Here are seven new literary agents actively seeking clients. New agents are a boon to writers. They are actively building their lists, and will go the extra mile for their clients.
All of these agents work for established agencies with good track records. They are looking for all genres.
Always check the agency website and agent bio before submitting. Agents can switch agencies or close their lists, and submission requirements can change.
NOTE: Don't submit to several agents at the same agency simultaneously. If one rejects you, you may then submit to another. (Some small agencies share. Be alert to a notice that "a no from one is a no from all.")
You can find a full list of agents actively seeking new clients here: Agents Seeking Clients.
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Prior to joining Westwood Creative Artists in 2025, I spent five years at Penguin Random House Canada, and two years at Aitken Alexander Associates as an assistant. Before that, I started my publishing career interning at Andrew Nurnberg Associates and Profile Books. I have edited for Hazlitt, and am on the editorial board of ROOM Magazine. I am interested in a wide range of writing and represent both fiction and non-fiction.
What she is seeking: Fiction: I am looking for general upmarket fiction; horror, thriller and suspense; sci fi, speculative, fantasy and romantasy; as well as select concept-driven romance and literary novels. I am drawn to genre-blending novels that tackle human complexity, thoughtful world-building, strong emotional resonance, and bold voices and concepts. I love novels with teeth that make me feel viscerally—either grounded or unsettled—and nuanced characters that feel both fresh and challenging. Some of my favourite contemporary fiction writers include Torrey Peters, Asako Yazuki, Akwaeke Emezi, Mona Awad, Oyinkan Braithwaite, Michael Bennett, Sarah Pearse, Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Marisha Pessl, Taffy Brodesser-Akner, Terry Miles, Pierce Brown, Andy Weir, Grace D. Li, Ali Hazelwood, Laura R. Samotin, Danielle L. Jensen, Sara Peters, Daisy Johnson, and Yaa Gyasi.
Non-fiction: I am interested in journalism in the vein of social commentary, pop culture, politics, art and media; expert-driven writing relating to medicine and mental health, sex and relationships, and money; as well as exceptional memoir. For me it is the balance of an authoritative voice with accessibility. Particularly books that explore complex, often systemic issues—from politics to psychology to culture—told from a personal or human-centered lens. Please connect with me if you are an expert with a strong voice and an idea to share. I am happy to chat with writers who are at the beginning stages of forming an idea to craft a proposal together. Non-fiction contemporary writers I love include Elizabeth Miki Brina, Sonia Faleiro, Sheila Heti, Jia Tolentino, Ian Williams, Chris Hedges, Timothy Snyder, Jonathan Haidt, Kieran Setiya, Daniel J. Levitin, Oliver Burkeman, Daniel Barbarisi, Jessica Fern, Javier Zamora, and Bethany Joy Lenz.
I encourage submissions from underrepresented writers including 2SLGBTQI+, BIPOC, and/or disabled.
Non-fiction: I am interested in journalism in the vein of social commentary, pop culture, politics, art and media; expert-driven writing relating to medicine and mental health, sex and relationships, and money; as well as exceptional memoir. For me it is the balance of an authoritative voice with accessibility. Particularly books that explore complex, often systemic issues—from politics to psychology to culture—told from a personal or human-centered lens. Please connect with me if you are an expert with a strong voice and an idea to share. I am happy to chat with writers who are at the beginning stages of forming an idea to craft a proposal together. Non-fiction contemporary writers I love include Elizabeth Miki Brina, Sonia Faleiro, Sheila Heti, Jia Tolentino, Ian Williams, Chris Hedges, Timothy Snyder, Jonathan Haidt, Kieran Setiya, Daniel J. Levitin, Oliver Burkeman, Daniel Barbarisi, Jessica Fern, Javier Zamora, and Bethany Joy Lenz.
I encourage submissions from underrepresented writers including 2SLGBTQI+, BIPOC, and/or disabled.
How to submit: Follow submission guidelines HERE.
Grace Demyan of Harvey Klinger, Inc.
Grace joined the Harvey Klinger Literary Agency in 2025, where she is thrilled to begin building a list as an Associate Agent. A graduate of Tufts University and the Tulane University School of Law, Grace currently lives outside of Washington, DC.
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What she is seeking: She is interested in a wide range of fiction and always on the lookout for underrepresented authors. In general, she loves quirky-off beat storytelling that can deliver heartfelt and thoughtful messaging, characters with richly developed relationships, and stories that center around a fantastical or often-overlooked setting. She is actively seeking fiction:
- Literary
- Commercial
- Thriller
- Romance
- Fantasy
- Sci-Fi
- Horror
- Historical
- Women's Fiction
- Young Adult
How to submit: Use her querymanager HERE.
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Michael Taeckens of Massie & McQuilkin
Michael Taeckens received his MFA from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, and has been working in publishing since 1995. He co-founded Broadside PR in 2015, and his clients in that time have been awarded and shortlisted for the Pulitzer Prize, National Book Award, Booker Prize, National Book Critics Circle Award, PEN America Literary Award, Whiting Award, International Dublin Award, Windham-Campbell Prize, Women’s Prize, Story Prize, L.A. Times Book Prize, Young Lions Award, Lambda Literary Award, NAACP Image Award, and the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize, and have been featured regularly in national media, including eight of his projects on the cover of the New York Times Book Review.
Michael Taeckens received his MFA from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, and has been working in publishing since 1995. He co-founded Broadside PR in 2015, and his clients in that time have been awarded and shortlisted for the Pulitzer Prize, National Book Award, Booker Prize, National Book Critics Circle Award, PEN America Literary Award, Whiting Award, International Dublin Award, Windham-Campbell Prize, Women’s Prize, Story Prize, L.A. Times Book Prize, Young Lions Award, Lambda Literary Award, NAACP Image Award, and the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize, and have been featured regularly in national media, including eight of his projects on the cover of the New York Times Book Review.
