Ampersand Agency opens

Peter Buckman, former publisher and author, and agent Peter Janson-Smith have partnered to launch Ampersand Agency, a new literary agency.

The business will seek to handle most forms of fiction and non- fiction. Foreign rights will be managed for its clients by the Buckman Agency, run by Mr Buckman's wife Rosemarie and daughter Jessica.

Mr Buckman worked at Penguin and New American Library before becoming a full-time author and scriptwriter. He also founded the Storyzone website for children's stories in 2001.

Mr Buckman said that his background, combined with Mr Janson-Smith's experience in publishing, rights and writing, would help to attract authors to the agency. "I'm really pleased to be getting back to my publishing roots. We'll be a small, friendly, family-run business but with all the experience needed to give our clients a great service."

Ampersand's first clients are the estate of novelist Georgette Heyer and a non-fiction account of a Polish woman's fight to save thousands of children from the Nazis during the Second World War, signed by Mr Janson-Smith. "Peter is still extremely well-connected and active and is a brilliant negotiator," Mr Buckman said.