Sandy Dijsktra has been called an über agent as much for the passion she brings
to her projects as for the authors she represents. Apparently her passion also extends to politics.
The other day her authors — among them Amy Tan, Mike Davis, Susan Faludi, Maxine Hong
Kingston, Peggy Orenstein, John Richardson, Kate White, Karen Houppert, Jess Bravin, Maureen
McHugh, Luis Urrea and Kevin Maney — received this email message:
Dear Friends,
Thinking about “Peace on Earth, Good Will Toward Humankind” in October, we at the
Dijkstra Agency have decided that these goals can be best achieved not by our annual New Year’s
card but instead by taking the funds allocated to their production and sending them to the peace
candidate, John Kerry!
Dijkstra sent along an essay by E.L. Doctorow, “The Unfeeling President,” as well.
Doctorow writes: “He does not suffer the death of our 21-year-olds who wanted to
be what they could be. … He hasn’t the mind for it. … He does not mourn. He doesn’t understand
why he should mourn. … To mourn is to express regret and he regrets nothing.
… He cannot mourn but is a figure of such moral vacancy as to make us mourn for
ourselves.”
Dijkstra’s passionate beliefs are not all that sets her apart. Unlike most top literary agents,
she’s based not in New York but in the little southern California beach town of Del Mar, best
known for its quaint, 67-year-old race track.
She’s also crazy about recruiting authors from the ranks of journalists. Interviewed by the editor
of the ASJA Monthly, published by the American Society of Journalists and Authors, Djikstra explained:
Journalists are the source of intense interest by publishers these days. They are
the kings and queens of Bookland, in that they bring credentials, writing talent, a sense of story
and access. And the books they produce represent a new kind of history-writing for a wider
readership. Called “narrative nonfiction,” these stories are hot! Since fiction can be so tough to
sell, everyone wants the story du jour and/or some bizarre twist on the same from now or the
past. The quality of the writing makes all the difference.
As a book-writing journalist myself, I say amen to that. Besides, it’s good to see somebody
standing up for professional journalists, who have come under attack these days for all sorts of
reasons, legitimate and otherwise, as perhaps never before. So hat’s off to Dijkstra.
(And no, she’s not my agent.)
Correction: John Richardson, Susan Faludi and Peggy
Orenstein had their key books launched by the Sandy Djikstra Literary Agency but are no
longer represented by the agency.
