I assist Andrew Gordon and Jessica Woollard and am also starting to build my own list of literary fiction, narrative non-fiction, and poetry. Both of their lists cover a very broad range of disciplines and genres but are unified by a boundless curiosity and the firm belief that quality writing can make any subject sing. This uncynical and passionate approach is something I hope to emulate.

I am looking for bold literary and upmarket fiction that makes me sit up and pay attention at a sentence level. Be it a multi-generational family saga or an anatomy of a single day, I am drawn to novels that can balance emotional complexity with a close attention to language and voice. I deeply admire novelists who are confident enough to deem the intimate and domestic of literary importance, such as Claire Keegan, Colm Tóibín and Elizabeth Strout. On the flipside, I equally love books which upturn the very idea of ‘the everyday’ – either by exposing what is absurd and hilarious about the banal like Open Throat and There But Tor The, or those which play with the uncanny such as O Caledonia and May We Feed the King. I am just as likely to read a book about a reclusive sculptor as a sardonic millenial, so long as there is a consistent voice and a cast of well-wrought characters.

On the more upmarket side, I am looking for books which can marry this skillful attention to voice with a great concept, like The Husbands, In Memoriam and Green Dot. I often reach for books by David Sedaris, Zadie Smith and Helen Fielding to make me laugh and so would also love to work with a writer with similar comedic flair.

And at the more literary end, I welcome submissions that inventively engage with form. Whether this is exploring genre, intertextuality, other art forms, or a playful engagement with the slippage between fiction and non-fiction, text and surface – such creative ambition always excites me. Artful, Trust, Kick the Latch, Real Estate and Biography of X and The Hypocrite are a few of my favourites for this reason.

On the non-fiction side, I am interested in both narrative non-fiction and more experimental work. I would love to hear from journalists and academics who have a fervent passion for their subject. I especially enjoy books which use a hyper-specific (and often mistakenly overlooked) focus to unpick a thread which then causes the whole tapestry to unravel. I love coming away from a work of non-fiction feeling like I have been given a tiny key which unlocks a whole new way of thinking. This could be anything from lichen to money laundering  – so long as the focus opens out to bigger philosophical or political questions.

I am keen to learn something new and therefore welcome surprising and niche submissions. However, my main areas of personal interest are social history, anthropology, subcultures, art and design. I am also very interested in food writing, especially where food is used as a lens to explore bigger questions relating to memory, social capital and place.

In addition to more straight narrative non-fiction, I enjoy reading creative scholarship, cultural criticism, essays and memoir. I also have a soft spot for literary biographies.

There is so much more that I could mention here, but I am actively searching for writers who combine intellect, intention and feeling and would love to hear from new authors.