Here are ten UK literary agents actively seeking clients. All are from reputable literary agencies with solid track records. They are seeking a wide variety of genres, including literary fiction, memoir, narrative nonfiction, scripts, fantasy, children's literature and much more.
Always check the agency website and agent bio before submitting. Agents can switch agencies or close their lists.
You can find a full list of agents actively seeking new clients here: Agents Seeking Clients
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Jennifer worked in marketing and advertising for 12 years, and as a literary agent for 13 years. Starting in PR ( The Rowland Company, Saatchi & Saatchi), she moved into advertising (TBWA, Ogilvy and Mather) and then journalism (BBC and freelance). She has also worked as a ghostwriter.
What she is seeking: Memoir, autobiography, parenting and self-help to popular philosophy, science, food, creativity, history and smart thinking
How to submit: Please email your submission to submissions@grahammawchristie.com with the title of your work in the subject header and the word 'submission'. See the website for details.
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Megan graduated from Goldsmiths with a BA in English and American Literature in 2013 and worked as an intern at Watson, Little and Caroline Sheldon Literary Agency before returning to the agency as the assistant in July 2014. She is now an Associate Agent and is building her own list.
What she is seeking: Megan is looking for commercial fiction & reading group fiction with original voices and an interesting hook, YA with realistic themes and characters, memoir and good narrative non-fiction writing on film, popular culture and issues from a female perspective. She’s especially keen on finding debut authors as well as growing a list of talented illustrators. Megan is also interested in discovering new, diverse, quirky and imaginative voices across all ages in Children’s Fiction.
‘I’d love to find a regional family drama with multiple voices, generations and realistic characters – think East is East meets Parenthood – and I’m keen for more stories about sisters or mothers and daughters. If you’re writing funny, female focused MG, I would love to read it. Psychological thrillers are not for me but I’d love to see a female led police procedural or a Big Little Lies-esque mystery.’
How to submit: Send all queries to submissions@watsonlittle.com. For fiction, send approximately 10,000 words or the nearest equivalent. Please send this as a single document, taken from the beginning of the book. For non-fiction send a proposal.
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Ms. Florence Rees of A.M. Heath & Co. Ltd
"I love that feeling of having to read one more chapter. Characters (real or fictional) can stay with me for years. I’ve spent memorable hours weeping over the last pages in the beautiful, heart-wrenching memoirs of Paul Kalanthi’s When Breath Becomes Air and Cathy Rentzenbrink’s The Last Act of Love. It’s not limited to non-fiction though. Marian Keyes’s character, Amy, from The Break had me imagining my life had my (non-existent) husband of twenty years left me for a gap year. I read Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams recently and felt such empathy for Queenie, who is just trying to live her life as best she knows how. Aren’t we all?"
What she is seeking: Fiction, memoir, fantasy.
How to submit: Use their online submission form HERE.
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Ms. Charlotte Seymour of Johnson and Alcock
Charlotte Seymour began her career in publishing as a literary scout at Eccles Fisher Associates. Following six and a half years as an agent at Andrew Nurnberg Associates, in 2022 she joined Johnson & Alcock, representing fiction and non fiction, and selling UK rights on behalf of US publisher Other Press.
What she is seeking: In fiction, Charlotte is looking for stories that grip and move her, be they nail-biting and suspenseful, funny and uplifting or heart-breaking. She loves beautiful writing that crosses boundaries, whether geographic or linguistic or in bringing a twist to a genre. She has a penchant for the dark and haunting, and occasionally a hint of the speculative or uncanny. She is always on the hunt for a great love story.
In non-fiction, she is looking for accessible, engaging writing on a range of subjects including popular science, social and environmental issues, linguistics, social and cultural history, nature, food and cookery, and popular culture. She especially loves hybrid books, for example, when in a memoir, the personal is interwoven with a bigger story or subject.
Charlotte enjoys working editorially with her authors, bringing existing projects to fruition and helping come up with new ideas. As well as championing literature in translation, she is eager to see more submissions from new and original voices in English from around the world.
How to submit: Email your submission to charlotte@johnsonandalcock.co.uk. See site for submission details.
