Canadian literary agency Transatlantic has four agents looking for your manuscripts

Transatlantic Agency

2 Bloor Street East
Suite 3500
Toronto, Ontario, Canada 

https://www.transatlanticagency.com/

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Transatlantic Agency is a leading literary management company with a team of 20 experienced agents based in cities across North America. They offer a full spectrum of career representation to authors (Adult, Children’s & YA, and illustrators) and storytellers (Speakers, Industry leaders & Influencers) across all genres and formats for book, content development, speaking and TV & Film.

Transatlantic represents more than 700 American, Canadian and internationally bestselling and award-winning clients, writing commercial and literary fiction and nonfiction, graphic novels, and picture books.

Books by Transatlantic’s clients regularly appear on notable bestseller lists across North America and have won major awards such as the Newbery Medal (U.S.), the Giller Prize (Canada), Michael L. Printz Honor Book (U.S.), and the Governor General’s Award for both adult and children’s literature (Canada).

Four of their agents are open to queries:

Jane Chun joined Transatlantic in 2023 after four years at Janklow & Nesbit Associates. Prior to her time at J&N, she worked on a freelance project for HG Literary and interned at Writers House and Maximum Films & Management.

Before entering the publishing world, Jane attended NYU where she majored in History and minored in Business of Entertainment, Media, and Technology; Creative Writing; and Spanish. She returned to NYU shortly after graduation and a brief stint at Asian CineVision and the Asian American International Film Festival (AAIFF) to receive her M.S. in Publishing with distinction. She is a native New Yorker.

Jane is particularly interested in stories that center marginalized communities and prose that is cinematic and atmospheric with good rhythm. In both fiction and nonfiction, she is drawn towards compelling, fresh voices that make her feel as though the writer is in the room with her, telling her their story with intimacy as if they were already acquainted. Regardless of how plot-driven a story is, characters with rich inner worlds and emotional depth are a must for her.

For fiction, Jane is seeking commercial, upmarket, and literary works in adult, middle grade, and young adult about the search for and rebuilding of identity, diaspora, family and community, and examinations of power in relationships.

She is also looking for fantasy, sci-fi, and speculative fiction that delve into sharp social commentary and have meticulous world building and settings that don’t feel like Western Europe.

For historical fiction, she likes hidden histories and anything that is set in a time or place she’s not familiar with or focuses on a community that has been often overlooked if it’s a time/place she knows.

For nonfiction, Jane is looking for memoirs and narrative nonfiction with a nuanced, intersectional approach and similar themes to her interests in fiction. She also is interested in books about food, travel, pop culture, and cultural criticism that dive deeply and thoughtfully into culture and traditions, particularly those written by authors of color.

In addition to traditional prose, she is very interested in graphic novels and graphic nonfiction. She is looking for stylistically engaging, unique art that feels either nostalgic without being derivative or fresh and boundary-pushing.

At the moment, she is open to picture books only by referral.

She is not the right person for prescriptive nonfiction, self-help, religion/spirituality books, romance, commercial thrillers, hard sci-fi, poetry, or short story collections. Best send those to someone else.

Query Jane through her Query Manager here.

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If you’re interested in meeting an agent and in getting published, check out our upcoming “How to Get Published” workshops. Details here.

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Pieter Swinkels is Transatlantic’s Director of Operations and a Literary Agent. He represents literary fiction and nonfiction authors, plus corporate publishing clients from around the world. 

Pieter started his literary publishing career at the premiere Dutch publishing houses De Bezige Bij and Meulenhoff Publishers in Amsterdam, where he published bestselling and critically-acclaimed authors such as Elizabeth Gilbert, Ann Patchett, Robert Harris and Karin Slaughter.

Before joining Transatlantic Agency, Pieter worked as Chief Content Officer at Rakuten Kobo, leading Kobo’s global publisher relations, the self-publishing platform Kobo Writing Life, the Kobo Originals publishing program, and the launch of Audiobooks and Kobo Plus subscriptions. 

