Cole Hildebrand
Jean V. Naggar Literary Agency
My Manuscript Wish List®
I began my publishing career as an Assistant Editor at YesYes Books, going on to become Managing Editor for the press, whose list includes award-winning authors such as Elizabeth Acevedo, Justin Phillip Reed, Danez Smith, Michael Wasson, Kayleb Rae Candrilli, and many others. I joined JVNLA in 2021, working alongside agency President Jennifer Weltz, and am now building my list, seeking adult literary fiction, narrative non-fiction, essays, and poetry, with a particular interest in queer voices.
In fiction, I’m looking for contemporary literary and experimental work, and am open to novels that blur genre elements in surprising or unconventional ways. I am drawn character and voice driven stories that play with form and narrative structure, that are told with distinctive, breathtaking prose. As a reader, what engages me is not so much the plot of a story–rather, I’m interested in the unique ways that story is told, from structure to POV to narrative voice. My favorite books are ones that crack open the possibilities of fiction and transfigure human experience into something unfamiliar yet utterly convincing. While I’m always open to being surprised, some specific interests include coming-of-age stories; queer erotica; body horror; light, grounded speculative fiction; surrealism; marginalized or underrepresented perspectives; queer characters; explorations of disability and chronic illness; stories about found families; books about art; books that blend the personal and political; emotionally or thematically potent short stories; complex narrative structures and ambitious concepts; and books with an absurd or off-beat sense of humor.
In non-fiction, I’m drawn to journalism that engages with social justice and radical thought through personal narrative and historical illumination; intimate cultural studies; books that correct the historical record; rousing calls to action; memoirs with experimental narrative and formal structures; compelling environmental studies; well-researched books on mental health; books that center queer experience; stories about labor organizing and housing justice, immigration justice, and PIC abolition; anti-colonial and anti-capitalist viewpoints; any book that shifts readers towards new and empowering perspectives.
While I’m open to many genres and topics, I’m not the right person for:
- Espionage
- Crime
- Detective Mystery
- Military and police narratives
- Traditional Historical, Romance, Sci-fi, Horror, or Thriller
- Epic or High Fantasy
- Humor that punches down
- Cookbooks
- Business/Finance
- Self-Help
Submission Guidelines
Submissions should be emailed to childebrand@jvnla.com
You may visit www.jvnla.com to submit your query, under the “How to Submit” tab. If you’re emailing your query directly, please put Query + Title in the subject line.
Vital Info
I’d like the next…
- The Emissary
- Anything with the atmosphere of Aftersun, Shoplifters, or The Lighthouse
- A well-researched non-fiction book in the vein of Strangers to Ourselves or The Lonely City
My favorites include…
Some Books I Love:
The Vegetarian, Don’t Let Me Be Lonely, Strangers To Ourselves, Biography of X, Severance, If I Survive You, The Sluts, Confessions of the Fox, Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow, Beloved, Whereas, Autobiography of Red, Annihilation, The Idiot, Minor Feelings, i be, but i aint, Warmth: Coming of Age at the End of the World, Gay Bar: Why We Went Out, Look, Pathetic Literature, When We Cease To Understand The World, The Lonely City, The Emissary, The Haunting of Hajji Hotak, Carceral Capitalism, The God of Small Things, Ghost Of, feeld, Don’t Call Us Dead
Movies:
Aftersun, Mulholland Drive, Tangerine, Shoplifters, Sound of Metal, God’s Own Country, Arrival, The Handmaiden, A Cinderella Story (Hillary Duff), Moonlight, Perfect Blue, The Lighthouse, Spirited Away, Bamako, Shrek, The Fly, Fire Island, Tár, Princess Mononoke, Midsommar, The Florida Project, La Haine, Beau Travail, Close, The Banshees of Inisherin, Barbarian, Roma, Saint Maud, Parasite, Luce, Grave of the Fireflies, Eyes Wide Shut, Adaptation, Bicycle Thieves, Persona, Infinity Pool
TV:
The Other Two, Abbott Elementary, Russian Doll, Succession, Barry, Station Eleven, Severance, RHONY, Spongebob, Big Little Lies, Squid Game, Community, 30 Rock, Mr. Robot, Insecure, Bojack Horseman, Arrested Development
