PEW Literary seeks thrillers, literary fiction, off the wall novels and diverse nonfiction

The Patient Assassin by Anita Anand,
represented by PEW Literary

PEW Literary

46 Lexington Street
London UK

http://www.pewliterary.com/

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PEW Literary is a new literary agency founded by Patrick Walsh in 2016. In March, 2019, he was joined by Doug Young. both are actively seeking authors.

Patrick Walsh co-founded Conville and Walsh in 2000, after learning his trade at Christopher Little (the firm that then represented JK Rowling). In 2016, Patrick decided to go solo, setting up a new agency, PEW Literary.

In fiction, Patrick represents out and out thriller writers, such as Howard Cunnell (whose diving theme ties in with Patrick's own interest in the natural world) as well as thrillers with a splash of fantasy (Nick Harkaway). On the more literary end, Patrick represents writers like Paul Kingsnorth, a literary writer also with an interest in nature and Luke Jennings, who wrote the Booker-nominated Atlantic.

Patrick has a keen interest in nonfiction, where his interests are broad and eclectic. He has a taste for:

The transgressive, representing drug dealer Howard Marks and society prostitute Belle de Jour, both of whom wrote massive-selling memoirs

The political and feisty, for example American hedge fund manager and anti-Putin campaigner, Bill Browder

Science, especially where that involves the natural world, animals or conservation. Thus Patrick represents Sarah Ellis, the animal behaviourist; Joshua Foer, a specialist on memory; Louise Gray, an environment correspondent who spent a year eating only animals she had killed herself; and Michael Hanlon, author of a number of Big Theme popular science books; Elaine Fox's books on neurophysiology

Anything else to do with the natural world, such as Kate Rew's books on Wild Swimming

Hard-to-categorise nonfiction, such as Polly Morland's book on how to be brave; Sanjay Basu's book on the links between health and the economy; or Emma Griffin on the history of recreation

Art, such as the books by Laura Cumming, the Observer art critic

History books, including military history, the design history, ancient history and much else.

Query Patrick at: submissions@pewliterary.com 

For fiction, include the opening three chapters or 50 pages, plus a synopsis. For nonfiction, submit a proposal. See full submission guidelines here.

  

Doug Young was formerly the publishing director at Transworld Publishers of London (a division of Penguin Random House), where he specialized in nonfiction. He joined PEW literary in March 2019.

 “My plan is to seek out authors with a story to tell, whether in nonfiction or fiction,” says Doug, “and people who write in a distinctive voice and from a fresh perspective. The categories will be pretty broad – it could be history, science, politics, memoir or an off-the-wall novel.

“For the last 25-plus years in publishing I’ve been lucky enough to work on a very broad range of superb books with many extraordinary and brilliant authors including the likes of Neil Gaiman, Alan Johnson, John Peel, Paul O’Grady, Derren Brown, Scott Galloway, Neil Oliver, and Paul McKenna.

“I love working with authors, and helping to make books happen is the best job on the world. I am thrilled at the prospect of continuing to do that as an agent, with the help of the wonderful team at PEW Literary.”

Query Doug at: submissions@pewliterary.com 

For fiction, include the opening three chapters or 50 pages, plus a synopsis. For nonfiction, submit a proposal. See full submission guidelines here.

Meg Wheeler

If you’re interested in getting published, soon or somewhere down the road, don’t miss the How to Get Published workshop, Saturday, June 8, in Waterloo with literary agent Meg Wheeler (see here). 

And don’t miss these other great workshops coming soon:  How to Write Great Characters, Saturday, June 22, in Oakville, (see  here), and Finding Your Voice, Saturday, July 13, in London (see here).    

But the best way to grow as a writer may be with a weekly course. 

Here’s what’s coming this summer:

Oakville Woodside Library: Exploring Creative Writing, Tuesday afternoons, July 2 – Aug 13. See here. 

Burlington: Intensive Creative Writing, Wednesday afternoons, July 3 – Aug 21. First readings emailed June 26. See here.

Burlington: Intensive Creative Writing, Wednesday evenings July 3 – Aug 21. First readings emailed June 26. See here.

And in the fall, there will be a full range of courses on offer:

Burlington: Intensive Creative Writing, Tuesday afternoons, Sept 24 – Dec 11 (no class Oct 8 or Nov 5). First readings emailed Sept 17.

Georgetown: Intensive Creative Writing,  Wednesday evenings, Sept 18 – Dec 11 (no class Oct 9). First readings emailed Sept 11. 

Burlington: Writing Personal Stories, Thursday afternoons, Sept 26 – November 28 (no class Oct 31). 

Oakville Library, Welcome to Creative Writing, Thursday evenings,  Sept 26 – Nov 28 (no class Oct 31). 

Toronto: Intensive Creative Writing, Friday mornings, Sept 20 – Nov 8. First readings emailed Sept 13. 

Toronto: Writing Personal Stories, Friday afternoons, Sept 27 – Nov 29 (no class Nov 1).

To register or for details of any of these classes, email brianhenry@sympatico.ca

And don't miss …

Writing for Children and for Young Adults with Kids Can Press senior editor Yasemin Uçar and children's author Jennifer Mook-Sang at the Burlington Central Library, Saturday, Oct 5. Details here.

And…

November at the Briars Writing Retreat

Friday, November 1 – Monday, November 4; four days of creativity in a setting that provides the warmth of a country estate steeped in history while providing all the benefits of an extensive, modern lakeside resort. Details here.

The Briars

To reserve a spot in any upcoming weekly course, weekend retreat, or Saturday workshop, email Brian at: brianhenry@sympatico.ca

Read reviews of Brian’s courses, retreats, and workshops here.

 See Brian’s complete current schedule here, including Saturday writing workshops, weekly writing classes, and weekend retreats in Algonquin Park, Alliston, Bolton, Barrie, Brampton, Burlington, Caledon, Collingwood, Georgetown, Georgina, Guelph, Jackson’s Point, Kitchener-Waterloo, London, Midland, Mississauga, New Tecumseth, Oakville, Ottawa, St. Catharines, Sudbury, Toronto, Windsor, Woodstock, Halton, Muskoka, Peel, Simcoe, York Region, the GTA, Ontario and beyond.

Navigation tips: Always check out the Labels underneath a post; they’ll lead you to various distinct collections of postings. If you're searching for more interviews with literary agents or a literary agent who represents a particular type of book, check out this post.