#263 One-to-one advice from Literary Agent Juliet Pickering (Blake Friedmann) via a 30-minute Zoom or call, on either your submission package OR a book in development.

An amazing chance to talk to one of the UK's top literary agents, Juliet Pickering. Juliet represents Fiction and Non-Fiction and is part of the Blake Friedmann Literary Agency.

About Juliet:

I am proud to represent a list of intriguing, conversation-starting, diverse writers, across both fiction and non-fiction. Many of my authors write contemporary stories, often led by themes of identity, coming-of-age, class, gender and sexuality, to name a few; for me, vital qualities to a good story include emotional depth, authenticity, an engaging voice and irrepressible energy. I want to be surprised, and to have everyday experiences and relationships told with nuance and colour.

I love to bring an under-represented experience to both editors and readers, and some of my most enjoyable moments have been campaigning for authors who have looked for a book to reflect their experience and, not having found it, have written their own to provide that space for others. I’m a proud feminist and love books that empower us, or that make us feel recognised and heard.

Favourite authors include Kate Atkinson, Curtis Sittenfeld, Elizabeth Strout, Shirley Jackson, Zora Neale Hurston, Nora Ephron and Elizabeth Jane Howard. I’m drawn to rich and multi-layered stories of women, families, friendships and relationships, and love small communities with a strong setting and lots going on beneath the surface; I prefer the small and intimate to the epic and world-affecting.

Alongside literary, book club and commercial fiction, I represent non-fiction writers across the board, including memoir, pop culture, social history, writing on issues of race, gender and class, and cookery and food.

In case it’s helpful to know what I don’t represent, I don’t work with the following genres: Young Adult or children’s, fantasy, supernatural, dystopian, sci-fi, thriller, horror or crime fiction. I tend to enjoy historical fiction only if it’s set after 1900!

I worked for Waterstones as a bookseller and fiction buyer, before joining the agency A P Watt in 2003. I moved to Blake Friedmann in 2013, becoming Vice Head of the Book Department in 2017 and a Director in 2020, and my authors have been shortlisted for Booker, Costa, and Guardian First Book Awards, won the Whitbread and Green Carnation Prizes, and the Prix Femina Etranger. I regularly visit literary festivals, courses and events, and enjoy giving talks and holding workshops for writers. I have been a judge for the Bristol Short Story Prize and for the Manchester Fiction Prize, and I’m on the board of the Working Class Writers’ Festival. 

Clients: Diane Abbott MP, Kasim Ali, Estate of Ted Allbeury, Dima Alzayat, Graeme Armstrong, MiMi Aye, Trezza Azzopardi, Bolu Babalola, Jendella Benson, Meliz Berg, Ian Birch, Nora Anne Brown, Ailsa Caine, Julia Cole, Sue Cook, Sara Crowe, Tuyen Do, Michael Donkor, Jo Facer & Erin Bunting, Emma Forsyth Haslett, Alix Fox, Sarah Franklin, Roxy Freeman, Janice Galloway, Gabriella Griffith, Sarah Hartley, Kate Hodges, Kerry Hudson, Leah Hyslop, Dr Alexandra Jellicoe, Benjamin Johncock, George Kelly, Konditor, Kat Lister, Richard Littler, Clayton Littlewood, Jesse Loncraine, Anneliese Mackintosh, Ailbhe Malone, Lucy Mangan, Amy Mason, Nina-Sophia Miralles, Emma Mitchell, Sue Moorcroft, Grace Mortimer, Emer O'Toole, Rosalind Powell, Annie Robertson, Lora Stimson, Jack Urwin, Pippa Vosper, Helen Walmsley-Johnson, Women's Institute, Andrew Wong.