Who we are
Founded in 2004 by Michael Choate, The Choate Agency is a full service literary agency that provides a full range of services that includes working with co-agents handling film/television rights and handling foreign rights in all the major markets.
We believe in bringing out the best in manuscripts we are drawn to, helping to develop stories when necessary before we bring them to a publisher. To this end we aim to foster collaborative relationships with our authors and bring out the full potential of the works we represent.
We do not have a self-publishing division as we still strive to do things the old-fashioned way – place our clients with one of the traditional trade publishers.
Meet the Team
Laurel Choate
Laurel has had a diverse career path, beginning in the financial industry during high school and college. After graduating from Hamilton College she transitioned into the non-profit and publishing sectors. For several years she was a conference organizer for The Wheatland Foundation, where she organized and sponsored conferences for international literary writers in Lisbon, Budapest and San Francisco. Following that she went to work for Grove Weidenfeld where she met and eventually married Mickey Choate. While Mickey continued to work in the publishing industry, Laurel returned to the financial sector for several years, working at ING Capital, Citibank and at a debt fund where she was involved in underwriting, negotiation, execution and the ongoing administration of multi-million dollar financial projects. During those years, Laurel also co-founded The Choate Agency with Mickey. She and Mickey worked together to build the agency and upon Mickey’s premature death, Laurel took on the full-time role of running the agency. She has now been joined in the business by her son Alexander. In her free time, Laurel likes to knit, read, bake and row competitively in order to allow her to eat all that she bakes!
Alexander Choate
Alexander Choate joined The Choate Agency in 2025, bringing with him a rich background in publishing operations and sales from his time at Ingram Content Group. He has a BA in Anthropology from McGill University and attended the Columbia Publishing Course in 2021 to expand his knowledge of the publishing world. Proud to be a member of the Association of American Literary Agents he looks to serve authors with integrity and excellence. He is passionate about discovering bold, original voices and is actively expanding the agency’s list. He has a love for literary and genre fiction and anything that exists between the space of the two, such as the works of Joe Abercrombie, Joe Hill, Jennifer Egan, Gene Wolfe, and Juan Rulfo. Off the clock he enjoys reading, climbing, video games, and TTRPGs.
In Memoriam
Mickey Choate loved books and authors. This is a simple fact. It is no surprise that after spending time working in international rights for publishing houses and other agencies, he would want to create something of his own, where he could work directly with the things and people he loved on his own terms. And so, in 2004 he started his own agency, The Choate Agency. He was an old school agent, recognizing raw talent and working with authors to elevate their works and bring out the true potential that lay underneath. In this way he was able to launch the careers of the likes of Joe Hill and John Hart. He also represented Judith Viorst, James Barney and Lisa Yockelson among others. Sadly, in 2015 he passed away after he was struck by an aggressive form of lung cancer. He left behind many family, friends and clients who loved him and miss him dearly.
