Luke Janklow

Vitals
Full Name
Lucas W. Janklow
Neighborhood
West Village
Filed Under
Books
Lists
Popularity
#45 (based on number of views over the past two weeks)
Rating
Average rating
18.0
Your rating

Tips

Have something to share with us?

Who

The man who got Anderson Cooper $1 million for his memoir, Luke Janklow is a literary agent at the mid-size agency Janklow & Nesbit. His father is Mort Janklow.

Backstory

Janklow started out as an aspiring rock star, fronting the band Darlahood, which toured during the '90s supporting the likes of Helmet. (Darlahood's sound was once described as "the return of a riff-heavy, self-indulgent, guitar-fueled brand of 'head' music that went out of style with strawberry rolling papers.") The 6-foot, 6-inch Janklow threw in the towel at age 30 and joined literary agency Janklow & Nesbit in 1999. He's not the "Janklow" on the letterhead, though—that's his father, Mort Janklow, who co-founded the firm with Lynn Nesbit.

Of note

Luke represents the likes of Anderson Cooper, American Idol's Simon Cowell, and Atoosa Rubenstein. (Other names Janklow & Nesbit represents: Malcolm Gladwell, Bill O'Reilly, Barbara Walters, and Michael Moore.) But the attention-seeking Janklow has also managed to earn some notoriety outside the publishing biz: He was featured in Men's Vogue and in 2004 appeared with his wife in an ad campaign for TSE cashmere. In 2007 he was named the "hottest straight man in publishing" by Gawker.com.

Personal

In early 2009 it was announced that Luke was divorcing Julie, a former singer and musician with whom he has a son, August. The couple had opened a West Village restaurant, Sweetiepie, with Mario Batali last summer. In a hangover from his former life, Janklow has a collection of 25 vintage guitars. He's currently dating model/writer Jessica Joffe.

No joke

At a book party he threw for Tom Sykes in 2006, Janklow made all the assembled guests put booties over their shoes so as to not dirty his marble staircase.