{"id":110,"name":"Liv Bignold","url":"liv-bignold","department":{"id":1,"name":"Books","url":"books"},"email":"liv.bignold@cwagency.co.uk","summary":"","bio":"

I joined Conville & Walsh in May 2024 as assistant to Sarah Ballard, having previously spent two years at Curtis Brown supporting Alice Lutyens and, prior to that, Karolina Sutton. Alongside supporting Sarah's fantastic list of clients, I have my own list of authors writing in the literary fiction, non-fiction and upmarket genre space. I have judged several writing competitions - including Scratch A4<\/a>\u00a0and the Bath Short Story Award 2025<\/a>\u00a0- and I'm always interested in opportunities to support prizes and awards, so do reach out if that's of interest.\u00a0In 2023, I\u00a0kickstarted the\u00a0Project North<\/a>\u00a0initiative, and I'm regularly involved in events and workshops aimed at northern writers.\u00a0Before deciding to pursue a career in agenting, I worked in Contracts at HarperCollins and in Rights at an educational publisher. I hold a first-class honours BA in English Literature from the University of Exeter.Although I consider myself an open-minded reader, my taste tends to lean towards literary and book club fiction. I am drawn to the stylish writing of authors like Claire-Louise Bennett, Fernanda Melchor and Miranda July, as well as the excoriating social commentary of writers such as Tony Tulathimutte. I'm always on the lookout for queer stories, whether relatively traditional (Carol<\/i> by Patricia Highsmith) or more rebellious (Sterling Karat Gold<\/i> by Isabel Waidner), but I'm interested in any compelling writing from the periphery of society, such as Wimmy Road Boyz<\/i> by Sufiyaan Salam.\u00a0Some of my favourite writers use well-crafted prose to shed light on obscure subcultures (for example,\u00a0<\/span>Kick the Latch\u00a0<\/i>by Kathryn Scanlan) or to ask big philosophical questions about existence and ethics - J.M. Coetzee, Jamaica Kincaid and Marilynne Robinson embody this for me. I'm actively seeking writers who straddle the line between literary and genre fiction, such as Kate Atkinson and Louise Doughty; high-concept literary fiction in the vein of Emily St. John Mandel or Jordan Prosser (I'm still thinking about Big Time<\/i>); and crossover fiction that chronicles complex interpersonal relationships or reinvents familiar tropes in a fresh way.<\/span><\/p>

I'm passionate about non-fiction rooted in the human experience, particularly if it explores, interrogates or subverts our understanding of the world - for example,\u00a0The Premonitions Bureau <\/i>or Sapiens<\/i>.\u00a0I'd love to hear about any projects that take a new angle on philosophy, psychology and social or cultural history. I have a keen interest in narrative non-fiction, memoir, and essay collections (some of my favourite books in this vein are <\/span>The Years<\/i> by Annie Ernaux, <\/span>The Argonauts <\/i>by Maggie Nelson and<\/span> Famesick<\/i> by Lena Dunham), but I'm only able to take on projects in this area if they have something really striking or unique to say. I am always drawn to anything folk related, whether fiction (folk horror, naturally, but I'd love to see a folk spin on other genres) or non-fiction - for example, I recently devoured Peter Ross' Upon a White Horse<\/i>.<\/span><\/p>

To submit your work to me, please email the first three chapters or 10,000 words of your novel plus a one page synopsis, or a proposal including sample text (for non fiction) to ballardofficesubmissions@cwagency.co.uk. I share a submissions inbox with Sarah so please make sure to address your email to me if you wish me to consider it.<\/b><\/p>","profile_photo":4324,"show_clients":true,"links":{},"meta_tags":"","title":"Agent","assistant":[]}