madeline wallace, associate agent

Madeline is seeking literary and upmarket fiction, as well as select narrative nonfiction and memoir. She is committed to advocating for voices that have been underrepresented in publishing. 

In fiction, Madeline loves to lose herself in unputdownable stories with characters that transcend the page. More specifically, she would love to receive coming-of-age novels from adult perspectives, especially ones that turn tropes on their heads and offer engrossing, offbeat perspectives. She appreciates novels with distinct sociopolitical contexts, welcomes satire and surrealism as long as the overall work is grounded, and falls for anything with a biting sense of humor. She would love to see intergenerational or domestic sagas with crackling characters and vibrant prose. She also appreciates suspenseful, literary-leaning novels with smart twists. Ultimately, fiction needs to be multidimensional, progressive, and unique in the way it delivers its message.

In the nonfiction space, she is hoping for books that explore pop culture, examining celebrity and fandom through a critical lens. She would also love to receive intimate narratives that interrogate institutions and systems, books that grapple with relationships between food and body image, and memoirs with family-centered narratives, particularly ones that excavate surprising histories. 

Madeline joined the Greenburger team after internships with Writers House and the Feminist Press. A Midwesterner at heart, she grew up in Indiana and graduated from Earlham College. She serves as the second assistant to Heide Lange and feels fortunate every day to work with Heide’s esteemed clients. You can follow her endless stream of retweets @life_by_maddie. 

To submit your work: Query Madeline at mwallace@sjga.com. Please put “Query: [PROJECT TITLE]” in the subject line, followed by your name. Please include a query letter in the body of your email and, as a .docx or .pages attachment, the first 15–20 pages of the work, or your full nonfiction proposal. If your manuscript meets the requirements of her list, Madeline will respond within 4–6 weeks with a decline or interest in the full manuscript.