Andrew James Hamilton Lownie FRHistS (born November 1961) is a British biographer and literary agent.[1][2][3]

Biography

He was educated at Westminster School and Magdalene College, Cambridge, and was President of the Cambridge Union in Easter term 1984.[4] He has a master's degree and doctorate from the University of Edinburgh, and is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society.[5] His dissertation at Edinburgh was titled: Stalin's Englishman: The Lives of Guy Burgess.

Lownie founded his eponymous literary agency in 1988. It specialises in non-fiction, representing some 200 authors, and is reported to have "regularly been the top selling agent in the world."[6]

He has published biographies of writer John Buchan,[7] spy Guy Burgess[8][9] and Lord Mountbatten and his wife Edwina.[10] While researching for his book on the Mountbattens, Lownie found himself blocked by the Cabinet Office and University of Southampton, despite public money being used in 2011 to acquire their archive to "ensure public access".[11][12][13] In 2021, Lownie published The Traitor King, a biography, based on fresh sources, of the Duke of Windsor. The former Edward VIII, is alleged by Lownie to have been a Nazi sympathiser who gave aid and comfort to his country’s enemies before and during the Second World War.[14]

Lownie also wrote a literary guide to Edinburgh,[15] and has edited several volumes of John Buchan's works. He founded, and is President of, The Biographers' Club,[16] a group "committed to supporting, promoting and connecting biographers at all levels".[17]

Selected publications

• Lownie, Andrew (1995). John Buchan: The Presbyterian Cavalier. Constable. ISBN 0-09-472500-4.
• Lownie, Andrew (2000). The Literary Companion to Edinburgh. Methuen. ISBN 0413751309. (earlier ed 1992 Canongate Press)
• Lownie, Andrew (2016). Stalin's Englishman: Guy Burgess, the Cold War, and the Cambridge Spy Ring. St Martin's Press. ISBN 978-1250100993.
• Lownie, Andrew (2019). The Mountbattens: Their Lives and Loves. Blink Publishing. ISBN 978-1788702560.
• Lownie, Andrew (2021). Traitor King: The Scandalous Exile of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor. Bonnier Books. ISBN 978-1788704816.

References

External links

• Andrew Lownie literary agency website

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