Poetic tributes to sharp-talking agent Ed Victor

LAST night the Forward Prize for Poetry crowned Sinead Morrissey its winner, for her work On Balance. But she had to share the attention: the memory of Ed Victor, the über literary agent who died earlier this year, dominated proceedings.

William Sieghart, the award’s founder, recalled his difficulty setting it up in the Nineties. “Trying to get a national poetry prize off the ground was not going to be easy,” Sieghart recalled. “However, I bumped into a rather remarkable man — Ed Victor. He took me out to lunch, and I said I wanted to start the Forward Prize. He said, ‘ Yo u need Stephen Spender and Maggie Drabble as your judges’.

“Three days later, he said, ‘Sir Stephen Spender will be chairman of your judges, Maggie Drabble and John Bailey

MOVE over Hillary Clinton. The Times has enlisted the former US presidential candidate to speak at next month’s Cheltenham Literary Festival, but the Financial Times has chosen someone a bit more on-trend. Victoria will be two of the others and you’ll never struggle to find a judge again’.”

This year’s chair of the judges, Andrew Marr, pictured, also counted Victor as his agent. “He asked at one point if he could renegotiate my contract with the BBC, and I said, ‘Yes, fine’,” Marr rec alled. “Within months I was getting batsqueaks of pain from BBC apparatchiks.

“I said, ‘Ed, I’m really sorry, but you’re being a bit rude and aggressive with these people — they’re not publishers. They’re herbivorous — they’re gentle.’ “Victor replied, ‘Are you saying I’m being rude and aggressive in an inappropriate manner that makes you feel personally uncomfortable?’” Marr said yes, to which Victor replied: “Andy, why do you think you employ me?”

T h e P r i z e ’s 2018 anthology is dedicated to Victor. The perfect tribute.

Beckham is the keynote speaker at its Women at the Top summit next week, discussing how to tackle gender imbalance in business. Other speakers include think-tank New America CEO Anne-Marie Slaughter. Girl power!