THREE SPACES LEFT! 27 May Rachel Yeoh #Agent121. Looking for: ADULT FICTION, NON-FICTION

Description

LOOKING FOR: ADULT FICTION, NARRATIVE MEMOIR

After reading Law and Politics at university, Rachel Yeoh joined the Madeleine Milburn Agency in 2019. As a literary agent, she represents a list of literary, upmarket and book club fiction, working with award-winning novelists as well as New York Times and Sunday Times bestselling brands. She represents the Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize shortlistee Hanako Footman, Foyle Young Poet of the Year winner Charlotte Runcie, Tedx Talk speaker Canwen Xu, and more.

Rachel is looking for literary, upmarket and book club fiction with clear hooks and affecting prose. She is also open to select narrative memoir. She is drawn in equal measure to both the personal and political, and is currently keen to find projects in these specific areas (though this is not exhaustive):

Sweeping intergenerational family sagas full of heart and emotional depth. Rachel is drawn to unflinching stories where quiet truths emerge over time, and which honour marginal lives and seemingly unhistoric acts, such as Pachinko by Min Jin Lee, The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese, and Homegoing by Yaa Gyaasi. She is also enjoyed Real Americans by Rachel Khong and The Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak.

Novels that explore the fractious inner lives of high society, particularly in a rarefied setting underexplored in fiction. She is as intrigued by depictions of outward opulence as she is by the unspoken rules that govern these circles, particularly if there is a satirical skew or sharp social commentary. She’d love to find a modern Edith Wharton or Henry James. She enjoyed Fleishman is in Trouble by Taffy Brodesser-Akner, Pineapple Street by Jenny Jackson and Free Food for Millionaires by Min Jin Lee.

Speculative fiction rooted in the human experience. She is looking for grounded stories that may include a surrealist twist, a slip in time, or magical realism in a world that otherwise looks and feels familiar to us. She enjoys high-concept stories that use unusual narrators, alternate realities, or sliding door scenarios to explore grief, love, loss and time. Some examples include Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro, Life After Life by Kate Atkinson, and The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger.

Sharp, culturally relevant contemporary fiction with a bold voice, like Perfection by Vincenzo Latronico, The Wedding People by Alison Espach, Olga Dies Dreaming by Xochitl Gonzalez, Really Good, Actually by Monica Heisey and Yellowface by RF Kuang.

Upmarket suspense and thriller, generally where there is some degree of social commentary or cultural insight. Rachel admires stories that utilise fear to make a point about deeper human psychology and the world we live in, for example The God of the Woods by Liz Moore, The Secret History by Donna Tartt and The Other Black Girl by Zakiya Dalila Harris.

Stories with a postcolonial emphasis, where traditionally marginalised characters are brought centre stage and possess depth, complexity and heart, as in Assembly by Natasha Brown, The Vegetarian by Han Kang and Babel by RF Kuang.

Translated fiction, for example DallerGut Dream Department Store by Miye Lee, Days at the Morisaki Bookshop by Satoshi Yagisawa and Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi.

Intimate narrative memoirs that are emotionally devastating, tender, and uplifting all at once, such as Strangers by Belle Burden, Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner, and When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi.

Rachel would like you to submit a covering letter, 1 - 2 page synopsis and the first 5,000 words of your manuscript in a single word document.

(In addition to the paid sessions, Rachel is kindly offering one free session for low income/under-represented writers. Please email agent121@iaminprint.co.uk to apply, outlining your case for this option which is offered at the discretion of I Am In Print). 

By booking you understand you need to conduct an internet connection test with I Am In Print prior to the event. You also agree to email your material in one document to reach I Am In Print by the stated submission deadline and note that I Am In Print take no responsibility for the advice received during your agent meeting.

The submission deadline is: Wednesday 20 May 2026