Canadian literary agency Westwood Creative Artists has six agents looking for new authors

Mindful of Murder by Susan Juby
represented by Westwood

Westwood Creative Artists

The Chelsea Shop
386 Huron Street
 Toronto, Ontario

http://www.wcaltd.com/

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Westwood is one of Canada’s largest literary agencies. It’s also one of the oldest and most respected. Clients include Ian Hamilton, Rohinton Mistry, Justin Trudeau, Thomas King, Alan Doyle, Rosemary Sullivan, Gina Buonaguro, and Yann Martel. They have nine agents on the team, most of whom are accepting new authors:

Chris Casuccio, Literary Agent

Chris started at Westwood in 2006, working at the front desk and being groomed to become an agent. His clients now includes both emerging authors and more acclaimed authors such as Stephen Bown, George Jonas, Richard Wagamese, and Max Wallace.

Chris is actively growing his client list. He’s especially attracted to big ideas, diverse voices (like everyone else), inspired experts, and driven journalism.

He also loves literary fiction that’s told fearlessly and authentically.

Query Chris at: submissions@wcaltd.com

Include a brief synopsis of your work and a sample of 10 to 20 pages pasted into the email. Full guidelines here.

Meg Wheeler, International Rights Director and Literary Agent  

Meg may take a little longer to respond to queries than her colleagues because she wears two hats: besides growing her own list of authors, she also represents Westwood’s authors in the international marketplace.  But she is looking for authors

Fiction: Meg seeks literary fiction (think sweeping narratives and multigenerational sagas that span locations and time such as Yaa Gyasi’s Homecoming or Kate Atkinson’s Life After Life); upmarket book club fiction that addresses tough subjects (think anything by Taylor Jenkins Reid or Marian Keyes); crime novels (but no police officer protagonists); thrillers (like Ruth Ware’s In a Dark Wood); mysteries (think Thomas King’s Dreadful Water series); historical fiction (think Thew Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead or The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah); and romcoms (think The Flatshare by Beth O’leary).

Meg loves humour and fiction with a speculative or magical element (think The Centaur’s Wife by Amanda Leduc or Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel – though Meg is not the right agent for science fiction or fantasy).

Nonfiction: Current events, popular science, “big ideas,” memoir (though very selectively).

Like everyone else, she’s “particularly interested in hearing from authors from backgrounds that have been traditionally underrepresented in the book industry.

Query Meg at: submissions@wcaltd.com

Include a brief synopsis of your work and a sample of 10 to 20 pages pasted into the email. Full guidelines here.

Michael Levine, Chairman

At Westwood, Michael’s talents are focussed not only on book deals, but also on the sale of rights for TV, film, and other media.

“My passions, taste and expertise are largely focused on nonfiction,” says Michael, “including history, politics, ideas books, memoirs. I have also been privileged to do work in the fiction area with such authors as the late Mordecai Richler.”

Query Michael at: submissions@wcaltd.com

Include a brief synopsis of your work and a sample of 10 to 20 pages pasted into the email. Full guidelines here.

Emmy Nordstrom Higdon, Literary Agent

Emmy has a PhD in justice-oriented social work from McMaster Univerkisty. Emmy is “a queer, trans, non-binary colonizer originally from Ktaqmkuk (Newfoundland), the ancesteral home of the Beothuk and Mi’kmaq, now based in Tkaronto (Toronto) which is the unceded territory of Anishinaabe, Haudenosaunee, and Mississaugas of the Credit.”

Emmy primarily represents upmarket fiction and narrative nonfiction across age ranges. Emmy specialize in identity-driven stories based on lived experience, particularly from LGBTQ2S+ and disabled or chronically ill authors, and of course Emmy prioritizes queries from trans and/or non-binary, Black and/or BIPOC and/or disabled authors.

Query Emmy at: submissions@wcaltd.com

Include a brief synopsis of your work and a sample of 10 to 20 pages pasted into the email. Full guidelines here.

Bruce Westwood, Founder, Managing Director, and CEO

Bruce Westwood has been in the business for 22 years. He’s still always on the lookout for literary fiction, commercial fiction, narrative nonfiction, “and,” he says, “what one might call current events (business, politics, industry, government, etc. Really any sociological nonfiction. My tastes are extremely broad (except when it comes to rosé, garlic, and roasted lamb).

“While I represent a very limited number of children’s authors, the rest of my clients are pretty evenly split between writers of fiction and nonfiction – and some that cross that divide with aplomb.”

Query Bruce at: submissions@wcaltd.com

Include a brief synopsis of your work and a sample of 10 to 20 pages pasted into the email. Full guidelines here.

Patricia Ocampo, Senior Editor
Kids Can Press

If you’re interested in writing for children or for young adults, don’t miss the online Writing Kid Lit workshop, with Kids Can Press senior editor Patricia Ocampo, August 13. Details here. 

And in the fall, join us for an online Writing Kid Lit weekly class, Wednesday evenings, 6:30 – 8:30 p.m., Oct 12 – Dec 7, 2022 {Or to Dec 14 if the course fills up}. Details of all fall classes here.

Beyond that, Brian's schedule continues to take shape:

Online: Writing and Revising, Sunday, August 14. Details here.

Weekly classes {Details of all fall classes here}: 

Online: Enjoying Creative Writing, Tuesday afternoons, 12:30 – 2:30, Oct 11 – Dec 6, 2022 {Or to Dec 13 if the course fills up.} Details here.

In-person: Enjoying Creative Writing, Thursday evenings, 7 – 9 p.m., Sept 29 – Nov 24, in Burlington. Details here.

Jennifer M. Smith, author of Green Ghost, Blue Ocean
will be the guest speaker for
the Writing Personal Stories class 

Online: Writing Personal Stories, Monday afternoons, Monday afternoons, 12:30 – 2:30, Oct 24 – Dec 5, 2022 {Or to Dec 12 if the course fills up.) Details here. 

Online: Intensive Creative Writing, Tuesday evenings, 6:30 – 9:00 p.m., Sept 20 – Dec 6, 2022 {Or to Dec 13 if the course fills up. No class Oct 4}. Details of all fall classes here.

Online: Intensive Creative Writing, Wednesday afternoons, 12:30 – 3:00 p.m., Sept 14 – Dec 7, 2022 {Or to Dec 14 if it’s fill. No class Oct 5}. Details of all fall classes here.

Online: Intensive Creative Writing, Friday mornings, 10 a.m. – 12:30 p.m., Sept 23 – Dec 9, 2022 {or to Dec 16 if the course fills up. No class Oct 14}. Details of all fall classes here.

In-person: Extreme Creative Writing, Thursday evenings, Sept 29 – Dec 1, in Burlington. Details here.

Writing Retreats:

Lake Simcoe Writing Retreat at The Briars, Friday, Sept 16 – Monday Sept 19, 2022. Enjoy a weekend of writing at an elegant southern Ontario resort. Details here.

Muskoka Writing Retreat at Sherwood Inn, Friday, Oct 14 – Monday Oct 17, 2022. Details here. 

To reserve a spot or for more details about any course, workshop or retreat, email brianhenry@sympatico.ca