Since it’s on QT, let me scream from the rooftops—I’m thrilled announce that I’m now an Associate Agent at Azantian Literary! I’m ecstatic to join this collaborative, kind, brilliant team of superstars, and eager to put everything the amazing @jenazantian has taught into my work.

I should add that I represent writers from commercial to the more accessible end of literary.

#MSWL
nytimes.com/2024/05/11/nyregion/bronx-soapbox-derby.html

and in light of this announcement, I've made a few updates & refreshes to my MSWL*! nothing has changed too much, but you can find out more about what I'd like to see in my inbox here: manuscriptwishlist.com/mswl-post/gretchen-durning/

*please note I am not able to accept unagented submissions

#MSWL college set coming of age/romance YA

I’m not currently taking on YA, children’s, poetry, fantasy or science fiction, diet or business projects.

General themes I enjoy: coming-of-age, relationships, sexuality, family, race, class, love and sex. The general drama and complexities of life. Life is messy and I like books that are too!

I also want non-fiction on a variety of topics including (but not limited to) love, relationships, popular culture, politics and history. Books that make complicated ideas more accessible. Also very much on the hunt for cookery and food books. 🥘🧑‍🍳

Crime and thriller: Send me truly unputdownable books with twists that you really don’t see coming or mysteries that get the cogs of your brain turning, like True Crime Story or The Appeal. (Not police procedural though please). 🦹‍♀️

Also platonic relationships – parents, siblings, friendships. 👯‍♀️ I’m desperate to find a big sweeping novel, something multi-generational like Pachinko or that tracks a relationship through its timeline like Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow.

I love love stories!! 🩷❤️ Whether it’s all-encompassing, meant-to-be love, or smaller and quieter, I want to see it. If it’s a queer love story – even better!

Story is key to the books I enjoy; I’m always looking for a plot to drive me through a novel and I love NF that reads almost like a story at the same time as it educates and informs. It’s also super important to me to work with authors from a wide variety of backgrounds.

🚨 I’d really love to take on some more authors in 2024! 🚨

I’ve just updated my agent page which you can view here blakefriedmann.co.uk/sianellis-martin but here’s a quick thread on my tastes and what I’m looking for in fiction and non-fiction. 🧵👇

as someone who loves HEAs, I need my sci-fi to be at least hopeful, especially if its near-future! #MSWL

#MSWL for isolation horror about the prairie fever, aka the horror of the never ending flat plains

#MSWL I would LOVE to see pen pal contemporary romance queries. Love letters are 😍

I, for one, can't get enough of this trend. Authors, if you're writing a healing fiction novel, hmu!🌼#MSWL

This is a FABULOUS book: a narrative nonfiction masterpiece. I wish I would get more submissions in that space. Think "Playing Through The Whistle " by S.L Price. #MSWL

I’d love to see more legal thrillers and fantasy in Adult (and fantasy is always welcome in YA, too!) #mswl

Whoever said they were Kaz and Inej coded was SPOT. ON. If they have this energy (adult or YA), I want to see it #MSWL