Robert Littell (author)

Robert Littell (born January 8, 1935) is an American novelist and former journalist who resides in France. He specialises in spy novels that often concern the CIA and the Soviet Union.

Robert Littell was born in Brooklyn, New York on January 8, 1935, to a Jewish family, of Russian Jewish origin. He is a 1956 graduate of Alfred University 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 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.

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

Non-fiction

 * For the Future of Israel (with Shimon Peres) (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's Gold Dagger Award for fiction.
 * Legends. 2005 Los Angeles Times Book Prize in the Mystery/Thriller category.