Claire Draper is the founder of Au Literary Management and a career-long advocate for queer, BIPOC, and disabled storytellers, hunting for funny, hopeful, body-positive commercial fiction — especially adult romance and graphic novels — with tropes, spice, and mandatory happy endings.
In brief
Claire launched Au Literary Management in 2025 after nearly a decade climbing the ranks at three established agencies, which means they bring serious institutional experience to an independent shop still building its list — early queriers get a real shot at a founder-level relationship.
Their wishlist is unusually specific and politically explicit: they name categories of content they will not represent (stories featuring Nazis, Zionists, ICE, police, military, and conservative ideals), so writers should read the 'Don't Send' list as carefully as the 'Send Me' list.
Adult romance is the clearest priority: they want monsters, polycules, morally-gray-but-secretly-soft love interests, trades workers, and characters over 30 — a notably specific set of signals that rewards writers who can match the brief exactly.
The wishlist specifies 'select picture books' on the agency page despite the submission wishlist explicitly excluding picture books as a prose category — this likely means picture books from author-illustrators only; if you are a picture-book author without illustration, do not query.
As a newer agency with a lean team (Claire plus a VP of Client IP Strategy), the value proposition is hands-on access and long-term partnership-building at a moment when the list is open and growing.
Lately
Claire founded Au Literary Management in 2025 after holding agent roles at three separate agencies going back to 2016, positioning the new shop as a boutique built around their specific taste for hopeful, funny, identity-forward commercial fiction.
What Claire is looking for
This is Claire's clearest passion category. They want body-positive romance with real tropes, extra heat, and happy endings — no exceptions on the HEA. Specific elements on their radar: monster love interests, polycule and triad configurations, main characters over 30, trades workers and union jobs, fat protagonists, disabled protagonists, and love interests who read as morally gray but are secretly soft-hearted. Queer romance is strongly prioritized. The writing itself needs to earn laughs on the sentence level. Nearly any romance subgenre is welcome provided it respects the body-positivity requirement and the consent standards they name.
Claire represents graphic novels across upper middle grade, young adult, new adult, and adult audiences — a wide age range that signals genuine enthusiasm for the form rather than a narrow niche. They prize art with a distinctive, instantly recognizable visual voice that pushes against conventional styles. Strong themes of love, friendship, and queerness are the content hallmarks they keep returning to. Diverse casts across any setting or genre are welcome. They also review illustrator portfolios, and ask illustrators to indicate whether they work solo or as author-illustrators.
Claire wants YA stories grounded in ordinary, relatable challenges rather than high-concept genre premises — the emotional weight comes from how the protagonist navigates everyday life, not from external plot machinery. Lighthearted tone and emotional resonance are both required. Note: young adult genre fiction (fantasy, sci-fi, thriller, etc.) is explicitly outside what they are seeking; this slot is strictly for contemporary and romance within YA.
Claire gravitates toward memoirs anchored in humor and a perspective that feels genuinely fresh — they want to be surprised by the lens the writer brings. Writers with unconventional or underrepresented life experiences are especially encouraged to query.
Adult nonfiction is on the list, though Claire offers less granular guidance here than for fiction. The same overarching preferences — accessible writing, a distinct voice, a hopeful or humorous angle — likely apply. Business books are explicitly excluded, so practical or prescriptive nonfiction is not the right fit.
The agency page lists 'select picture books' as part of Claire's representation scope, but the submission wishlist explicitly excludes picture book prose writers. Read together, this almost certainly means Claire will consider picture books only from author-illustrators — writers who are also the artists. If you write picture book text and are not illustrating it yourself, do not query this category.
Not the right fit
Taste fingerprint
How to query Claire
Read the 'Don't Send' list as carefully as the 'Send Me' list — the political and content exclusions are specific and firm, and a query that inadvertently touches any of them is a quick rejection regardless of craft.
Lead with identity and tone in your query letter: Claire explicitly prioritizes queer, BIPOC, and disabled creators, and wants to know immediately whether the book is funny, body-positive, and ends happily.
For adult romance, name your tropes up front and be specific — 'morally gray love interest who is secretly soft,' 'fat protagonist,' 'polycule structure' — these are the exact signals Claire has said they are hunting for.
For graphic novels, say something about the art style in your query, even briefly. Claire emphasizes a distinct, recognizable visual voice as a key criterion.
If you are querying picture books, make absolutely clear that you are the illustrator as well as the writer; picture books from text-only writers are not accepted.
Claire came up through major agencies before going independent, so professionalism in your query materials is expected — follow submission guidelines exactly.
Because Au Literary Management is a newer agency still building its list, this is a strong moment to query if your work fits: Claire is actively acquiring and a confirmed deal relationship would be a founding-list placement.