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.

Member Reviews of Natalie

Exactly what I needed!

Natalie gave incredibly helpful and constructive feedback on my query, going through it section by section. It was exactly what I needed! She was extremely generous with answering my questions, too.

Ellen Adair

Natalie Edwards’ consultation was nothing short of phenomenal. She gave specific, productive feedback on every bit from query letter to my pages, answered questions with specific ideas, and listened to what I had to say with ready willingness to give me other options from an original suggestion she may have had. She checked to see if I was ready to move on before she did so, and the overall consultation was far more interactive than I could have hoped for. I will say that I asked for a “10” on the scale of “Kind to Brutal” and she was nothing short of gentle, patient, and kind throughout although every word was constructive. If you are lucky enough to get an appointment with her, book her sooner rather than later.

Kerry Brown

Natalie was wonderful! She gave thoughtful, actionable feedback that I was able to immediately use to improve my query letter and manuscript, and was so encouraging!

Mary Bozarth

Natalie was very helpful and I am amazed at how much editing advice she was able to give in such a short space of time.
It was a pleasure speaking to her and learning from her.

Judy Dercksen

My consultation with Natalie was exceptionally helpful. She brought me up to speed on the current conventions around query writing, beyond what I found in my own research, and suggested a brilliant edit to my first few pages. Her feedback was direct yet kind and, more importantly, it was completely in line with the spirit of my book.

Jay O'Shea

Natalie asked questions that my query provoked, plot or character directions she wanted to know more about, which in turn gave me tidbits of interest I could insert to make it better. When you have a complicated book, knowing what specifics resonate with people helps limit what is helpful, and what isn’t. Our meeting was short, but helpful.

Amy Lee Wheeler

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.

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

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 within 24 hours of thedate on the calendar.