My taste has always been for big, expansive, game-changing stories, books that change everything. I’m looking for narratives that are powerful, move me spiritually and emotionally, tell me something about the human condition and they usually do pack a massive emotional punch. Influences personally and creatively have been books by literary giants such as Dickens, Hardy, Toni Morrison, Maya Angelou, Tsitsi Dangarembga, Alice Walker, James Baldwin, Haruki Murakami, Ralph Ellison, Angela Davis, Jeanette Winterson, Octavia E. Butler and Hanif Kureishi plus more recent writers with enormous vision like Nadifa Mohamed’s The Fortune Men set in Cardiff’s Tiger Bay, Ariel Leve’s An Abbreviated Life, The Book of Night Women by Marlon James and poets Warsan Shire, Hanan Issa and Rachel Long. I have a soft spot for comedians and funny writers, I love Roddy Doyle still. I’m into all things music related especially biographies of producers with all the industry ins and outs. I’m very lucky to represent Sir Lenny Henry’s children’s publishing and I’m searching for more passionate writers here writing (and illustrating) for kids. From a very early age I was looking for myself and people like me of different backgrounds and family structures in books and that has been a big driver throughout my career.

For new submissions, I aim to seek out and develop books and voices that I believe can be game-changers across fiction, non-fiction, YA and children’s. Stories that lend themselves to cross-media opportunities also. My mission (and it really is one!) is to continue and accelerate the narrative of my career thus far, reaching audiences that remain persistently under-served, looking outside of the industry for new voices who have the potential to reach millions of readers and change perceptions of what is and isn’t good literature and who our readers are today. 

Please submit a covering letter, synopsis and the first three chapters of your book to:

originatesubmissions@originateliterary.co.uk

For fiction queries, it is not a requirement to complete or submit a full manuscript for consideration.

For illustrated fiction and non-fiction, please submit a covering letter, synopsis and sample spreads of your work.

All genres are considered with a priority focus on commercial fiction, non-fiction and children’s titles from under-represented groups and those from lower socio-economic backgrounds.

Due to the volume of submissions received, it is not possible to respond to all queries and we will be in touch should we wish to progress your work. Our approach is one of careful curation and collaboration, we are interested in helping people forge long-term careers as writers and open up new pathways within the Publishing Industry.