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Conville & Walsh to launch speakers bureau

07.06.11 | Charlotte Williams

Conville & Walsh is to launch a speakers agency later this month, with 40 of the literary agency's authors, including Helen Castor, Gavin Pretor-Pinney and Tom Holland, already on its books.

Hire Intelligence will have the strapline "the intelligent speakers' agency" and will use authors who are experts in their fields, whether through academic study or prolonged experience.

The agency will launch on 28th June at www.hireintelligenceuk.com, with the site also acting as a showcase with a video of each author talking about themselves and their work.

Although the 40 launch authors, which also include lifestyle guide Carl Honore and Simon Singh, are all currently represented by the agency, m.d. Patrick Walsh said he was already getting interest from authors not connected with the agency. He added that the intention is to move towards exclusive representation as "a way of freshening everything up".

Walsh said he was aiming to set up events for the authors worldwide. He said: "In a way the lecture thing is part and parcel of [authors' media profile], taking them to people who might not have heard about them and would benefit from their specialist knowledge."

Walsh added that the project was intended to have a separate identity from that of the main agency, but that it was part of a wider move by Conville & Walsh to develop the agency and its output, with six months of research behind the set-up of the new project.

Ella Rothenstein and Alex Christofi at Conville & Walsh have been working most closely on researching and setting up the agency, with Rothenstein to be responsible for its marketing.

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• Charlotte Williams
• Conville & Walsh