Hannah Strouth

I’m looking primarily for nuanced and compelling work that digs deep into a wide range of emotions across all genres, including literary, upmarket, and book club fiction, and select romance. Also, I will always have a soft spot for speculative and magical realism. I’m automatically drawn to stories that help me discover and explore new aspects about people, the way we (dis)connect, what haunts us (literally and metaphorically) and how we confront it, and stories of resiliency. I love when a book makes me question human nature and confront grand concepts that have no defined answer. I also have a penchant for darker themes, specifically for stories that deal with mental health/trauma head on and how it weaves its way through a person or community. Any story that makes me spend hours falling down an internet rabbit hole of information, whether that’s learning about a historical figure or event, or about a subculture or community of people, will immediately captivate me. Across the board, I’m always looking for diverse voices and experiences.

I’m not a good fit for: historical romance, domestic suspense, hard sci-fi, deep fantasy with complex world building, middle grade, children’s, and YA

Some specifics things I like and/or want:

• Fresh re-tellings/re-imaginings, extra bonus if it’s a feminist spin (think Outlawed by Anna North)
• Family sagas (think Homegoing, Pachinko, or Sharks in the Time of Saviors)
• Coming-of-age stories (think Dominicana)
• Moral dilemmas with no right or wrong answer (think: The Pact by Jodi Picoult)
• Intersection of ideas at odds (ex: science and religion)
• Stories that highlight power dynamics
• Subversive women
• Southern settings, especially for gothic novels
• “Found family” stories (think The People We Keep by Allison Larkin or What Comes After by Joanne Thompkins)
• Examinations of isolated and/or tight-knit communities (think: Damnation Spring by Ash Davidson or Sharks in the Time of Saviors by Kawai Strong Washburn, which both also deal with both individual and collective trauma)
• Stories that use landscape almost as a character in itself (think: Migrations by Charlotte McConaghy or again, Sharks in the Time of Saviors)
• Working class issues
• Climate fiction
• Rom-coms that demonstrate healthy relationships and diverse experiences
• Stories that play with memories and other ways the mind takes over
• Anything set against an Italian landscape (think Sex & Vanity by Kevin Kwan)
• Would love, love, LOVE a book version of Jane the Virgin
• Anything that revolves around/examines fame and celebrities/celebrity obsession, Hollywood, social media, internet phenomena, music, etc. (think: The Comeback by Ella Berman, We Play Ourselves by Jen Silverman
• Historical fiction that brings new light to lesser-known events that focus on society and don’t directly involve wars (think Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate) 
• Friendship stories (ex: Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow)

Current Reads/Recent Favorites: Counterfeit by Kristin Chen, Done and Dusted by Lyla Sage, Weyward by Emilia Hart, Margot’s Got Money Troubles by Rufi Thorpe

My growing list of clients includes: Rachel Attias, Olivia Crandall, Marina Gross-Hoy, Michelle Gurule, Virginia Hanusik, Victoria Hulbert, and Piper Lane.

Submission Guidelines

Submissions should be emailed to hstrouth@sjga.com

Query Hannah at hstrouth@sjga.com. Please put “Query: [your book’s title] by [your name]” in the subject line. Include a brief pitch letter and the first few chapters in the body of your email, and if Hannah thinks your project might be a good fit for her list, she will be in touch within 4-6 weeks. Due to the volume of queries she receives, she is unable to personally respond to each submission.

Guidelines & Details