Our friends in the north

Stan

I’m looking for adult fiction, including crime and thriller, reading group and romcom, historical and high concept novels. It’s always difficult to be specific; most readers have eclectic tastes… and agents are no different. So, like any other reader, I want to be grabbed from the first page … and not let go. 

Please send your non-fiction to me too – my list is mostly biography, sport and popular culture, but I’m very keen to see anything in the fields of popular science and politics.

Julie Fergusson – CLOSED TO SUBMISSIONS

Julie obtained degrees in maths then creative writing from Edinburgh University, before working for several years for a Scottish publisher and then as a freelance editor.

She is looking for fiction across a range of genres, particularly psychological thrillers, domestic suspense,  near-future speculative, romcoms, reading group and literary fiction.

For an idea of what she is looking for, here are some of the novels she has recently read and loved: My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh, If I Had Your Face by Frances Cha, The Flat Share by Beth O’Leary, The Pact We Made by Layla AlAmmar, The Dry by Jane Harper, Normal People by Sally Rooney, The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett and the Neapolitan Quartet by Elena Ferrante.

Julie is not currently looking for authors who live in the USA or Canada, since they are better served by agents based in those countries.

Please do not submit fantasy, sci-fi, YA or middle-grade.

Julie is currently not accepting submissions.

@Julie_Fergusson

Allan Guthrie

Allan has worked in the book trade since 1996 and has been a literary agent since 2005. He is also an award-winning novelist, freelance editor and former publisher.

His main area of interest is crime fiction.

Lina Langlee - closed to submissions

Lina is from Sweden but moved to Scotland to study for her undergraduate and Masters. After then working in publishing for a number of years, she realised that being a literary agent combined all her favourite bits of the book industry and made the switch. She was shortlisted for the RNA ‘Agent of the Year’ award in 2019 and 2020.

Lina is looking for books across genres: commercial/high concept fiction with a great hook (be that romance, crime, thriller or general fiction), accessible literary fiction, and intriguing speculative fiction, SFF & horror. 

She is also looking for fun, fantastical, and moving Middle Grade, and “big emotion” Young Adult across genres. 

Lina  actively welcomes authors from all backgrounds and would like to see more diverse stories and voices.

She is less keen on political or gangland thrillers.  As a general rule, she would not offer representation to US-based authors since they are better served by US-based agents, except in the very rare situation where their story ought to originate from the UK. 

Lina is currently closed for submissions.

@LinaLanglee

Kevin Pocklington

Kevin works primarily in non-fiction, and is in the process of developing a fiction list. His non-fiction clients include: Peter Ross (A Tomb with A View), Sylvia Patterson (shortlisted for the Costa non-fiction prize for I’m Not with the Band), John Lydon and Sex Pistols (Anger Is An Energy), John Quin (Dr Quin, Medicine Man), Simon Goddard (Ziggyology), Uli Hesse (Sports Book of the Year award winner for Building the Yellow Wall), Mike Scott (Adventures of a Waterboy), Sean Yates (It’s All About the Bike), Jo Wood (Stoned) and many more. He is looking to expand this list further and into other areas of non-fiction.

In fiction, he is looking to develop a commercial crime list, and is interested in accessible literary fiction (a new Iain Banks, Jonathan Coe, Muriel Spark, Sally Rooney or Olga Tokarczuk would be warmly received).