Caroline Michel
The Lady Evans of Temple Guiting | |
|---|---|
.jpg?lang=en) Caroline Michel in 2013 | |
| Born | Caroline Jayne Michel 4 April 1959 |
| Nationality | British |
| Alma mater | University of Edinburgh (MA) |
| Occupation(s) | Literary agent, CEO Peters Fraser & Dunlop |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 3 |
| Relatives | John Cryer |
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Caroline Jayne Michel, Baroness Evans of Temple Guiting DBE FRSA (born 4 April 1959), known professionally as Caroline Michel, is a British literary agent who, since 2015, chairs the Hay Festival.[1]
Early life and education
[edit]Michel is the daughter of Austro-Hungarian émigré Wolfgang Richard Max Michel (1928–2012)[2] and Valerie Gilbert Fooks née Cryer (b. 1934). She attended Oakdene School in Buckinghamshire,[3] before going up to read Sanskrit at the University of Edinburgh, graduating MA.[4]
Career
[edit]Having started her career with Chatto & Windus in 1982, Michel was appointed managing director of literary magazine Granta in 1990, before joining publishers Random House (Vintage) in 1992, then HarperPress in 2001. After William Morris Agency poached her in 2005, Michel has served since 2007 as CEO of Peters Fraser & Dunlop.[5]
A committee member of the Booker Prize Foundation (1994–2001), the Veuve Clicquot Business Woman Award Panel (2011–19), the Arts and Media Honours Committee (2017–2023) and HMG Advisory Panel on Public Library Service in England (2014–15), she was appointed Chairwoman of the British Film Institute Trust in 2011, as too of the Hay Festival of Literature and Arts in 2015. A Trustee of Somerset House (since 2013) and Vice-President of the London Library (since 2016), Michel has been elected Vice-President of the London Library and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.[6]
Lady Evans was appointed Dame Commander of the British Empire (DBE) in the 2025 New Year Honours for "services to publishing and literature".[7]
Personal life
[edit]In 1991, Michel married, as his second wife, Matthew Evans (later Baron Evans of Temple Guiting), with whom she had three children. Lord Evans died in 2016.[8]
As of 2025, Lady Evans lives in London.[9]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ "Caroline Michel to chair Hay Festival board" (PDF). hayfestival.com. Hay Festival. 25 September 2015.
- ^ Ray, Saptarshi (12 January 2019). "India 'swapped' British arms dealer for Dubai's Princess Latifa". The Sunday Telegraph.
- ^ "Oakdene alumnæ, the Mitfords were good ol' High Wycombe gals". Bucks Free Press. 8 March 2001.
- ^ Martinson, Jane (26 January 2009). "A new chapter". The Guardian.
- ^ Lady Evans at Peters Fraser & Dunlop.
- ^ "The RSA - Royal Society of Arts".
- ^ Sapnoudi, Melina (30 December 2024). "Kazuo Ishiguro, Jacqueline Wilson and Alan Hollinghurst recognised in King Charles' New Year's Honours list". Bookseller.
- ^ Brown, Mark (6 July 2016). "Publisher Lord Evans, former Faber & Faber boss, dies aged 74". The Guardian.
- ^ "Hay Festival chairwoman Caroline Michel's home is a treasure trove of books and antiques". House and Garden. 23 July 2024.
External links
[edit]
- 1959 births
- Living people
- 21st-century British businesswomen
- Alumni of the University of Edinburgh
- British literary agents
- British people of Austrian-Jewish descent
- Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire
- English Jews
- English talent agents
- Governors of the British Film Institute
- People from Harrogate
- People from Yorkshire
- Spouses of life peers
- British baronesses by marriage