Vicki Willden-Lebrecht on screens, the reading crisis and building a business around illustrated children's books

Rachel and Simon speak with the literary agent Vicki Willden-Lebrecht. Vicki set up The Bright Agency in 2003; today the company represents authors and artists from across the world. Its clients include Benji Davies (the creator of the "Storm Whale" series and the illustrator of the "Bizzy Bear" books), David Litchfield (the author and illustrator of the "The Bear & the Piano" series) and the estate of Shirley Hughes (whose books have sold more than 11.5 million copies). For the past 22 years, Vicki has been the agency's principal author/illustrator agent and she has been nominated for Literary Agent of the Year at the British Book Awards three times - in 2016, 2021 and 2025. We spoke to Vicki about her early entrepreneurial efforts and setting up Bright in her 20s, representing children's authors and illustrators and the importance of getting youngsters to read. In addition to the standard audio format, the podcast is now available in video. You can check us out on YouTube under Always Take Notes.