Literary Agent, Marilyn Marlow

Robert Cormier's letter to Miss Marilyn Marlow 4 October 1960

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In this four-page letter (page 2 missing) to agent Marilyn Marlow, Cormier discusses at length his difficulties writing a new novel, as well as publication challenges for his finished novel The Rumple Country. He solicits her advice on a short story "The Three Hundred Loan" and shares an encouraging conversation he had with a Random House salesman who showed interested in Cormier's plots for The Rumple Country and an unnamed novel about seduction. He also inquires upon the potentially improved conditions at Macmillan. He also laments that free-lancing has not offered him more time to write what pleases him.

Robert Cormier's letter to Miss Marilyn Marlow 29 March 1968

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This is a two-page typed letter to Marilyn Marlow of the Curtis Brown Ltd. Literary agency. Cormier discusses his difficulty in settling on an idea for his new novel. One novel on a woman looking to be a nun reads dated to him and another is overtly sexual and repellent, so also does not feel like a match. He also shares his experiences as a part-time "free-lancer" and returning part-time at the Fitchburg Sentinel as a means to support his family while trying to carve out time for novel writing. He invites Marilyn to visit him since he is unable to come to New York with the new baby.

Robert Cormier's letter to Miss Marilyn Marlow undated

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In this letter to his agent, Cormier discusses current and forthcoming projects, particularly surrounding a potential novel on French-Canadians in New England. Cormier shows a remarkable degree of self-awareness in assessing his own writing, including its limitations and his disinterest in autobiographical writing. The short story "The Three Hundred Dollar Loan" referenced in this letter may have become "My Father's Gamble" published in The Sign, in which the protagonist's father takes out a loan for exactly that amount.

"Marilyn Marlow Remembered" Publishers Weekly 13 October 2003

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This "in memoriam" for literary agent Marilyn Marlow features a brief account from Cormier's widow Connie. She describes her husband's close relationship with Ms. Marlow, and she defended Cormier when publishers wanted to make changes to The Chocolate War. Further, Marlow was Cormier's only agent and a family friend. S.E. Hinton, Susan Hirschman, Thacher Hurd, Craig Virden, and Dave Barbor also included their laudatory thoughts and shared positive experiences with Marlow.

RELATED LINKS:

Pros And Cons Of Full-Time Writing Jobs Vs. Freelance Writing. In this article in The Startup by Kayla Lee (2018 Dec. 28), the author briefly sketches the top realities of the pros and cons of free lance writing -- a somewaht intrusive, yet everpresent reality for Cormier 

What Authors and Editors Wish They Could Say to One Another. In this Publishers Weekly article by Leila Sales (2018 Jul. 20), the author lists the top ten for each. 

How to Beat Writer's Block. In this New Yorker article by Maria Konnikova (2016 Mar. 11), the author looks at scholary work on writer's block by Edmund Berger and at Graham Greene's ways of dealing with it.

Marilyn E. Marlow, 75, Agent for Writers of Children's Books Obituary in the New Yorker, by Eden Ross Lipson (2003, Sept. 8).

Literary Agent, Marilyn Marlow