Harold Matson

About

Literary agent who helped launch and manage the careers of writers Evelyn Waugh, Herman Wouk, and Flannery O'Connor.

Before Fame

He worked as a reporter in California, Hawaii and Arizona, later joining the McClure Newspaper syndicate, and then worked for a literary agency for six years before opening his own.

Trivia

He negotiated a $106,000 contract, a record sum at the time, for the paperback rights to Robert Ruark's Something of Value, and got Doubleday to agree to advance $20,000 to an unknown author working on their first book.

Family Life

He had two daughters and three sons with his wife Ann T. Matson.

Associated With

John Irving was just one of the many prominent authors signed to his literary agency.