Cathryn Summerhayes

An agent with Curtis Brown (see other agents at this agency).

About

Cathryn Summerhayes is a literary agent with Curtis Brown. She previously worked at WME, where she established an eclectic list of high profile clients including multi-million copy crime thriller writers Chris Whitaker and Lucy Foley, record-breaking Dr Adam Kay (This is Going to Hurt and many others), Anita Rani, Lisa Howells, Nicci Cloke, Shappi Khorsandi, (Deliciously) Ella Mills, Mark Watson, Naomi Wood, Lucy Rose, Kirsty Logan, Susan Fletcher, Viv Groskop, Tiffany Murray, the world’s bestselling colouring in artist, Johanna Basford, Grace Dent, Sir Ranulph Fiennes, and many more. Cathryn also works with major US authors, such as Lisa Taddeo, Jennifer Coolidge and Ashley Flowers through partner agencies UTA and CAA.
Cathryn was named The British Book Awards’ Literary Agent of the Year in 2019. She is on the Committee of The Book Society, works with Literature Wales and The Hay Festival and in her previous life in events and PR worked on high profile awards such as The Booker Prize and with clients as wide-ranging as Nigella Lawson and JK Rowling.

Country & Year Established

United Kingdom

Agent since 2006

Professional Associations

Member of AAA

AI Policy

Unknown AI policy

5 members set this agent as a Favorite.

Collapse section Fiction Open

Audience:

Open to a broad Audience.

Genres:

Open to all/most Genres, including:
General Subgenres: Historical, Women's Fiction

Lengths:

Novel

Styles:

Open to all/most Styles, including: Literary, Mainstream.

Topics:

Open to all/most Topics.

Submissions:

Method: Email.
Simultaneous submissions: Simultaneous submissions are allowed.

Collapse section Nonfiction Open

Audience:

Open to a broad Audience.

Lengths:

Book

Styles:

Open to all/most Styles, including: Literary, Mainstream, Personal.

Topics:

Open to all/most Topics including...
History.
Lifestyle: Cooking, Food and Drink, Mind-body-spirit.
Memoir.
Politics/Political Science.
Religion/Spirituality.
Science.
Society/Culture: General, Current events.
Travel.

Submissions:

Method: Email.
Simultaneous submissions: Simultaneous submissions are allowed.

Always check guidelines for details and restrictions. If you aren't familiar with these terms, see our glossary.

No recent cover image of a book represented by Cathryn Summerhayes available.

Go to agent's webpage

Report:
Submission/Query
Correction/Update
New Cover Art

Social:
Bluesky @curtisbrownltd.bsky.social
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Instagram @curtisbrown.ltd
X (Twitter) @CBGBooks

For the Agent:
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Link to Duotrope

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Cathryn Summerhayes Submission Statistics

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We have not received any submission reports for this listing in the past 12 months.

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Dates

Last Updated: 15 Aug 2026

We check their guidelines for changes every four weeks, and we audit the listing twice a year.