Sorche Fairbank

I’m cautiously expanding my children’s list for picture books and middle grade, but illustrator authors only, please, for now. #MSWL

I’m also open to unusual and/or weird craft or DIY books; smart unexpectedly clever humor (I know it when I see it); artists who elicit unexpected laughter, joy, tears, reflection; books on architecture and design; books with a specific but surprising lens on the world. #MSWL

For anything narrative, give me a first paragraph, a first page that tells me I’m going to be in good, capable hands, but that also gives me the joy of discovery. @louisethebaker's first paragraph of The City Baker's Guide to Country Living is a mater class in exactly that. #MSWL

If you write about food and life, do it with the passion and beauty of Ruth Reichel, or Molly Wizenberg. #MSWL

If you write literary fiction, elevate the ordinary and let it be exquisite (not precious), like Simon van Booy, and Colum McCann. Surprise me, make me look or think twice, as does Anne Enright in the Forgotten Waltz. #MSWL

For those of you w/ short story collections, I adore Wells Tower, Miroslav Penkov, Jim Shepard, Laura van den Berg, Charlotte Forbes, and Lauren Groff, who IMHO is a national treasure. #MSWL

If you write memoir or essay collections, show me your rawest, most honest self on the page, like Jo Ann Beard, or Alexandra Fuller. I also am looking for memoir that tells two compelling stories, such as H is for Hawk. #MSWL

If you think Fleabag had some of the best writing in the last fifteen years, we think alike. True story––last night I had a visit with a close friend I hadn’t seen in a few years, and when I asked if she’d seen Fleabag, she lunged over to hug me tightly as her answer. #MSWL

#MSWL: Rich, chewy, literary-leaning fiction. Characters I haven’t seen 10 times over, characters with internal & external conflict. I’m especially drawn to international voices, women’s voices, and voices of the other, as they often help us understand our own familiar world.