Julia Silk

Please note, I will be briefly closed to submissions from 1 October 2025, reopening 5 January 2026. 

Julia worked as a bookseller and editor for 18 years - latterly as Publisher of digital crime imprint The Murder Room at Orion - before becoming an agent in 2016, representing a wide range of fiction and non-fiction. She has an MA in Comparative Literature from UEA. 

In fiction she is looking for smart, compelling writing across the spectrum from commercial to literary, particularly when it opens a door into a previously inaccessible world or experience (Crazy Rich Asians, Prep), exposes our flaws and hypocrisies in new ways (Such a Fun Age, My Year of Rest and Relaxation), or upends expectations with wit and energy (My Sister the Serial Killer, Yellowface). And if you have written a novel as simultaneously bittersweet and life-affirming as Catherine Newman's We All Want Impossible Things, please send it to her immediately! 

She is a huge fan of upmarket crime and thrillers by writers such as Gillian Flynn, Louise Candlish, Liz Nugent and Jane Harper, as well as upmarket true crime (The Fact of a Body, I'll be Gone in the Dark). She is also on the lookout for immaculately voiced historical fiction that reflects contemporary preoccupations, and novels with elements of light horror, gothc or supernatural elements. 

In narrative non-fiction she is drawn to the combination of the acutely personal and the universal that makes great memoir (Educated, Strong Female Character, House of Glass) and is also keen to hear from journalists, academics and experts illuminating new stories and previously unexplored subjects. On the practical side she represents a number of writers in health, wellbeing and lifestyle, and is interested in original evidence-based proposals in this area from experts with a strong platform. She loves to work with writers and on books that shape and change readers’ view of the world. Recent favourite non-fiction reads include Oliver Burkeman's Four Thousand Weeks, Kieran Yates' All the Houses I've Ever Lived In and Patrick Radden Keefe's Empire of Pain. 

Julia grew up in London in a noisy Egyptian Jewish family, and is strongly committed to increasing representation and accessibility for writers across the industry. She regularly supports and contributes to the work of organisations and events such as Word Factory, Spread the Word, Byte the Book and the Working Class Writers Festival, through workshops, panel events, 1-2-1s and mentoring. She has been a judge on emerging writer prizes including the Bath Novel Award and the Bournemouth Writing Prize.

Please check out Julia's Pinterest account (see link below photo) for a more in-depth steer on her tastes and what she is currently looking for. 

Note: Although Julia enjoys and represents speculative crossover fiction, she does not represent SFF or children's and YA (apart from by existing clients).