Diana Cheeseman

Diana Cheeseman is a literary agent based in London, UK. She was one of the founders of the agency Cheeseman, Hollyfoot and Finch in 2004, although the absence of any clients for either Hollyfoot or Finch has led to persistent speculation that these were the names of her two cats at the time when she created the agency and were simply added to the name of the company for additional gravitas.

Since setting up as an agent, Cheeseman has gone from strength to strength, achieving her first seven-figure deal in 2014 for a series of police procedurals by Emmett Krill, whose career she had nurtured since his controversial debut, A Bucket Full of Guts. Her most recent high-profile signing was the debut novelist Siobhan Aoife Cholmondeley, whose devastating psychological thriller Don't Say My Name was sold to Simon and Schuster for an undisclosed fee.

Cheeseman is noted for being one of the few people involved in the debacle surrounding George Burgess and the Vavasor twins who didn't end up being murdered by Rufus Fairbanks, possibly because she had taken the precaution of hiring a personal bodyguard for the duration. She is still in possession of the Burgess manuscript that Tom Winscombe gave her, but is unsure what to do with it, given that Hilary van Beek, the publisher who was lined up for it, is also dead.

Notable clients

• Emmett Krill
• George Burgess
• Siobhan Aoife Cholmondeley
• Martin Amis
• Sir Mumford Oldbreath
• Sheena MacSween
• Jonathan Pinnock
• Jilly Hoofwater
• Meredith Plethora-Gill
• Bilbo Bobsleigh