michael Murphy

About Me

I am a creaky knees, artery hardening, long time book person. Back in high school, shortly after the Earth cooled, when my veins coursed with testosterone, all I wanted to do was play football, blow things up with M-80's and date beautiful blondes. One blonde MADE me read Salinger's A PERFECT DAY FOR BANANA FISH and BARTLEBY THE SCRIVENER and I never looked back. Three years as a bookstore clerk on New York's Fifth Avenue, 22 years in book publishing (VP at Random House, Publisher of William Morrow) and since 2007, my own literary agency.

Why do you write?

Anything can fuel creativity. I had a great mentor at Random House. Through her I learned to dig around and pay attention to everything and then toss what I saw into a compost pile at the back corner of my brain. You never know what fermentation might bring forth.

The advent of Google has made the digging process completely amped up and capable of taking over my life. But, at least half the books I represent have come this way.

Any favorite authors? Books?

As an agent, many of my favorite authors are the very people I represent (or why do it?). They may be seen at www.maxliterary.org.

Of writers I do not represent--I think one half of the novels by Wright Morris are the greatest American Novels of the 20th Century. The others are gawd awful. My tastes are all over the board - I love William Trevor and Gary Indiana. Valerie Martin and Deb Olin Unferth. William Maxwell and Nicholson Baker. Deborah Eisenberg and Maira Kalman. Allan Gurganus and Dagoberto Gilb. If you see a pattern (which I fail to see), please shout out.

I re-read chapter 7 of ALL THE KING'S MEN every year because I think it's practically perfect writing.