THE SHELF
A STORIED CAREER
Literary agent Sandra Dijkstra , Ph . D . ' 76 , is an author ' s lifeline .
BY JARRETT HALEY
THERE ’ S AN OLD JOKE in the publishing industry — a writer returns home to get the message : “ Your house burned down , your spouse left you , your dog died and your agent called .” The writer replies , “ My agent called ?” There are two truths to be found in this : one , the power of a literary agent is immense in the life of any writer lucky enough to have one . They can often make the difference between stardom or starvation . And truth number two : They can often be as elusive and aloof as the success one hopes they ’ ll bring to an author .
Sandra Dijkstra , Ph . D . ’ 76 , completely shatters this last stereotype , along with many other longstanding beliefs in the literary scene . In fact , her entire career is built upon breaking one of the most longstanding notions in publishing : that one can never make it outside of New York City .
“ They call it being ‘ out there ,’” says Dijkstra . “ Early on , many New York friends said it couldn ' t be done — I ' d have to move back east . Now they say just the opposite .”
Yet before she could make her name “ out there ,” she had to get noticed in the Big Apple . Dijkstra ’ s break into agenting came about in part by accident , and with an almost literary level of irony , her success was born from the very kind of rejection that she now unfortunately has to dole out to others , along with the good news , of course .
Dijkstra was fresh from UC San Diego , sporting her new Ph . D ., when she took a trip to New York in 1979 as a member of the MLA Commission on the Status of Women , with the hope that publishers might be interested in her dissertation . The houses all declined to read it , saying they needed a book proposal . She had just happened to bring along a proposal from Lillian Faderman , a friend introduced to her by then-Geisel librarian Fran Newman . Faderman ’ s book caught the attention of publishers , and the bidding began .
“ I came back home and told Lillian , ‘ They think I ’ m your agent !’” Dijkstra recounts . “ And she said , ‘ Well then , do it !’”
Faderman ’ s Surpassing the Love of Men would become Dijkstra ’ s first sale . It was an exciting moment , tempered by the devastating loss of Dijkstra ’ s mother , who left her with the means to do something bold . While teaching literature at UC San Diego , she started the Sandra Dijkstra Literary
Agency , and in a few years became a major player in the industry from out west .
“ Keep in mind this was before the internet . I loved books , yet I knew nothing about publishing . How could I possibly make it work from out here ?” Dijkstra says . “ But I told myself : ‘ Yes , you can !’ and went to New York and made an appointment with every head of every major publishing house .”
DIJKSTRA MADE IT WORK . She added writers to her list and hosted the show “ Books West ” on KPBS , interviewing authors and publishers visiting Southern California . Then , in 1987 , she sent a letter of interest to a then-unknown writer named Amy Tan , ultimately rescuing Tan from a technical writing day job and making her a phenomenon with the mega-bestseller The Joy Luck Club . Yet one wonders if the book would have become such a hit — or even been a book at all — had it kept its original title .
“ Amy named it Wind and Water , from the I Ching ,” Dijsktra explains . “ It was
52 TRITON | FALL 2016