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

that often concern the

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA; ) is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States tasked with advancing national security through collecting and analyzing intelligence from around the world and ...

and the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

. Robert Littell was born in

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

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

on January 8, 1935, 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, United States. It has a total undergraduate population of approximately 1,600 students. The university hosts the statutory New York State College of Ceramics, which includes The In ...

in western New York. He spent four years in the U.S. Navy and served at times as his ship's navigator,

antisubmarine warfare Anti-submarine warfare (ASW, or in the older form A/S) is a branch of underwater warfare that uses surface warships, aircraft, submarines, or other platforms, to find, track, and deter, damage, or destroy enemy submarines. Such operations a ...

officer, communications officer, and deck watch officer. Later Littell became a journalist and worked many years for ''

Newsweek ''Newsweek'' is an American weekly news magazine based in New York City. Founded as a weekly print magazine in 1933, it was widely distributed during the 20th century and has had many notable editors-in-chief. It is currently co-owned by Dev P ...

'' during the

Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...

. 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 and painte
Jesse Littell
His brother, Alan Littell (1929-2024), was 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'' (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) *''A Plague on Both Your Houses: A Novel in the Shadow of the Russian Mafia'' (2024)

Semi-fiction

*'' If Israel Lost the War'' (

alternate history Alternate history (also referred to as alternative history, allohistory, althist, or simply A.H.) is a subgenre of speculative fiction in which one or more historical events have occurred but are resolved differently than in actual history. As ...

) (with Richard Z. Chesnoff and Edward Klein) (1969)

Non-fiction

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

Shimon Peres Shimon Peres ( ; ; born Szymon Perski, ; 2 August 1923 – 28 September 2016) was an Israeli politician and statesman who served as the prime minister of Israel from 1984 to 1986 and from 1995 to 1996 and as the president of Israel from 2007 t ...

) (1998)

Films and Television

* ''The Amateur'' (1981 film) * ''The Company'' (miniseries) * ''Legends'' (TV series) * The Amateur (2025 film)

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. ...

's Gold Dagger Award for fiction. *''Legends''. 2005

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

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 Novelists from New York City 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 21st-century American non-fiction writers Jewish American journalists Jewish American novelists American people of Russian-Jewish descent 21st-century American Jews