.

By 2010 the agency had expanded and underwent a management buyout, with her colleagues Catherine Clarke and Caroline Wood becoming co-owners of the newly formed Felicity Bryan Associates Ltd.

In 2010 Bryan was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from Oxford Brookes University for her work in publishing.

Publications

• The Town Gardener’s Companion (Andre Deutsch/ Penguin)
• A Garden for Children (Michael Joseph)
• Nursery Style - with Annie Sloane (Viking)
• "Once we had a Daughter" (The Guardian)

Personal life

She is married to the economist Alex Duncan of The Policy Practice and lives near Oxford. They have had three children: Alice Mary Duncan (born June 1982, died November 2004), Maxim Paul Duncan (born October 1983) and Benjamin Patrick Duncan (born May 1987). She was, earlier, married to Alasdair Clayre. Her elder sister Dr Elizabeth Bryan, founder of The Multiple Births Foundation, died in 2008.

Her younger sister Bernadette Hingley was one of the first British women to be ordained as a priest in the Church of England. She died in 1995.

Other activities

She is a trustee of Equilibrium - The Bipolar Foundation. She is passionate about ballet and opera and represents the dancer Carlos Acosta for his memoir and writings. She is a Patron of the Woodstock Literary Festival and a Sponsor of the Oxford Literary Festival.