We are a social enterprise literary agency dedicated to increasing opportunities for representation for all writers under-represented in mainstream publishing including writers of colour, disability, LGBTQ+, working class and anyone else who feels like their story isn’t being told in mainstream publishing.

Headquartered in Bristol, we work with writers across the UK and are the only literary agency committed to giving feedback to every writer who submits work to us. We have a focus on helping writers develop their craft as well as helping them find the perfect publisher and establish and develop their writing careers. TGLA clients have won major awards, become bestsellers, had their books sold at auction for six-figure deals and been published in multiple languages.

Abi

Agent

Abi is a senior agent at TGLA. She has incredibly broad experience in the industry, having started in bookselling in 2001. Abi began her agenting career with Georgina Capel Associates, having also worked as a bookseller at Blackwell’s, on the sales team at Faber and Faber and as a literary scout at RR Ltd. Abi has a BA in English Literature from Bristol University and an MA in English Literature from UCL.
Abi also has experience as a school governor with particular involvement in the schools literacy programmes and their work with children who have special educational needs and are disabled.

Kemi

Agent

Kemi is a senior agent at TGLA. She began her career as an editorial assistant at publishers such as Simon & Schuster and Penguin Books, before embarking on a 5 year stint in Marketing within the Entertainment and Media sector, at brands like ITV. Her desire to advocate for under-represented talent led her into talent acquisition at Identity Agency Group (IAG), before joining TGLA as Literary Agent in 2020.

Gyamfia has a BA in Ancient History from the University of Exeter. She began her career in publishing working as a Bookseller at Waterstones, before joining Caskie Mushens as Literary Assistant to Juliet Mushens and Robert Caskie. She returned to the U.K. after living in Amsterdam for two years, where she managed international sales for The Pepin Press and held the role of Editor for Plural Magazine. Gyamfia believes that the books on our shelves should represent the streets that we walk down, and so is extremely passionate about finding new and diverse talent.

Briony

Submissions Coordinator

Briony is the initial reader for all submissions. In 2020 she graduated from with a BA in English and Creative Writing. In her spare time, she is a writer. Her work has been nominated for various competitions, including the Lucy Cavendish Prize and the Penguin WriteNow Programme. She is currently represented and working on her novel.

Arzu

Development Editor

Arzu was Publishing Director at Weidenfeld & Nicolson, and has over 25 years of experience in the industry, having previously worked at Bloomsbury, Vintage, Penguin Random House and Virago. She has published many bestselling writers including Khaled Hosseini, Malala Yousafzai, Tea Obreht, Maria Semple. At TGLA Arzu uses her considerable experience and expertise to work with authors on editing and developing their work before submitting to publishers.

Nikesh

Co-Founder & Director

His debut novel, Coconut Unlimited, was shortlisted for the Costa First Novel Award 2010. Alongside his second novel, Meatspace, Nikesh has written for The Guardian, Esquire, Buzzfeed, Vice and BBC2, and BBC Radio 4. Nikesh is also the editor of the bestselling essay collection, The Good Immigrant, which won the reader’s choice at the Books Are My Bag Awards. Nikesh was one of Foreign Policy magazine’s 100 Global Thinkers and The Bookseller’s 100 most influential people in publishing.

Julia

Co-Founder & Director

Julia is a publishing and consumer marketing consultant. She set up Kingsford Campbell in 2014, where she still represents clients and was Head of Marketing at Foyles bookshops. She was the Evening Standard’s 1000 Most Influential Londoners, The Bookseller’s 100 most influential people in publishing and the Future Book Disruptor of the Year. She is co-writing a book called Aspergers & Asparagus with her sister Katherine who is autistic.

We are

Intentional.

How we work

The Good Literary Agency operates slightly differently to other agencies. Rather than choosing to submit to a specific agent we ask authors to make a general submission which we evaluate as a team before deciding whether to offer representation. We also place a lot of emphasis on development work for authors who we believe are talented but whose manuscripts could benefit from some additional editing before submitting to publishers.

To find out more about our submissions process please visit our submissions page.

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