Robert Littell (born January 8, 1935) is an American novelist and former journalist who resides in France. He specializes in

spy novels Spy fiction is a genre of literature involving espionage as an important context or plot device. It emerged in the early twentieth century, inspired by rivalries and intrigues between the major powers, and the establishment of modern intelligen ...

that often concern the

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...

and the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

. Littell was born in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Kings County is the most populous Administrative divisions of New York (state)#County, county in the State of New York, ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, to a Jewish family, of Russian Jewish origin. He is a 1956 graduate of

Alfred University Alfred University is a private university in Alfred, New York. It has a total undergraduate population of approximately 1,600 students. The university hosts the New York State College of Ceramics, which includes The Inamori School of Engineerin ...

in western New York. He spent four years in the U.S. Navy and served at times as his ship's navigator, antisubmarine warfare officer, communications officer, and deck watch officer. Later Littell became a journalist and worked many years for ''

Newsweek ''Newsweek'' is an American weekly online news magazine co-owned 50 percent each by Dev Pragad, its president and CEO, and Johnathan Davis, who has no operational role at ''Newsweek''. Founded as a weekly print magazine in 1933, it was widely ...

'' during the Cold War. He was a foreign correspondent for the magazine from 1965 to 1970. Littell is an amateur mountain climber and is the father of award-winning novelist Jonathan Littell. His brother, Alan Littell (born 1929), is also an author and journalist. He is the brother-in-law of the French writer Bernard du Boucheron.Corty, Bruno
À la rencontre de l'autre Littell
''Le Figaro'', 21 March 2009.

Bibliography

Novels

*'' The Defection of A. J. Lewinter'' (1973) *''Sweet Reason'' (1974) *''The October Circle'' (1975) *''Mother Russia'' (1978) *''The Debriefing'' (1979) *''The Amateur'' (1981) *''The Sisters'' (1986) *''The Revolutionist'' (1988) *''The Once and Future Spy'' (1990) *''An Agent in Place'' (1991) *''The Visiting Professor'' (1994) *''Walking Back the Cat'' (1997) *''

The Company ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in ...

'' (2002) *''Legends'' (2005) *''Vicious Circle'' (2006) *''The Stalin Epigram'' (2009) *''Young Philby'' (2012) *''A Nasty Piece of Work'' (2013) *''The Mayakovsky Tapes'' (2016) *''Comrade Koba'' (2019)

Semi-fiction

*'' If Israel Lost the War'' ( alternate history) (with Richard Z. Chesnoff and Edward Klein) (1969)

Non-fiction

*''For the Future of Israel'' (with

Shimon Peres Shimon Peres (; he, שמעון פרס ; born Szymon Perski; 2 August 1923 – 28 September 2016) was an Israeli politician who served as the eighth prime minister of Israel from 1984 to 1986 and from 1995 to 1996 and as the ninth president of ...

) (1998)

Films and Television

* ''The Amateur'' (1981 film) * ''The Company'' (miniseries) * ''Legends'' (TV series)

Awards

*''The Defection of A. J. Lewinter''. 1973 British

Crime Writers' Association The Crime Writers' Association (CWA) is a specialist authors’ organisation in the United Kingdom, most notable for its Dagger awards for the best crime writing of the year, and the Diamond Dagger awarded to an author for lifetime achievement. ...

Gold Dagger Award The Gold Dagger is an award given annually by the Crime Writers' Association of the United Kingdom since 1960 for the best crime novel of the year. From 1955 to 1959, the organization named their top honor as the Crossed Red Herring Award. From ...

for fiction. *''Legends''. 2005

Los Angeles Times Book Prize Since 1980, the ''Los Angeles Times'' has awarded a set of annual book prizes. The Prizes currently have nine categories: biography, current interest, fiction, first fiction (the Art Seidenbaum Award added in 1991), history, mystery/thriller ...

in the Mystery/Thriller category.

References

External links

''All Things Considered'' review of several books including ''Legends''.
*

Feature: "On Writing Young Philby" in Shots Ezine November 2012
{{DEFAULTSORT:Littell, Robert 1935 births Living people 20th-century American novelists 21st-century American novelists Alfred University alumni American male journalists Journalists from New York City Newsweek people Writers from Brooklyn United States Navy officers American male novelists American expatriates in France 20th-century American journalists 20th-century American male writers 21st-century American male writers Novelists from New York (state) 21st-century American non-fiction writers Jewish American journalists Jewish American novelists American people of Russian-Jewish descent 21st-century American Jews