Alice Fugate graduated from Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee, with a B.A. in English Literature and a concentration in Creative Writing. As an undergraduate she conducted research and wrote for the Mike Curb Institute for Music, competed on the varsity track and field team, and spent a summer studying English literature in London. She moved to New York City to attend the Columbia Publishing Course in the summer of 2018 before starting her career in publishing at Trident Media Group, where she worked for 2.5 years supporting Alyssa Eisner Henkin and working with her great roster of clients, and joined the Joy Harris Literary Agency in 2021, now working with an amazing team in both the children's and the adult spaces. She is currently closed to queries.
Alice is interested in children’s middle grade and young adult, fiction and narrative nonfiction, and select author-illustrator (but also just author!) projects in the picture book and graphic novel spaces. She’s drawn to stories with a classic but fresh feel with distinctive, surprising voices from diverse and underrepresented backgrounds. In children’s literature, she’s partial to animal fables, fairy tale retellings, adventure stories, historical fiction, and heartfelt contemporary stories, especially if they explore the importance of place, the natural world, spirituality, and faith. She loves the wit and whimsy found in the works of Lewis Carroll and Jane Austen, as well as in Studio Ghibli and Wes Anderson films, and the beauty and goodness present in works like The Wind in the Willows, Redwall, and The Chronicles of Narnia. She also enjoys comedies of manners, fun love stories, and stories that explore other cultures and countries, with a particular interest in seeing more stories set in Latin America. Originally from Atlanta, Georgia, Alice has a soft spot for Southern literature, fiction and nonfiction, and would love to work with select adult titles in this space. She’s also interested in representing well-written commercial or literary adult fiction and nonfiction and select, faith-based adult titles. In the adult space, she's also specifically interested in historical fiction, women's fiction, and works that explore faith, religion, music, or nature.
Some specifics things I like and/or want:
Millennial nuns! YA, adult, F or NF: inspired by this article: https://www.huffpost.com/highline/article/millennial-nuns/ I would want it to include the nuns who went on to join the convent, not just the ones who decided not to, so we can see all the different perspectives...
Epistolary novels
I prefer my YA to be a little more sophisticated--almost crossover to adult
I prefer my fantasy, especially middle grade and YA, to be grounded in this world or at least be a portal fantasy
For animal fables: though I love mice and dogs, let's try to introduce new and interesting animals into the cannon, please! There are so many to choose from!
A kids' or teens' guide to world religions (illustrated?)
A modern, updated AUNTIE MAME kind of story, that is more PC without losing the irreverent humor and fun (update: apparently an adult novel that's an ode to Mame is forthcoming in May 2021 (THE GUNCLE) (very exciting) but I'm still open to something in this vein)
I adore Robert MacFarlane and Jackie Morris's THE LOST WORDS/THE LOST SPELLS and Aimee Nezhukumatathil's WOLRD OF WONDERS and would love to see more nature writing for kids that are this whimsical and celebratory (also open to adult works like these)
In a similar vein--wouldn't it be fascinating to have a modern-day MRS. FRISBY AND THE RATS OF NIMH? There are SO many possibilities here!
YA romance that involves a love SQUARE (If you've seen or read FAR FROM THE MADDING CROWD you'll know that she had three men after her, which was way more exciting than the traditional love triangle, and with a YA there could be any number of gender combinations and all sorts of mischief and mayhem)
Historical YA that takes place during one of the dictatorships in Chile or Argentina
Nuanced explorations (fiction or nonfiction) of the complexities of the American South, but I also want to learn more about other parts of the USA too! I think it’s important that there are stories about all the different regions of our country that celebrate, critique, and explore the nuances of what it means to be from these places and to exist in them. Place matters!
A walking/running story like LILLIAN BOXFISH TAKES A WALK or like parts of CAMILLA by Madeleine L'Engle, but NOT set in New York City. What about Vancouver? San Francisco? Charleston? What about a story that is basically Forrest Gump’s cross country run but from his perspective and where the main action occurs while he’s running?
Rhode Island is such a dreamy little state--I'd love a story set there
LIFE OF PI for middle grade or YA -- I'd love to see a story where the main character engages in this kind of cosmic questioning with such honesty and humor
Things I'm not a great fit for:
Aliens, outer space, hardcore sci-fi...
Vampires, werewolves, paranormal romance (I am of the Twilight generation but not a fan)
Horror stories
Novels in verse (occasionally I can be convinced otherwise, but very rarely)
Dystopian/Apocalyptic
Stories set in NYC--I love it, it's great, but there are so many NYC stories already...
