President Barack Obama and Mrs. Obama have selected the Harry Walker Agency (HWA) to coordinate their respective speaking engagements,” a spokesman said. | AP Photo Michelle and Barack Obama gear up for speaking, book deals

The Harry Walker Agency will coordinate speaking engagements for former President and first lady, Barack and Michelle Obama,, who will be represented by two attorneys for contract negotiations regarding potential book deals, a spokesman said Friday.

“President Barack Obama and Mrs. Obama have selected the Harry Walker Agency (HWA) to coordinate their respective speaking engagements,” Obama spokesman Kevin Lewis said in a statement. “In addition, Attorneys Robert Barnett and Deneen Howell will manage contract-negotiations with potential publishers for the former president and Mrs. Obama’s respective books.”


The former president and first lady join former White House press secretary Josh Earnest and former President Bill Clinton in relying on the Harry Walker speakers bureau. POLITICO Playbook reported in November that Earnest had signed on with the agency for post-administration speaking gigs.

It’s unclear when the Obamas will begin the speaking circuit or when any of their potential books will be published. Both have been largely silent since leaving the White House three weeks ago.

Barack Obama late last month issued a statement through his spokesman supporting the protests around the country against President Donald Trump and his executive order restricting immigration from seven Muslim-majority nations.

“Citizens exercising their Constitutional rights to assemble, organize and have their voices heard by their elected officials is exactly what we expect to see when American values are at stake,” he said through his spokesman, who added that the former commander in chief was “heartened by the level of engagement taking place in communities around the country.”

Most recently, images surfaced this week of the president learning to kitesurf in the British Virgin Islands with Virgin Group founder Richard Branson.

“I have also wanted to learn foilboard surfing,” the English business mogul wrote in a blog post. “So we decided to set up a friendly challenge: could Barack learn to kitesurf before I learned to foilboard? We agreed to have a final day battle to see who could stay up the longest.”

Obama won, kitesurfing twice as far as Branson foilboarded.

“I had to doff my cap to him and celebrate his victory,” Branson noted. “After all he has done for the world, I couldn’t begrudge him his well-deserved win.”