| Honorific Prefix: | The Right Honourable |
| The Lady Berkeley of Knighton | |
| Birth Name: | Deborah Jane Coltman Rogers |
| Birth Date: | 1938 4, df=y |
| Birth Place: | London, England |
| Occupation: | Literary agent |
| Spouse: | Michael Berkeley |
| Children: | 1 |
| Awards: | Lifetime Achievement Award in International Publishing at the London Book Fair |
Deborah Jane Coltman Rogers, Baroness Berkeley of Knighton (6 April 1938 - 30 April 2014) was a British literary agent, who founded her own agency in 1967.
Born at her parents' London home in Thurloe Square, South Kensington, Rogers was one of six children;[1] her mother Stella Moore was an actress, while her father worked in the City of London. She attended Hatherop Castle School in Gloucestershire, but did not go to university.[2] Her agency, originally Deborah Rogers Ltd, was established in 1967. Pat White soon joined, and the two women were joined by a third partner, Gill Coleridge, two decades later.[3] At the end of her life, Rogers was the chairman of Rogers, Coleridge and White.[4]
Among the authors Rogers represented were A. S. Byatt, Ian McEwan and Peter Carey.[5] Earlier in her career, she had represented Angela Carter, and (before he joined Andrew Wylie's agency) Salman Rushdie.[2] Shortly after the professional breach, Rogers offered Rushdie her second home as a refuge from the fatwā (death sentence) imposed by Ayatollah Khomeini in February 1989.[6] The remote farm in Powys was used by Rushdie during his decade in hiding.[7]
Rogers was presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award in International Publishing at the London Book Fair in April 2014.[8] The award was presented by another of her clients, Kazuo Ishiguro,[9] who had been introduced to Rogers by Angela Carter.[10] Ishiguro said of Rogers that "she taught me to be a writer".[11]
Rogers married the composer Michael Berkeley in 1979;[12] the couple had an adopted daughter.[13] Rogers died from a heart attack in 2014, aged 76.[14]