About Us
When David Cornwell (John le Carré) died in 2020, his literary rights were inherited by his sons.
It was in a nutshell his desire that we do our best to extend the reach of his work to new audiences and secure his place in the history of writing. The company that bears his name is the vehicle for one of the most dynamic literary estates in the world, bringing his stories to new media, working with our partners at The Ink Factory to ensure adaptations in the form of high-quality prestige television, film and theatre, and commissioning novels which will breathe new life into le Carré’s narrative worlds.
In this generation its work is overseen by his sons Simon, Stephen and Nicholas Cornwell (Nick Harkaway) and advised by non-family professionals including Jonny Geller and Nick Marston of Curtis Brown. Matthew Bennett of Boodle Hatfield law firm sits as a director on the board. Mark Bailey of TC Citroen Wells acts as our accountant.
The managing director of John le Carré Ltd is Clare Cornwell, a former NGO director and intellectual property lawyer, married to Nick and herself an acknowledged inspiration to le Carré for characters in his later novels.
Nick (https://nickharkaway.com) is an accomplished and critically-feted author of novels including The Gone Away World, Angelmaker and Titanium Noir. Nick’s much-anticipated new novel, Karla’s Choice, is set in the world of John le Carré’s legendary super-spy, George Smiley, falling between The Spy Who Came In From The Cold and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. It will be published in the UK, North America and Australasia in October this year, and in numerous translated editions over the coming year.
The Ink Factory was founded by Simon and Stephen and is noted for award-winning TV show The Night Manager, adapted from the le Carré novel of the same name (as well as for its excellent Hindi-language adaptation of the show), as well adaptations of le Carré’s novels The Little Drummer Girl, A Most Wanted Man, Our Kind of Traitor, and The Pigeon Tunnel. The Ink Factory (www.inkfactoryfilms.com) has also made a range of films, from director Ang Lee and others, that are not based on le Carré’s work.
Clare Cornwell
Clare Cornwell is the Managing Director of John le Carré Ltd. Clare's background is in IP law (she was the youngest ever partner at Collyer Bristow LLP, where she specialised in IP litigation) but she left private practise in 2008 to become Executive Director of Reprieve, a human rights charity concerned with the death penalty, the war on terror and extrajudicial killings. During her tenure Reprieve was able to secure the release of more prisoners held illegally at black sites than any other organisation, and initiated the Stop Lethal Injection Program, which stopped the supply of lethal injection drugs to US prisons and has significantly reduced the number of people executed in the US. She and her work were influential on some of David Cornwell's (John le Carré's) later characters and she is directly acknowledged in Our Kind of Traitor. She moved on to Amnesty and the Sigrid Rausing Trust before taking her role at JLC Ltd in 2023, where she has presided over the expansion and deepening of the company's strategy. She is married to David's youngest son, Nick, and they have two children.
Simon Cornwell
Simon Cornwell is the chairman of John le Carré Ltd, and in parallel with that co-CEO, and co-founder, of John le Carré Ltd’s partner film and television studio The Ink Factory, the home of le Carré adaptations since 2014.
For The Ink Factory, Simon is currently executive producing the much-anticipated second season of The Night Manager for Amazon and the BBC, starring Tom Hiddleston, Olivia Colman, Diego Calva and Camila Morrone. The first season of the show, which Simon also executive produced, was based on John le Carré’s novel of the same name. The second season, as well as the forthcoming third season, are original stories written by David Farr, screenwriter of the first season, inspired by the characters and the world of the novel. The first season of the show, starring Hugh Laurie, Tom Hiddleston and Olivia Colman (all of whom won Golden Globes for their performances), became a global phenomenon, catching the imagination of audiences around the world and winning multiple awards, including Emmys and Baftas along with the actors’ Golden Globes.
Prior to season two of The Night Manager, Simon most recently producedThe Pigeon Tunnel, a multi-Emmy-nominated film for AppleTV+ by Errol Morris, and executive produced the Hindi-language adaptation of The Night Manager, which became Hotstar Disney+’s top-rated drama of all time. He has also executive produced The Ink Factory’s adaptation of le Carré’s novel The Little Drummer Girl, directed by Park Chan-wook and starring Florence Pugh, Alexander Skarsgård, and Michael Shannon.
Simon has also produced Hotel Artemis, written and directed by Drew Pearce and starring Jodie Foster, Sterling K. Brown, Dave Bautista, Jeff Goldblum and Sophia Boutella, which was released in 2018, Anton Corbijn’s 2014 feature film adaption of le Carré’s A Most Wanted Man, starring Philip Seymour Hoffman, as well as Our Kind of Traitor, directed by Susanna White and starring Ewan McGregor, Damian Lewis, Stellan Skarsgård and Naomie Harris; and Netflix Original Message from the King, directed by Fabrice du Welz and starring Chadwick Boseman, Luke Evans, Teresa Palmer and Alfred Molina.
Looking forwards, Simon will executive produce a series adaptation of The Spy Who Came in From the Cold, based on John le Carré’s much-lauded novel of the same name, being adapted for the small screen by Simon’s brother Stephen.
Simon came to The Ink Factory from top European venture capital firm Amadeus Capital Partners, where he was a senior partner. Prior to that he was founder and CEO of a pioneering company in the field of interactive television. His early career included stints at Granada in the U.K., at the Boston Consulting Group in the U.S., and running refugee relief programs in Thailand.
