Hannah Weatherill

I joined Watson, Little in 2024 after four years as an agent at Northbank Talent Management and a year at Penguin Random House UK. I’m building a varied list of commercial and upmarket fiction and non-fiction, and authors I’ve represented have been listed for prizes including the Women’s Prize, the British Book Awards, the Jhalak Prize, the Comedy Women in Print Prize and the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize for Comic Fiction. I have always read widely and love working strategically with authors, helping them develop new ideas beyond the debut or to pivot into a new genre. As I also represent book-to-screen rights for the agency, I’m closely connected with the international film/TV industry and am always thinking about how to maximise opportunities beyond the book.

I’m always looking for excellent writing which marries a strong voice with a catchy concept and a compelling plot, but more specifically, in fiction, I love to represent:

• Crime and thriller novels with a confident voice, a clear hook and a fresh approach – especially if it says something about the world we live in today. I’ve recently enjoyed the structure of Wrong Place, Wrong Time by Gillian McAllister, the fun voice and family dynamics of My Sister, The Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite and the holiday setting of Murder on Lake Garda by Tom Hindle. I’m also interested in books with a slight horror angle.
• Love stories, whether that’s a smart romcom like Book Lovers by Emily Henry or Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld, an intimate coming-of-age love story like Open Water by Caleb Azumah Nelson or a big, weepy epic.
• General contemporary fiction about complicated people, families and lives, often when there’s a mystery at its heart. Some of my recent favourites include Really Good, Actually by Monica Heisey, I’m Sorry You Feel That Way by Rebecca Wait, and All My Mothers by Joanna Cannon.
• I also take on a small amount of historical fiction, generally set in the 19^th and 20^th centuries – so I’m not the best fit for books set much further back in time or myth retellings.

In non-fiction, I’m always looking for a strong narrative voice and a new insight into an experience or place which illuminates, interrogates, or helps us make sense of our modern world. I’d love to see proposals across the following genres:

• Lifestyle and wellbeing
• Narrative non-fiction such as memoir, nature writing, and investigative journalism
• Cookbooks and food writing
• Thought-provoking non-fiction across the arts and academia.

Over the years, I’ve loved The Salt Path by Raynor Winn, The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls, The Five by Hallie Rubenhold, Manifest by Roxie Nafousi and The Story of Art Without Men by Katy Hessel.

I’m not the right agent for sci-fi, fantasy or action thrillers, and I’m currently not accepting children’s and YA novels, scripts or poetry.