Geller, Jonny 1968(?)-

PERSONAL: Born c. 1968; married; children: two sons.

ADDRESSES: Home— London, England. Office— Curtis Brown Group, Ltd., Haymarket House, 28-29 Haymarket, London SW1Y 4SP, England.

CAREER: Curtis Brown Group, Ltd., London, England, literary agent, 1993—.

WRITINGS

Yes, but Is It Good for the Jews?, Bloomsbury (London, England), 2006.

SIDELIGHTS: Jonny Geller trained as an actor but moved into the publishing industry in 1993. Since then, he has become one of the senior members of Curtis Brown Group, Ltd., England’s largest independent literary agency. Among the top authors he represents are Hari Kunzru, Sean Hughes, Phil Whitaker, Tracy Chevalier, and James Flint. Geller has a reputation for scoring his authors six-figure advances. Geller’s critics say that the high advance only raises the expectations for the works of first-time novelists. In a Financial Times article, Geller responded to this criticism by noting: “All my big six-figure sums have worked—all of them have sold over 100, 000 copies, strengthening my argument that the higher advance, the better.”

In 2006 Geller published his first book, Yes, but Is It Good for the Jews? outlining his comic perception of various items, events, and people in contemporary society. He uses a mathematical equation to rate each topic on a scale of one to seven. Some score favorably: Monica Lewinsky and The Godfather films. Others do not: Easter and the Toyota Prius. A Publishers Weekly reviewer noted that, “in some cases, the effort to find a Jewish connection feels strained, and most of the discussions are lightweight.” Zoe Strimpel disliked the Jewish-centric approach that the book takes. In a Financial Times review, Strimpel commented: “One might equally ask how good books like this are for the Jews.”

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES

PERIODICALS

Booklist, September 15, 2006, Ilene Cooper, review of Yes, but Is It Good for the Jews?, p. 16.

Financial Times, March 18, 2002, Sathnam Sanghera, “Making Advances”; December 16, 2006, Zoe Strimpel, review of Yes, but Is It Good for the Jews?, p. 41.

Jewish News Weekly, November 10, 2006, Dan Pine, review of Yes, but Is It Good for the Jews?

Publishers Weekly, July 10, 2006, review of Yes, but Is It Good for the Jews?, p. 61.

ONLINE

Curtis Brown Group, Ltd. Web site, http://www.curtisbrown.co.uk/ (January 19, 2007), author profile.

IdeasFactory.com Web site, http://www.ideasfactory.com/ (January 19, 2007), Michele Kirsch, “Agent Provocateur.”

IsItGoodForTheJews.com Web site, http://www.isitgoodforthejews.com (January 19, 2007), author profile.*