Submission status
Open
Submission route
Website
Response time
Assume no reply = no after 12 weeks
Last checked
13 days ago

About

Catherine has been building a list of adult non-fiction and children's fiction writers since 2001.

She particularly loves history, philosophy and biography, especially from authors with academic credentials who also have the writerly skill to make readers see their subjects in a new light, as well as outstanding nature writing with a dash of compelling memoir. In 2017 she was named Literary Agent of the Year in the British Book Awards, and she served as President of the Association of Authors' Agents from 2022 to 2024.

Looking for

  • adult non-fiction and children's fiction
  • history and philosophy and biography, especially from authors who have the academic credentials or expertise but also have the ambition and vision and writerly skill to make us see their subjects in a new light, or to overturn received wisdom
  • outstanding nature writing with a dash of compelling memoir

Clients include

  • Samira Ahmed
  • David Almond
  • Karen Armstrong
  • Lucy Ash
  • James Attlee
  • Katya Balen
  • James Barr
  • David Barrie
  • John Barton
  • John Batchelor
  • Erica Benner
  • Dame Claire Bertschinger DBE DL
  • Paul Betts
  • Michael Bird
  • Elleke Boehmer

Agency submission guidelines

Submissions are accepted via the online submission portal only; postal submissions are not accepted. The agency is currently not accepting fantasy, romantasy, science fiction and fantasy, or children's and young adult submissions. Scripts for theatre, film or television are not represented, nor are high-concept science fiction, educational textbooks, erotica, graphic novels, picture books or translations of already published works. Submissions believed to be wholly or partially generated, written or edited by AI are not accepted. How to submit: use the online portal, with the covering letter in the box provided and other materials as attachments. Work should be typeset in a legible font with double or 1.5 line spacing. Address the submission to a specific agent. Submit only one project at a time; only the first will be reviewed. Writers based outside the UK and Ireland are also considered. Fiction: send a covering letter with a concise pitch, inspiration for the book, relevant information about the writer, and a couple of comparable titles or authors. Only submit once a full first draft is ready. Initially send the first three chapters (maximum 10,000 words) plus a one-page synopsis giving the narrative arc beyond the sample (no chapter-by-chapter breakdown needed). Non-fiction: send a covering letter covering the writer's passion for the subject, credentials, and intended readership. For subject-led non-fiction, submit a proposal (up to 20 pages, covering the book's idea, structure, market analysis, timeliness and credentials) plus approximately 5,000 words of sample text. A full manuscript is not required for non-fiction. For narrative non-fiction or memoir, send the first 10,000 words of the manuscript, optionally with a proposal or synopsis of the rest of the book. Submissions are acknowledged via an automatic form response.

Agency AI policy

They do not accept submissions that they reasonably believe to have been wholly or partially generated, written, or edited by artificial intelligence (AI).

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