Join us for a lively kickoff of our Agent Talks series, a collaboration with Literary Agents of Change. We’ll sit down with some agents from this year’s cohort of mentees, all of whom are active literary agents currently growing their lists. The discussion will cover everyone’s perspectives on the current market, their manuscript wish lists, the author-agent relationship, and more.

Agents scheduled to appear are Hannah Andrade of Bradford Literary Agency, Laurie-Maude Chenard of United Talent Agency, Christopher Combemale of Sterling Lord Literistic, Alex Land of Mad Woman Literary Agency, Shelly Romero of Azantian Literary Agency, and Nour Sallam of Helm Literary; moderated by Sarah Khalil of Calligraph.

Expect to hear useful info and advice from agents who represent a variety of genres. If you are seeking representation, please know that all panelists are currently open to queries. Please use the preferred channels and check all guidelines before querying.

What to expect: Approximately 45 minutes of discussion and 15 minutes of Q&A.

Ideal audience: Any writer seeking an agent or curious about the agenting perspective.

Special thanks to Literary Agents of Change for collaborating with the Authors Guild Foundation on this series.

A Q&A will follow the presentation; you can pre-submit a question when registering for the event. A recording will be made available for those who cannot attend live.

The event will take place via Zoom with automatic closed captioning. To request any other accessibility features, please email support@authorsguild.org and we will make every effort to accommodate.

Panelists

Hannah Andrade (she/her) started as an agency assistant before moving on to acquire her own clients. She’s been with Bradford Literary Agency since 2017 and has had the privilege to work with a number of bestselling authors across a variety of genres. She likes to think of herself as an editorial-focused agent and is particularly eager to acquire BIPOC/underrepresented voices. She is prioritizing stories of joy where identity isn’t the focus and is especially excited about stories rooted in history, mythology, and legends, particularly those that are lesser-known or underrepresented in traditional publishing.

Hannah is very interested in stories that explore the intricacies of multicultural identities. She loves stories of immigration (not relegated to America) and of first/second generation Americans who struggle balancing the values of their country with the culture and heritage of their parents (as in the TV shows Ramy or Gentefied). As a Mexican-American, she would particularly love to see the stories that she grew up with showcased in new and creative ways.

For more details on what she’s looking for, please check out her Manuscript Wish List.

Laurie-Maude Chenard represents clients in both fiction and nonfiction. She gravitates toward unique, voice-driven stories by writers from historically underrepresented communities, exploring themes of identity (and its fluidity), race, culture, gender, and sexuality. She loves books that confront and engage with gray areas and offer a fresh and nuanced perspective. Born in China and raised in Québec and Massachusetts, Laurie-Maude studied Culture and Politics and Global Business at Georgetown University. After graduating, she worked briefly in advertising before joining UTA in 2021.

Christopher Combemale joined Sterling Lord Literistic, Inc. in 2019 and works with Jim Rutman alongside his own list. He is looking for a broad range of literary fiction and voice-driven upmarket fiction with an unexpected hook. He is on the hunt for a literary campus novel. In non-fiction, he is interested in narrative nonfiction, cultural criticism/essay, and expert-driven projects. As a Singaporean-French-American born and raised in London, Christopher is drawn to international voices and writers in translation. Forthcoming books include work by Thomas Dai (Norton), Stuart Pennebaker (Little, Brown), Daniel Cox (Harmony), Alex Wright (Basic Books), Joe Ogilvy (Bloomsbury), Michelle Miller (Norton), and Agnieszka Szpila (Pantheon). Among his clients are Carnegie Medal winner Manon Steffan Ros, James Beard winner Shane Mitchell, Baillie Gifford winner Wade Davis, naturalist Scott Weidensaul, and the Estate of Barry Lopez. He graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill as a Morehead-Cain Scholar and now lives in Brooklyn.

Alex Land of Mad Woman Literary Agency is a Locus Award finalist who loves rooting for the Final Girl—especially if she’s a monster. Alex’s YA Horror Comedy debut, Damned If You Do, was a Junior Library Gold Standard Selection and was also placed on Taysha’s Reading List. Alex is the co-editor of Night of the Living Queers and the editor of The House Where Death Lives, a YA Horror anthology that also received the JLG Gold Standard distinction. Alex served as a mentor in Pitch Wars and Author Mentor Match and is passionate about working with writers to amplify the heart of their stories. Alex loves collaboration and is excited about working with her clients to form sustainable, long-term careers in publishing. Alex has worked with New York Times Bestselling authors, Stonewall Honors recipients, and many other critically acclaimed authors on various projects. She’s always ready to root for and brag about all of her clients.

Shelly Romero of Azantian Literary Agency began her publishing career in 2017 at Scholastic where she rose up the ranks from editorial assistant to associate editor, where she acquired her own titles and assisted on series publishing for The Bad Guys and Goosebumps. She later joined Cake Creative as Lead Editor and she was most recently a freelance editor. She graduated from Stephens College with a bachelor’s degree in English and attended the 2017 NYU Summer Publishing Institute. Shelly was selected as a 2020 Publishers Weekly Star Watch Honoree and is a member of Latinx in Publishing & People of Color in Publishing. Born and raised in Miami by Honduran parents, she now resides in New York City where she might be found at a movie theatre viewing the latest release from her Letterboxd watchlist.

Nour Sallam is a literary agent at Helm Literary representing adult fiction and nonfiction. She has a BA in English Literature and Political Science from the University of British Columbia and studied publishing at Toronto Metropolitan University. As an Arab woman and an immigrant, she loves books that amplify joy and connection, or feature complex and nuanced narratives. She works on a wide range of fiction and nonfiction, and is drawn to compelling and accessible stories that give her what she calls “brain butterflies.” Nour is a member of the Association of American Literary Agents (AALA) and sits on the advisory committee of BIPOC of Publishing in Canada.

Special Thanks to Our Supporters

With the generous support of our donors, the Authors Guild Foundation is able to offer our educational programs for free to all interested writers. If you’d like to support the Foundation, please click here.