Julia Silk

Julia will be open to submissions until the end of October and then for the first 10 days of every month. 

Julia worked for 18 years as a bookseller and editor, both in-house and freelance, for publishers including Orion (where she was publisher of a digital crime imprint), Simon & Schuster and Penguin Random House, before becoming an agent in 2016. She has an MA in Comparative Literature from UEA and represents a wide range of fiction and non-fiction writers.

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 or Alison Espach's The Wedding People, 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 set in the 20th century (In Memoriam, The Eights) and novels with elements of light horror, gothic or the supernatural. 

In narrative non-fiction she is keen to hear from journalists, academics and experts illuminating new stories and previously unexplored subjects, as well as being drawn to the combination of the acutely personal and the universal that makes great memoir (Educated, Strong Female Character, House of Glass). 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 Instagram and Pinterest accounts (see links 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).