Pieter holds a Cum Laude MA degree in English Language & Literature from the University of Amsterdam, and a MPhil in Irish Literature from Trinity College Dublin. He lives and works in Toronto.

Query Pieter at: querypieter@transatlanticagency.com

Include a sample or excerpt in the body of the email, maximum 20 pages. Embed the sample/excerpt into the body of the email after the cover letter. Plus an author bio or publishing history and a synopsis. Please note if other agents are also considering the project and do not submit to Pieter if you have already submitted to another Transatlantic Agent.

Carolyn Forde was a literary agent and International Rights Director at Westwood Creative Artists for 14 years before joining Transatlantic.

For the last decade Carolyn has traveled to both the London Book Fair and the Frankfurt Book Fair and New York regularly, and she continues to do so in her new role at Transatlantic. Carolyn has lived and worked in Japan, Mexico and the Czech Republic and is a dual citizen of Canada and the UK.

Carolyn would love to see literary fiction (especially speculative and horror), commercial fiction, narrative nonfiction by experts in the field and is open minded to a broad range of topics and styles – as long as it engages her.

There are a few things she’s not keen on: medical/disease related memoirs, police procedurals, climate thrillers, military or CIA fiction, cozy mysteries, books about film and tv behind the scenes, and fantasy. Don’t send her any of these.

Query Carolyn at: querycarolyn@transatlanticagency.com

Include the first 20 pages within the body of your query – attachments will not be opened (double spaced and 12 pt font).

Samantha Haywood is President of the Transatlantic Agency. She has extensive experience selling authors in North America for publication and TV/film representation. She launched her client list with Transatlantic Agency in 2004 after working in the international rights departments of Random House of Canada and Westwood Creative Artists. 

Samantha represents a diverse and vibrant client list of novelists, memoirists, investigative journalists, graphic novelists, cookbook authors and thought leaders. Samantha represents international rights for the renown publisher, Drawn & Quarterly. She is also a founding member and former President of PACLA, the Professional Association of Canadian Literary Agents.

Plurality of voices, stories and authors of all backgrounds are encouraged! Originality and diversity in her client list is the objective.

In fiction, Samantha is looking for literary fiction and upmarket commercial fiction of all types. Getting more specific, yes to: smart contemporary fiction, upmarket women’s fiction, upmarket escapist fiction, crossover/hybrid style novels, and sophisticated novels with speculative or horror elements with a genre slant.

Yes to literary thrillers and upmarket mystery. Witty, sharp, biting or satirical elements are also welcome, especially when it comes to socio-political issues including class and late-stage capitalism. Yes also to fiction which examines identity, gender/sexuality and/or racism through a unique lens. 

In nonfiction, Samantha prefers narrative nonfiction and big idea nonfiction, especially on culturally relevant topics such as feminism, environmentalism, Indigenous issues, societal inequities with forecasts for progress.

She represents some prescriptive, inspirational and motivational nonfiction, matched with expertise and a platform, and preferably with a personal story woven throughout. Yes also to investigative reportage; historical narratives handled in refreshing ways, true crime with societal implications and occasionally an outstanding memoir (must be truly original or well-known subjects).

Essentially, she’s looking for a strong narrative drive and distinctive voice at all times.

Graphic Novels (fiction/non-fiction): Preferably full-length graphic novels with author and illustrator as one creator, or already teamed-up. Graphic novel memoirs, biographies, travel narratives and other nonfiction graphica also welcome.

Query Samantha at: querysamantha@transatlanticagency.com

Authors are encouraged to email a cover letter with a sample/excerpt of the book in question. Please submit a maximum of 20 pages. Embed the sample/excerpt into the email after the cover letter. Graphic novel submissions may include an attachment. Please submit an author bio/publishing history and a synopsis. 

See Transatlantic’s submissions page here.

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