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Ms. Meg Davis of Ki Agency
Meg worked in the theatre and in bookselling before becoming an agent. After some years at MBA, she started Ki Agency in 2011 to represent authors and scriptwriters. Meg’s work for her clients is informed by her involvement behind the scenes, previously as co-Chair of the Dramatists’ section of the PMA, on the management board of Public Lending Right, and as the external examiner for the MA in Scriptwriting course at Sheffield Hallam. She is currently Chair of the Writers’ Organisations Advisory Group, and serving a third term on the committee of the Association of Authors’ Agents.
What she is looking for: Meg is happy to consider scripts in all genres, and books in some genres, especially genre fiction. Not a good bet for fiction that might be considered to be wearing a cardigan, or which is narrated by an animal.
How to submit: Please send scripts for film, TV and theater as a PDF file. For books, send a full synopsis and the first 3 chapters/50 pages as a doc file or PDF to meg@ki-agency.co.uk. Does not accept writers from the US.
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Mr. Jamie Maclean of Coombs Moylett MacLean Literary Agency
How to submit: Email Lucy at lucy.morris@curtisbrown.co.uk with your synopsis and first three chapters (for fiction), or your proposal (for non-fiction).
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Ms. Seren Adams of United Agents Ltd
Seren Adams worked at Granta and Foyles before joining United Agents in 2015. As well as assisting Anna Webber, she is building her own list. She is looking for excellent short fiction, unconventional literary novels, and narrative non-fiction.
How to submit: When submitting please send the following: 1) A cover letter introducing yourself and your work, 2) A one to two page synopsis, 3) The first three chapters of your novel or a non-fiction book proposal to SAdams@unitedagents.co.uk.
Megan graduated from Goldsmiths with a BA in English and American Literature in 2013 and worked as an intern at Watson, Little and Caroline Sheldon Literary Agency before returning to the agency as the assistant in July 2014. She is now an Associate Agent and is building her own list.
What she is seeking: Megan is looking for commercial fiction & reading group fiction with original voices and an interesting hook, YA with realistic themes and characters, memoir and good narrative non-fiction writing on film, popular culture and issues from a female perspective. She’s especially keen on finding debut authors as well as growing a list of talented illustrators. Megan is also interested in discovering new, diverse, quirky and imaginative voices across all ages in Children’s Fiction.
‘I’d love to find a regional family drama with multiple voices, generations and realistic characters – think East is East meets Parenthood – and I’m keen for more stories about sisters or mothers and daughters. If you’re writing funny, female focused MG, I would love to read it. Psychological thrillers are not for me but I’d love to see a female led police procedural or a Big Little Lies-esque mystery.’
How to submit: Send all queries to submissions@watsonlittle.com. For fiction, send approximately 10,000 words or the nearest equivalent. Please send this as a single document, taken from the beginning of the book. For non-fiction send a proposal.
________________________
"I love that feeling of having to read one more chapter. Characters (real or fictional) can stay with me for years. I’ve spent memorable hours weeping over the last pages in the beautiful, heart-wrenching memoirs of Paul Kalanthi’s When Breath Becomes Air and Cathy Rentzenbrink’s The Last Act of Love. It’s not limited to non-fiction though. Marian Keyes’s character, Amy, from The Break had me imagining my life had my (non-existent) husband of twenty years left me for a gap year. I read Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams recently and felt such empathy for Queenie, who is just trying to live her life as best she knows how. Aren’t we all?"
What she is seeking: Fiction, memoir, fantasy.
How to submit: Use their online submission form HERE.
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Ms. Charlotte Seymour of Johnson and AlcockCharlotte Seymour began her career in publishing as a literary scout at Eccles Fisher Associates. Following six and a half years as an agent at Andrew Nurnberg Associates, in 2022 she joined Johnson & Alcock, representing fiction and non fiction, and selling UK rights on behalf of US publisher Other Press.
What she is seeking: In fiction, Charlotte is looking for stories that grip and move her, be they nail-biting and suspenseful, funny and uplifting or heart-breaking. She loves beautiful writing that crosses boundaries, whether geographic or linguistic or in bringing a twist to a genre. She has a penchant for the dark and haunting, and occasionally a hint of the speculative or uncanny. She is always on the hunt for a great love story.
