Kemi Ogunsanwo
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.
Her recent deals include Mikaela Loach’s IT’S NOT THAT RADICAL (DK), Kenny Imafidon’s THAT PECKHAM BOY (Transworld), Sharada Keat’s THESE STOLEN LIVES (Scholastic), Wenyan Lu’s THE FUNERAL CRYER (Atlantic) and Patrick Gallagher’s trilogy TRANSCENDENT (Hachette).
“I’ve been obsessed with books since I was seven and even now I am still completely captured by my favourite form of escapism”.
Genres I Like
Kemi is particularly drawn to mission driven voices in narrative non-fiction, compelling memoirs, true crime and motivational/self-help written by experts in their field. For fiction, Kemi is drawn to both unique stories that start conversations and have broad commercial appeal, as well as stories centred on faith, hope and love. She acquires across Adult and YA.
Authors I Like
Bernardine Evaristo, Malala Yousafzai, Elizabeth Gilbert, Yeonmi Park, Anthony Ray Hinton, Reni Eddo-Lodge, Khaled Hosseini, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Chinua Achebe, Kelly Yang, Tomi Adeyemi, Chibundu Onuzo, Jodi Picoult, Malorie Blackman and Dorothy Koomson.
Clients include
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.
Gyamfia
Agent
Gyamfia has a BA in Ancient History at Exeter University, she began her career in publishing working as a Bookseller at Waterstones, before joining Caskie Mushens as a Literary Assistant. 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.
Briony
Submissions Coordinator
Briony is TGLA’s Submissions Coordinator, acting as the initial reader for all submissions.
She studied BA English and Creative Writing at university, graduating in 2020.
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.
She aims to become a literary agent, focussing primarily on fantasy and historical fiction. Her favourite book is the Three Musketeers.
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
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
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.