Dawes GHANAIAN/JAMAICAN poet and programming director of the Calabash International Literary Festival, Kwame Dawes, has been signed to the William Morris Agency, an important move toward gaining wider recognition and readership.
Today's publishing world is about much more than getting ink on paper, and it is certainly about more than being talented.
Dawes' latest published works were Bob Marley: Lyrical Genius, which focused on the lyrical content of Bob Marley's music, A Place To Hide and New and Selected Works, all produced in 2002.
The William Morris Agency, which has offices in New York, London, Miami, Beverly Hills and Nashville, represents talent in varying fields ranging from books to motion pictures. A visit to the William Morris website, wma.com, reveals that since the start of 2003 the agency has been contracted to represent the talents of kung fu superstar Jackie Chan.
Model Heidi Klum, who wants to make the conversion to acting, has also signed with the agency to represent her for film and television projects. David E. Kelly is also on the agency's client roster. The producer has brought television classics including Boston Public, The Practice, Picket Fences, Chicago Hope and Ally McBeal.
Although the site does not give a listing of the literary talent that it represents, it declares that its roster of representatives include winners of the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award, the Edgar Award and the National Medal of Literature.
Although Dawes has yet to win any of these prizes, his works have not gone without acclaim. The author of 15 books, Dawes' Progeny of Air, his first, earned him Britain's Forward Poetry Prize. His other poetic works includes, Shook Foil: A Collection of Reggae Poems and Midland.
The deal with the talent agency should allow Dawes' works a chance to be published by houses with greater distribution networks than he has been able to land.
