'Fill your book with lightning'

“Mark Twain said, 'The right word is to the nearly right word as lightning is to the lightning bug.' Fill your book with lightning.” – Robert Littell

 

Born in New York on this date in 1935, Littell’s writings focus on exploits by the CIA, and he coyly refuses to answer the question of whether or not he's ever worked for that agency. Meanwhile, despite turning 91 today, his writing on the topic is still going strong.  His 23^rd book, Bronshthein in the Bronx, was released in 2025 and word is he’s got number 26 on the front burner.

                                            

Littel grew up in Brooklyn, spent 4 years in the U.S. Navy, and then moved into journalism, working for many years as foreign correspondent for Newsweek magazine.   He branched into creative writing in the early 1970s and has gone on to become one of the leading “spy novelists.”  His first effort, 1973’s The Defection of A.J. Lewinter, won several major writing awards and he’s never looked back from that shift in his career.

 

Perhaps his best-known novel is the widely acclaimed The Company, not only a New York Times’ bestseller but also a television mini-series starring Michael Keaton.  His book Legends also was made into a TV series, and this past summer he wrote the screenplay for a new hit film on Hulu, The Amatuer, also based on one of his books.

 

Writing runs in the family.  His son Jonathan, older brother Alan, and brother-in-law – the French writer Bernard du Boucheron – also are authors. 

 

“Fill your pages with details,” Littell advises. “Work hard to get the right word.”