Join Co-Director of New Writing South, Anna Jefferson, for a special lunchtime Publishing Question Time in conversation with literary agent Liv Bignold from C&W Agency. Discover what agents are really looking for, how to make an approach, and insider advice on building a sustainable writing career.

C&W Agency

A dynamic London-based literary agency, with a stellar reputation for championing talented new voices and nurturing established authors with the passion and dedication every writer deserves. C&W, founded as Conville & Walsh in 2000, are proud to represent a diverse array of international bestsellers and prize-winners, and our goal is always to support writers at every stage of their career to find their readers. They work closely with clients, providing meticulous literary guidance that is tailored to the needs of each individual writer, from pitch to publication and beyond. They offer expert global representation in all media including publishing, book-to-screen rights and translation rights.

Liv Bignold

Liv joined C&W in May 2024 as assistant to Sarah Ballard, having previously spent two years at Curtis Brown supporting Alice Lutyens and, prior to that, Karolina Sutton. Alongside supporting Sarah’s stellar list of clients, she has her own list of authors writing in the literary fiction, non-fiction and upmarket genre space. She has judged several writing competitions – including Scratch A4 and the Bath Short Story Award 2025 – and is always interested in opportunities to support prizes and awards. In 2023, Liv kickstarted the Project North initiative, and she is regularly involved in events and workshops aimed at northern writers. Before deciding to pursue a career in agenting, she worked in Contracts at HarperCollins and in Rights at an educational publisher.