In non-fiction, she is looking for accessible, engaging writing on a range of subjects including popular science, social and environmental issues, linguistics, social and cultural history, nature, food and cookery, and popular culture. She especially loves hybrid books, for example, when in a memoir, the personal is interwoven with a bigger story or subject.
Charlotte enjoys working editorially with her authors, bringing existing projects to fruition and helping come up with new ideas. As well as championing literature in translation, she is eager to see more submissions from new and original voices in English from around the world.
How to submit: Email your submission to charlotte@johnsonandalcock.co.uk. See site for submission details.
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Meg worked in the theatre and in bookselling before becoming an agent. After some years at MBA, she started Ki Agency in 2011 to represent authors and scriptwriters. Meg’s work for her clients is informed by her involvement behind the scenes, previously as co-Chair of the Dramatists’ section of the PMA, on the management board of Public Lending Right, and as the external examiner for the MA in Scriptwriting course at Sheffield Hallam. She is currently Chair of the Writers’ Organisations Advisory Group, and serving a third term on the committee of the Association of Authors’ Agents.
What she is looking for: Meg is happy to consider scripts in all genres, and books in some genres, especially genre fiction. Not a good bet for fiction that might be considered to be wearing a cardigan, or which is narrated by an animal.
How to submit: Please send scripts for film, TV and theater as a PDF file. For books, send a full synopsis and the first 3 chapters/50 pages as a doc file or PDF to meg@ki-agency.co.uk. Does not accept writers from the US.
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AGENCY IS CURRENTLY CLOSED TO QUERIES
Educated at Edinburgh College of Art, Jamie was fortunate enough to join the pilot scheme of the Sotheby’s Works of Art Course. Subsequently he worked for Sotheby’s and briefly ran the newly formed Victorian paintings department before moving to Michael Parkin Fine Art, a gallery specializing in modern British art. His next job was at Wildenstein & Co, the international art dealers. Three years later he set up his own dealership, the Maclean Gallery, holding exhibitions of paintings, drawings and prints from the 18th century to the present day, for which he produced several catalogues. In 1985 he curated the first exhibition of erotic art to be held legally in the UK.
What he is seeking: Jamie specialises in both fiction and non-fiction and is particularly interested in sexual politics, relationship, lifestyle how-to’s, erotica, thrillers, whodunit and historical crime.
How to submit: Use the agency's online form HERE.
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Ms. Cara Lee Simpson of Peters, Fraser and Dunlop
Cara Lee Simpson is a Literary Agent in the Books Department where she represents book club and literary fiction. She has degrees from King’s College London and LSE, and previously worked as an Agent at Jonathan Clowes and Madeleine Milburn Literary Agency. She joined PFD in 2021 where she is actively building her client list.
What she is seeking: "I am particularly on the lookout for voice-driven fiction with unusual and absorbing protagonists, books with an interesting structure, and fiction that crosses genre in new and unexpected ways. I lean towards books that are accessible to a wide readership while remaining beautifully written, especially if the writing is suspenseful or quirky. I am always interested in stories that explore gender politics, race, class, sexuality, mental health, and those which offer a profound look at relationship dynamics."
How to submit: Send a query to clsimpson@pfd.co.uk
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Ms. Sophie Gorell Barnes of MBA Literary Agents Ltd
Sophie studied theatre and television and worked as a researcher for several years on factual programmes and for the COI. She has written children’s books for Macmillan Education, reviewed theatre and worked on magazines as a sub editor. She joined MBA at the end of 1993 and moved to agenting original and talented children’s writers, working on picture books to YA fiction. She also agents writers for theatre, adult non fiction and handles audiobook rights for MBA.
What she is seeking: She is looking, in particular, for slick and humorous middle grade fiction.
How to submit: Please send the first three chapters and a synopsis as attachments and a covering letter in the body of the email. All attachments must be in Word, PDF or Final Draft format. Please e-mail all submissions to submissions@mbalit.co.uk marking your email for the attention of the relevant agent.
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Lucy Morris of Curtis Brown
Lucy Morris joined the Curtis Brown Books Department in September 2014 from Bloomsbury Publishing.
What she is seeking: Currently she is looking for commercial and reading-group novels written with wit and warmth, irresistible contemporary romance, truly chilling ghost stories, and thrillers with a high concept and strong emotional roots.
