Gawker: v.s. naipaul

Crabby Old Book Agents Fight Over Trinidadian Nobel Laureate

Richard Lawson — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 09:56:32 EDT

Book agent fight! Book agent fight! Wily Andrew Wylie has stolen Nobel laureate V.S. Naipaul away from his old partner and mentor, Gillon Aitken. The 76-year-old author was likely wooed astray with promises of more monies and better international representation.

The New York Observer describes the dramz as such:

[Wylie's] play against Mr. Aitken for the Naipaul account included an extra bit of drama, in that he was seeking to usurp not just a competing agent but a former partner who served as something of a mentor to him when, starting in 1986, the two of them worked together as part of the international agency Aitken, Stone, and Wylie. It was during those 10 years, which ended when the firm broke up in 1996, that Mr. Wylie got his first taste of working with Mr. Naipaul, selling his U.S. rights while Mr. Aitken handled the rest.

Oh these hot young ambitious kids, always fighting! Next thing you know Janklow will be battling Nesbit over sizzling newcomer Joyce Carol Oates.

Gossip roundup

Gawker — Wed, 09 Apr 2003 12:44:05 EDT

· Pamela Anderson wanted to wear a hat bearing the Confederate flag to the Country Music Television awards. CMT vetoed it and asked her, "Do you know what the flag stands for?" [Page Six]
· Page Six writes that Wylie Dufresne's will debut his 70-seat "eclectic-American" place, WD-50 on the Lower East Side tonight. LES correspondent Lockhart Steele reports that it's been open to friends and family for the last week or two. (I recently walked in and got kicked out.) [Page Six]
· Daniel Baldwin is threatening to kick Leonardo di Caprio's ass. [Page Six]
· The Clintons "will be summering" in Martha's Vineyard with actor Ted Danson and Actress Mary Steenburgen. [Page Six]
· Cindy Adams is tired of receiving emails that Roman Polanski and Adrien Brody aren't feuding. "May [Polanski's] p.r. people get a life. We're at war. Stop bothering with this." [Cindy Adams]
· Writer Paul Theroux says he still considers writer V.S. Naipul a "fathead" and doesn't see any reconciliation in the future. [NY Daily News]