Dear friends,
I am beyond thrilled to let you know that I HAVE OFFICIALLY SIGNED WITH A LITERARY AGENT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Those of you who have been following for a while might remember that I first reached out to agents in the summer of 2020, just a couple of months into the pandemic. At the time, I had decided to pitch my book as a biography of my great-great-grandmother and national golf champion, Bessie Anthony. Born in Chicago in 1880, Bessie was known as “the undisputed queen” of golf in the U.S. and one of the most beloved athletes in the country. In 1903, she made history by becoming the first Westerner to win the U.S. Women’s Amateur — the nation’s highest and most prestigious prize for golf — though her story had been painfully shelved away after her death in childbirth at the age of thirty-two, about the same age as I am today.
Back in 2020, the feedback I received from agents was encouraging, though non-committal. A few wondered whether a book about a female athlete would even sell. Eventually, I decided to go back to the drawing board. Page by page, I reconstructed my book from a traditional biography into a blend of narrative non-fiction and ancestral memoir, creating something that was entirely different and entirely new.
Since then, a lot has changed — for my book as well as for women in sport. For the first time ever, revenue for women’s sports is expected to pass the $1 billion mark this year; meanwhile, viewership for female athletic events has reached unprecedented heights. This spring, the Women’s NCAA Basketball National Championship pulled in an astounding 18.7 million viewers — making it the most watched basketball game (men’s or women’s, college or pro) in the past five years — while viewership at the 2023 U.S. Women’s Open at Pebble Beach was up a record 119%, making last July the most watched month for women’s golf in history.
Winning tournament after tournament at a time when female golfers were called “dangerous” and “nothing short of disgusting,” Bessie used sport as a powerful and deeply personal means of resistance. While not as outwardly political as her cousin Susan B. Anthony, she made her body a vehicle for inspiring real, national-level change, blazing the trail for modern-day icons like Alex Morgan, Caitlin Clark, Serena Williams, Coco Gauff, Nelly Korda, and Rose Zhang. Affecting all of us, this new era in women’s sports has transformed my book, lending new importance to Bessie’s legacy while deepening my connection to the golfer and mother she was as well as the grandmother she never got to be.
Back in 2020, I began querying agents with what I thought was a run-of-the-mill biography of a turn-of-the-century golfer. Yet what has emerged is a book far bigger and far more beautiful than anything I could have imagined. It is a story about sports, family, God, and grandmothers — about our deep ache for that place “where all the beauty came from.” It is Bessie’s story, my grandmother’s story, and my story, all wrapped into one.
After my daughter was born, I decided to get back out there and start re-querying agents this spring. On the heels of the greatest year ever for women’s golf, I received lots of interest and several offers of representation. Yet in the end, I knew I had to go with Iris Blasi. With close to two decades of experience in publishing, Iris joined Arc Literary Management in 2021 after four years at the Carol Mann Agency and several years as an editor at Pegasus Books. Over the years, she has worked worked on several best-selling and award-winning books by authors including Lawrence Block, Rachel Carson, Michael Dirda, Erica Jong, Ira Levin, Alexandra Silber, Jerry Stahl, Gloria Steinem, Charles Strouse, and Fay Weldon.
Iris and I are in the process of getting my book reading for “submission,” with the hope of reaching out to editors in the next few months. As any writer knows, this is a time that demands a lot of patience (and many pep talks!). But fingers crossed, I will have some happy news to share soon.
Till then, sending love and infinite thanks to all,
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Great job, Cornelia! Love reading your stories.
Congratulations, Cornelia! I hope this is the next step on the way to many more people enjoying your wonderful writing.