Simon also currently sits as a non-executive member of the investment committee of Hiro Capital (hiro.capital), a venture capital partnership investing in the games space.
Stephen Cornwell
Stephen Cornwell is one of the directors of the board of John le Carré Ltd, and the co-CEO and co-founder of John le Carré Ltd’s partner film and television studio The Ink Factory, the home of le Carré adaptations since 2014.
For The Ink Factory, Stephen is currently executive producing the much-anticipated second season of The Night Manager for Amazon and the BBC, starring Tom Hiddleston, Olivia Colman, Diego Calva and Camila Morrone. The first season of the show, which Stephen also executive produced, was based on John le Carré’s novel of the same name. The second season, as well as the forthcoming third season, are original stories written by David Farr, screenwriter of the first season, inspired by the characters and the world of the novel. The first season of the show, starring Hugh Laurie, Tom Hiddleston, Olivia Colman, Elizabeth Debicki and Tom Hollander was a global hit, catching the imagination of audiences around the world, and winning multiple awards, including Emmys, BAFTAs and Golden Globes.
Prior to season two of The Night Manager, Stephen most recently produced The Pigeon Tunnel, a multi-Emmy-nominated film for AppleTV+, written and directed by Errol Morris, and executive produced the Hindi-language adaptation of The Night Manager, which became Hotstar Disney+’s top-rated television drama of all time. Stephen also executive produced The Ink Factory’s award-winning television adaptation of le Carré’s novel The Little Drummer Girl, directed by Park Chan-wook and starring Florence Pugh, Alexander Skarsgård, and Michael Shannon.
With The Ink Factory Stephen’s feature films as a producer include Anton Corbijn’s 2014 feature film adaption of le Carré’s A Most Wanted Man, starring Philip Seymour Hoffman, Rachel McAdams and Willem Dafoe; Our Kind of Traitor, directed by Susanna White and starring Ewan McGregor, Damian Lewis, Stellan Skarsgård and Naomie Harris; the Netflix Original Message from the King, directed by Fabrice du Welz and starring Chadwick Boseman, Luke Evans, Teresa Palmer and Alfred Molina; and Hotel Artemis, written and directed by Drew Pearce and starring Jodie Foster, Sterling K. Brown, Dave Bautista, Jeff Goldblum and Sophia Boutella . Stephen alsoproduced Ang Lee’s Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk, based on the novel by Ben Fountain, and starring Joe Alwyn, Steve Martin, Kristen Stewart, Garret Hedlund, Chris Tucker and Vin Diesel.
Looking ahead, Stephen is currently writing and will executive produce an upcoming television series adaptation of The Spy Who Came in From the Cold, based on John le Carré’s much-lauded novel of the same name.
With The Ink Factory’s sister company, Giant Squid, Stephen produced Abzû, the BAFTA nominated narrative interactive video game from multi-award-winning creator Matt Nava. Giant Squid’s follow-up fantasy adventure game, The Pathless was launched in 2020, and Sword of the Sea will be coming to multiple video game platforms in 2025.
Earlier in his life, after working as an award-winning photojournalist, Stephen first moved to California in the late 1980’s to join the MA program at the University of Southern California’s School of Cinema. His graduate film led him to direct two independent feature films, and a TV movie for Showtime, before he focused on his work as a screenwriter. In the following years Stephen wrote for most of the major Hollywood studios, working with directors and producers including Ridley Scott, Guy Ritchie, Kathleen Kennedy, Joel Silver, Doug Liman, Frank Marshall, Thomas Tull and Lorenzo di Bonaventura. With his then writing partner Oliver Butcher, Cornwell co-wrote 2011’s Unknown, starring Liam Neeson.
Nick Harkaway
Nick Harkaway is the author of eight novels including The Gone-Away World, Gnomon and Titanium Noir as well as the forthcoming George Smiley story Karla's Choice. He has been described as "JG Ballard's geeky younger brother" or "William Makepeace Thackeray on acid", and compared with both Thomas Pynchon and Haruki Murakami.
The Guardian said of him that "his great gift as a novelist is to merge the pace, wit and clarity of the best ‘popular’ literature with the ambition, complexity and irony of the so-called ‘literary’ novel” **while NPR said he "makes you wonder why every book isn't this smart and joyous and beautiful and heartbreaking.” Two of his novels - The Price You Pay and Seven Demons - were written under the pseudonym Aidan Truhen. Carl Hiaasen said of The Price You Pay "this novel has high-octane everything.”
Harkaway's real name is Nicholas Cornwell and he is the fourth son of the David Cornwell (who wrote as John le Carré) and his second wife Jane Cornwell. He was born in Cornwall in 1972 and moved to London while he was still a child. He was educated at Clare College, Cambridge before working in the film industry. He is married to Clare Cornwell (Clare Algar), who is now managing director of John le Carré Ltd.
In 2021, after the death of John le Carré, Harkaway took the writer's role in bringing the final unpublished le Carré novel, Silverview, to publication. He said then that the point of the exercise was that he be as invisible as possible. In 2022 he was called upon to do the final necessary work on A Private Spy, the collected edition of his father's letters, after his older brother Tim Cornwell, who was editing the work, sadly died. His other brothers Simon and Stephen Cornwell are the founders of The Ink Factory, the film and TV mini-studio behind The Night Manager TV show. He lives in London with Clare and their two children, and a very needy dog.