Hana E-N

I am a Literary Agent and the Rights Manager at CookeMcDermid. In addition to representing the agency’s clients outside of North America, I represent a small, selective list of clients directly. I am primarily seeking to represent authors of colour and other marginalized writers working in commercial and genre fiction (science fiction & fantasy, romance, horror, book club, etc.) and non-fiction.

In fiction, across genres, I am drawn to character-driven stories, featuring complex, nuanced protagonists, unlikely heroes, morally grey/ambiguous characters, anti-heroes, and anti-villains.

In non-fiction, I am keenly interested in well-researched but accessible works exploring systemic issues and how they play out in our day-to-day lives.

I am primarily interested in works for adults and older YA audiences.

2025 UPDATE:

• Romance:
  • Historical Romance specifically by and featuring marginalized characters. Some of my favourites include works by: Olivia Waite, Courtney Milan, and Cat Sebastian.
  • Genre-blending Romance: Horror-romance, mystery-romance, thriller-romance, you name it! As long as you can guarantee a HEA/HFN, I’m keen to see it!
  • In general, in romance, I tend to like my main characters and storylines with a bit of bite/kick, and I probably wouldn’t be the best fit for things that are on the sweeter/wholesome side.
• Romantic Fantasy & Romantasy:
  • In romantasy, I am prioritizing marginalized writers and stories. Also, it is very important to me that the fantasy/worldbuilding and the romance are given equal space and attention.
  • Additionally, I want to see more romantic fantasy that might feature strong romantic storyline/s but not necessarily fit the ‘romantasy’ label. For example, I have been revisiting some favourites such as Tasha Suri’s Books of Ambha duology and N. K. Jemisin’s Inheritence trilogy, both of which feature strong romantic storylines but a HEA/HFN is not necessarily guaranteed.
• Lovers-to-Enemies storylines:
  • I know we all love a good, juicy enemies-to-lovers storyline but I am especially keen to see the opposite! Lovers-to-enemies where the tension, betrayal, mind games, and angst are off the charts, where they may want nothing more than to go back to the way things were but it’s impossible and goes against everything each one stands for but the feelings are still there. I am also open to platonic/non-romantic versions of this.
• Sentient House/Place:
  • This one has been on my wishlist for a while, and I will keep sharing it until I find my sentient house manuscript!! And I mean ‘house’ in the loosest sense of the word; it could be a forest, a lake, a shack, a room. I want a sentient ‘place’ that messes with its inhabitants; it doesn’t need to be malicious, but I do love when it’s a bit of a jerk. On a serious note, I’m intrigued by stories where said sentient ‘house’ is connected to/reflecting on intergenerational trauma, colonial legacies, dark histories, for example, a darker version of the ENCANTO house!
• Speculative YA set in our world: I am particularly keen to see stories that are or play with horror and fabulist fiction.
• Some recent favourite reads include:
  • The Perfect Crimes of Marian Hayes by Cat Sebastian
  • The Queen of Blood by Sarah Beth Durst
  • Delicious Monsters by Liselle Sambury
  • Never Been Better by Leanne Toshiko Simpson
  • The Queens of Innis Lear by Tessa Gratton
  • Act Your Age, Eve Brown by Talia Hibbert

2024 UPDATE:

• Simon Jimenez’s THE VANISHED BIRDS, Micaiah Johnson’s THE SPACE BETWEEN WORLDS, and Martha Wells’ MURDERBOT books: exploration of trauma, and how capitalism inherently commodifies everything and everyone it touches, and depictions of future worlds that are scarily plausible.
• S. L. Huang’s BURNING ROSES: found family again; interesting, unique take on fairytales; female friendship; exploration of redemption/what it takes to get a second chance.
• Noura Erakat’s JUSTICE FOR SOME: non-fiction deconstructing international law and how it was designed with western, colonial interests in mind, and the repercussions on our lives and politics today.
• 3 Historical Fantasies:
  • Shelley Parker Parker-Chan’s SHE WHO BECAME THE SUN: relentless, undeterred characters; history but make it fruity; the angst of chasing a destiny that you don’t even want but feel bound to fulfill!
  • J.J.A. Harwood’s THE THORNS REMAIN and Shauna Lawless’s THE CHILDREN OF GODS AND FIGHTING MEN: enjoyed that the Western settings and time periods that aren’t as commonly explored (Scottish and Irish respectively); malevolent fae and other magical characters.
• TV Shows & Movies:
  • Andor (2022)
  • House of the Dragon (2022)
  • Moon Knight (2022)
  • Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022)
  • The Last of Us (2023)

Submission Guidelines

Please submit through Query Manager on the link provided below!

Guidelines & Details