Educated at Edinburgh College of Art, Jamie was fortunate enough to join the pilot scheme of the Sotheby’s Works of Art Course. Subsequently he worked for Sotheby’s and briefly ran the newly formed Victorian paintings department before moving to Michael Parkin Fine Art, a gallery specializing in modern British art. His next job was at Wildenstein & Co, the international art dealers. Three years later he set up his own dealership, the Maclean Gallery, holding exhibitions of paintings, drawings and prints from the 18th century to the present day, for which he produced several catalogues. In 1985 he curated the first exhibition of erotic art to be held legally in the UK.
What he is seeking: Jamie specialises in both fiction and non-fiction and is particularly interested in sexual politics, relationship, lifestyle how-to’s, erotica, thrillers, whodunit and historical crime.
How to submit: Use the agency's online form HERE.
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Cara Lee Simpson is a Literary Agent in the Books Department where she represents book club and literary fiction. She has degrees from King’s College London and LSE, and previously worked as an Agent at Jonathan Clowes and Madeleine Milburn Literary Agency. She joined PFD in 2021 where she is actively building her client list.
What she is seeking: "I am particularly on the lookout for voice-driven fiction with unusual and absorbing protagonists, books with an interesting structure, and fiction that crosses genre in new and unexpected ways. I lean towards books that are accessible to a wide readership while remaining beautifully written, especially if the writing is suspenseful or quirky. I am always interested in stories that explore gender politics, race, class, sexuality, mental health, and those which offer a profound look at relationship dynamics."
How to submit: Send a query to clsimpson@pfd.co.uk
________________________
Sophie studied theatre and television and worked as a researcher for several years on factual programmes and for the COI. She has written children’s books for Macmillan Education, reviewed theatre and worked on magazines as a sub editor. She joined MBA at the end of 1993 and moved to agenting original and talented children’s writers, working on picture books to YA fiction. She also agents writers for theatre, adult non fiction and handles audiobook rights for MBA.
What she is seeking: She is looking, in particular, for slick and humorous middle grade fiction.
How to submit: Please send the first three chapters and a synopsis as attachments and a covering letter in the body of the email. All attachments must be in Word, PDF or Final Draft format. Please e-mail all submissions to submissions@mbalit.co.uk marking your email for the attention of the relevant agent.
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Lucy Morris joined the Curtis Brown Books Department in September 2014 from Bloomsbury Publishing.
What she is seeking: Currently she is looking for commercial and reading-group novels written with wit and warmth, irresistible contemporary romance, truly chilling ghost stories, and thrillers with a high concept and strong emotional roots.
"In fiction, I represent both commercial and literary writing. I am interested in topical themes, incisive social commentary and thoughtful, intimate observations of people: their emotions, their behaviours, their relationships. Books with heart and humour, and voices that sparkle with originality. Long-time favourites include Megan Abbott, Liane Moriarty and Marian Keyes, and recently I’ve loved Tia Williams’ Seven Days in June, Clare Chambers’ Small Pleasures, and Rachel Khong’s Goodbye Vitamin. I have read (and will continue to read) everything that Mhairi Macfarlane has ever published – modern and completely irresistible love stories, underpinned by spirited characters and a fierce wit. In crime and thriller I look for high concepts with an emotional core, and am very lucky indeed to work with Gillian McAllister, queen of the moral dilemma!
In non-fiction I enjoy working with writers to bring their passion and expertise to a wide audience in books that are practical and accessible, told with an engaging voice. I have a particular soft spot for memoir, stories of extraordinary lives and remarkable careers. I’m always intrigued by an unusual approach to putting a life on to the page, think Maggie O’Farrell’s masterful I Am, I Am, I Am, or the food vignettes of Nigel Slater’s Toast."
How to submit: Email Lucy at lucy.morris@curtisbrown.co.uk with your synopsis and first three chapters (for fiction), or your proposal (for non-fiction).
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Seren Adams worked at Granta and Foyles before joining United Agents in 2015. As well as assisting Anna Webber, she is building her own list. She is looking for excellent short fiction, unconventional literary novels, and narrative non-fiction.
How to submit: When submitting please send the following: 1) A cover letter introducing yourself and your work, 2) A one to two page synopsis, 3) The first three chapters of your novel or a non-fiction book proposal to SAdams@unitedagents.co.uk.
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