Natalie Edwards, Trellis Literary

Natalie Edwards joined Trellis Literary after nearly two years at Janklow & Nesbit Associates. Prior to that, she worked at Curtis Brown, Ltd. At Trellis, Natalie supports Allison Hunter, while actively building a list of her own.

In terms of fiction, she is seeking commercial, upmarket, and literary projects. She enjoys narratives of queerness and diaspora (i.e., Patsy), hidden histories, complex friendship stories (i.e. Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow), workplace satires/sendups of #girlbosses, and anything that offers biting social commentary and disrupts conventional wisdom. She is particularly drawn to accessible voices with a literary sensibility, in the vein of Ann Patchett and Zadie Smith, especially when they let her in on a subculture or historical truth she’s never encountered before. She’s always on the lookout for grounded speculative novels with subtle elements of magical realism, especially those infused with folklore, and she has a particular interest in narratives where faith and queerness intersect (i.e., You Exist Too Much). She is also open to considering short story collections with clear unifying themes.

In the nonfiction space, she is looking for issue-driven hybrid memoirs (think H is for Hawk or In the Darkroom), which combine personal stories with research/reportage; journalistic narrative nonfiction like Say Nothing or Bad Blood; and cultural histories about music, film, food, art, and sports. She enjoys working with journalists and critics whose connection to their material runs deep, and she loves to watch the implosion of a scam unfold.

Natalie is not looking for: high fantasy or sci-fi, erotica, gratuitously violent horror, commercial romance (unless it’s queer), commercial thrillers/procedurals, cozy mysteries, prescriptive/how-tos, celebrity memoir, cookbooks, business/finance, religion/spirituality, coffee table/photography/design books, or children’s books for any level (picture books, MG, YA, New Adult).

Natalie grew up in Pasadena, California and attended Bowdoin College, where she earned her BA in English with a minor in History and played four years of varsity softball. She lives in Brooklyn and still plays softball here in the city.

Work with Natalie

LIVE Meetings: Meet face-to-face, from home. Choose Zoom, Google Meet, or phone, and speak for the appointed time about your query, first page, and/or first ten pages (for longer meetings). Does not include written notes, but is a chance to have an honest discussion about your work, and to ask follow-up questions. International meetings welcomed.

WRITTEN Critiques: Get detailed, thoughtful notes on your work. Comes with large-scale edits (character, world, plot, tension, concept, conflict, and similar as needed) in an editorial letter and small-scale, line-by-line notes as needed (for longer critiques, an average of three per page). Work arrives in your inbox by the date on the calendar.

HYBRID is a live meeting at the appointment time, with written notes.