What he is seeking: He’s interested in literary fiction and a wide variety of narrative nonfiction (including biography, cultural studies, history/current events, hybrid work, memoir, popular culture, and science).
How to submit: Please send queries directly to michael@mmqalit.com with the subject line “query” and include a synopsis of your project, your publication history, and a brief bio. Please also include an excerpt of up to 10 pages pasted within the body of the email (not as an attachment, please). If you haven’t heard from him in 4-6 weeks, your project is not a good fit for him.
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What I Look For in an Author:
I’m excited to find not only exceptional stories, but driven storytellers as well.
If you are an author with big visions both on and off the page who is looking
for a collaborative partnership with an agency to bring your voice and goals to
life, I want to know you.
I am especially interested in working with authors who are willing to learn
from us how to market via social media. I believe creating a marketing plan is
essential - especially for debut authors and I love helping authors build out a
strategic plan for getting the word out about their work!
What she is seeking: Romantasy, Fantasy, Sci-Fi, New Adult, Young Adult, Romance & Dark Romance
Things I Love:
- Fierce female characters who embrace their femininity
- Strong female friendships
- Challenging stereotypes
- Sharp opinions
- Emotional, deep & dynamic relationships (platonic & romantic)
- New takes on standard tropes
- Unique magic systems
- Emotional turmoil that rips me apart then sews me back together
- Morally grey characters
How to submit: Use her querytracker form HERE.
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Ruth Gila Berger (she/her) spent twenty-four years at Consortium Book Sales & Distribution where she worked with a wide variety of independent presses, sales reps and independent booksellers. She has a MFA in Creative Writing from Hamline University, and was in the first cohort who built Water~Stone Review.
In prehistory, Ruth left suburban New York for the University of Iowa, where she got a BA in Theater Arts and Psychology. She never got over the culture shock. She current resides in Minneapolis where she lives with her wife and animals.
What she is seeking:
- Narrative nonfiction with a story - especially if it marries two seemly disparate fields like art and mathematics, physics and cooking, birds and language, etc. I want to read experts who can charm and surprise me, make me laugh and never take a tone of intellectual superiority.
- Memoir is where why heart lives but you have to knock my socks off and be connected to something in the larger world. Memoirists must have a platform to sell.
- Essay collections that show up in the wrong outfit, take a circuitous or unexpected route to writing, and question assumptions, yes please.
- Fiction that has a hook, nuance and heart. Characters should to haunt me. Any dialogue needs to kill it and plot rules.
- Same for YA Fiction.
- Graphic Novels, only if they are original, beautiful and funny.
How to submit: Follow submission guidelines HERE.
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Dylan Haston joined the Donald Maass Literary Agency in 2024 as a Reader and Assistant to Cameron McClure, and in 2025 transitioned to their current role as Assistant Literary Agent. They continue to assist Cameron McClure.
What they are seeking: They specialize in fiction and are interested in projects that engage in any way with science-fictional, fantastical, speculative, weird, queer, poetic, folkloric, and leftist literary traditions.
For fantasy, think books like Metal From Heaven, Three Parts Dead, Fire Logic, The Lies of Locke Lamora, The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, The Empress of Salt and Fortune, Saint Death’s Daughter, The Devourers, A Stranger in Olondria, The Sorcerer of the Wildeeps, and The Changeling Sea.
For sci-fi, think Terra Ignota, Growing Up Weightless, This is How You Lose the Time War, The Hainish Cycle, The Fortunate Fall, Ring of Swords, Stars in My Pocket Like Grains of Sand, and The Vorkosigan Saga.
For the numinous, slipstream, weird, and intergenre, think My Real Children, The Siege of Burning Grass, The Passion, Gideon the Ninth, Black Wine, Fire in the Unnameable Country, From A Broken Bottle Traces of Perfume Still Emanate, and Rakesfall.
Other than that, don’t self reject! I love stories of all kinds, and I’ll be hooked by anything with a strong voice. Although many of my favorite stories have a speculative edge to them, quite a few of them can also be viewed as romances, mysteries, or literary, so send those over as well!
How to submit: Use their querytracker HERE.
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Julie Romeis Sanders of SteelWorks Literary
Julie first fell in love with reading while hiding under the covers with a book and a flashlight. She later rediscovered the magic of children’s books working at an independent book and toy store in her Texas hometown, leading to the Columbia Publishing Course and a dream job helping launch Bloomsbury USA in New York City. There, she edited award-winning books for all ages including a PW Best Children’s Book, two titles which became feature films, and acquired numerous debut authors who went on to best-selling careers. Next, she headed west and joined Chronicle Books to spearhead their middle grade and YA program as well as develop unforgettable picture books such as Caldecott Honor Flora and the Flamingo by Molly Idle. Since 2012, Julie has worked as a freelance editor, bookseller, teacher, and international workshop leader. All of these experiences come together to inform Julie’s outlook as a literary agent—where connection, co-creation, and evolution are key.
With a steady guiding hand in editorial development, a heart for collaborative partnership, and a feel for making connections, Julie brings books into the world that will make lasting contributions to the lives of readers. The right fit client for Julie brings stories that spark joy, tears, and laughter as well as characters who leap off the page, unexpected twists, and new perspectives.
Julie lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband, two children, and young dog, Ripley. She spends her free time volunteering in equine rescue, paddle boarding, and of course, curling up with a good book (flashlight no longer required).
What she is seeking: Currently I am looking to partner with picture book authors and author/illustrators, graphic novel author/illustrators, and middle grade writers. Fiction is my primary focus and I am open to non-fiction in picture books and graphic novels, especially narrative non-fiction.
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