The Team
Aaron Priest - President / Agent
Aaron Priest was born in Providence, Rhode Island and graduated from Columbia College in 1959. Having worked for several years as a sales rep for Doubleday, he started the agency in 1974.
Partnered with Molly Friedrich for many of those years, the agency has represented among many others, David Baldacci, Frank McCourt, Sue Grafton, Erma Bombeck, Philip Caputo, Johanna Lindsey, Terry McMillan and Jane Smiley.
Aaron was a founding member of the ILAA (Independent Literary Agents Association) which is now the Association of Author’s representatives. Aaron is a member of the Board of Trustees for the Jewish Theological Seminary and is also on the board of The Schechter Institute of Jerusalem. He serves as well as an executive member of the UJA Publishing Committee. He and his wife Arleen have two sons and two grandsons.
Lisa Erbach Vance - Agent
Lisa Erbach Vance has been with the Aaron Priest Literary Agency since 1993. Her clients include Harlan Coben, Gregg Hurwitz, Gayle Lynds, Matt Beynon Rees, Kathleen Sharp, Aaron Elkins, Sindiwe Magona, Amanda Stevens and Ann Howard Creel.
Her publishing career began at Random House, Inc. where she was selected as one of the first participants in their new Management Trainee program, after which she became an associate in the foreign rights department at Crown Publishers, before moving to Aaron Priest. Lisa was born and raised outside of Chicago, and she has a B.A. in English Literature from Northwestern University.
Lisa is currently most interested in the following: Contemporary fiction, especially women's fiction, with a well-defined narrative voice. Observant, thoughtful fiction about families and friends, with fresh perspectives on modern relationships. Thrillers/suspense with propulsive plots enhanced with well-developed characters. Psychological suspense. Contemporary gothic fiction. Unique ghost stories. International fiction (not translation) that takes the reader deep into another culture. Narrative non-fiction, current or historical topics.
In every category, Lisa is looking for original premises, characters she'll be passionate about, and stories she can't put down.
Lucy Childs Baker - Agent
Lucy's been at the agency since 1995, having switched from professional actress to literary agent. Her clients include Frances Sherwood, Elizabeth Diamond, and Peter Charles Melman.
Interested in both commercial fiction (women's and mystery), and especially literary fiction (including historical), as well as narrative non-fiction. While willing to read just about anything as long as it's intelligent and well-written, Lucy isn't interested in seeing horror, fantasy,
sci-fi, self-help, or poetry.
Nicole James - Agent
Nicole James joined The Aaron Priest Literary Agency in 2004. Nicole represents projects from young adult fiction to non-fiction to commercial and literary fiction. Overall she enjoys high concept plots, stories and topics with a cultural or social relevance, as well as works in translation. Nicole represents the following projects which speak for her range as an agent: THE VAST FIELDS OF ORDINARY by Nick Burd, POWER DOWN by Ben Coes, as well as the English translation of BUZZ ALDRIN, WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU IN ALL THE CONFUSION? by Norwegian author Johan Harstad. In addition to her own list, Nicole handles foreign rights for Aaron Priest.
Before her publishing life, Nicole received her BFA in acting at The University of Colorado at Boulder. She then moved home to New York and worked in the theatre business. As a former Aaron Priest Agency intern, she was lured back to the publishing world and was thrilled to return to this impressive boutique agency.
Nicole would love to learn about novels which are celebrated in other countries but are unknown here in the U.S. She is equally interested in weighty literary fiction as she is in more commercial and plot driven fiction. To be a bit more specific, she's eager to find a female driven thriller, a smart and thoughtfully written young adult series (it doesn't have to be about vampires!), and has a hankering for a non-fiction book about weddings (in case you're working on one). Otherwise, she will take a look at anything that sounds tantalizing.
Frances Jalet Miller - In House Editor
Frances Jalet-Miller joined the Aaron Priest Literary Agency in 1992 as its resident editor. She earned a B.A. in Fiction Writing from Vassar College, and an M.F.A. in Fiction Writing from Columbia University.
She has worked as an editor at St. Martin's Press, Pantheon, Grove Press (in its Barney Rosset era), Dembner Books, Warner Books, and Grand Central Publishing. She has worked with such writers as David Baldacci, Philip Caputo, Henry Louis Gates, Alan Dershowitz, Robert Christgau, Roy Walford, and Pat De Voto.
Arleen Gradinger Priest - Bookkeeper / Office Manager
Raised in Rochester, New York and a graduate of Syracuse University, she is an accomplished ceramicist. Arleen serves as, bookkeeper, office manager and overall consultant.
For years she has been involved with coordinating a food program for the homeless at a shelter in White Plains, New York as well as many other philanthropic causes. An avid reader and student, she's taken adult education classes for the past twenty-seven years.
John Richmond
John Richmond has been at the Aaron Priest Literary Agency since 2007. He began a career in publishing shortly after graduating from the University of California-Berkeley with a degree in history.
In addition to handling office management tasks at the agency, John also works with contracts, royalties, and electronic rights. He's also always looking for interesting literary fiction or a good commercial thriller to read.
Golda
Golda is the only member of the agency who does not read, however she adds great moral comfort to those of us who do.
