Who

Possibly the most powerful literary agent in the universe, Urban–or "Binky" as she's known to everyone in the industry—has been at ICM for close to 30 years. Her husband is Ken Auletta.

Backstory

Urban joined ICM in the late 1970s and was mentored by uber-agent Lynn Nesbit. When Nesbit left in 1988 to form her own agency with Mort Janklow, Urban was installed as co-head of ICM's literary department, along with fellow Wheaton grad Esther Newberg. In early 2007, Binky stepped down as co-head and said she wanted to focus on expanding ICM's international business. (Sloan Harris, a 17-year ICM vet, replaced her.) These days, she's especially involved with ICM's London office, which she helped found.

Of note

Urban represents some of the most successful writers on the planet. Some of the A-listers she's repped: Jay McInerney, Bret Easton Ellis, Cormac McCarthy, Richard Ford, Nora Ephron, Haruki Marukami, Donna Tartt, Chip Kidd, and Toni Morrison. (One more recent addition to her roster: Nell Freudenberger.) She's responsible for landing some of the biggest deals in the business: After the huge success of Charles Frazier's Cold Mountain, Urban won the author a close-to-unprecedented $8 million advance for his second book, Thirteen Moons, which was acquired by editor Ann Godoff. She's not completely infallible, though: In 2003 she shopped around a proposal for Woody Allen's memoirs. The bidding climbed as high as $6 million, but never reached the $10 million that Allen was holding out for.

Personal

The perpetually tanned agent is married to New Yorker media columnist Ken Auletta. In what would be an awkward situation for some, Urban has repped writers whom Auletta has both covered and criticized, including the Times's Bill Keller and Judith Miller. (She is not, however, his agent; Newberg reps Ken.) The couple has a daughter named Kate; she graduated college in 2004 and is now a researcher at InStyle magazine. They live on the Upper East Side, in the same building as former CourtTV chief Henry Schleiff.