Elizabeth Guthrie is a Toronto-based associate agent at P.S. Literary Agency whose twin careers — one in trauma-informed integrative medicine, one in books — make her the rare agent who can sell a dark psychological thriller and a rigorous wellness title with equal authority.
In brief
Her academic background (PhD in Natural Medicine, Master of Public Health in functional nutrition) is a genuine differentiator: expert-driven wellness, popular psychology, and narrative science are not afterthoughts for her — they sit at the center of her nonfiction list.
On the fiction side, her wish list skews dark and speculative: psychological thrillers, gothic horror, literary fantasy, and romantasy are all named priorities, suggesting she gravitates toward books where the internal landscape of a character is as treacherous as the external world.
She came to P.S. Literary after time at Lucinda Literary, so she arrives with hands-on deal-making experience — not a blank slate.
Her sub-genre list is strikingly diverse in cultural scope: African fantasy, Asian fantasy, BIPOC literature, and LGBTQ+ romance all appear as explicit interests, signaling a genuine commitment to publishing voices from underrepresented communities.
No confirmed sales record is available in the source data, so writers cannot yet benchmark her by imprint relationships or bestseller track — but the breadth of her stated list means she is likely building across multiple categories simultaneously, making her a potentially high-upside bet for writers in any of her named areas.
Lately
Her agency profile confirms she is actively acquiring across both fiction and nonfiction, with a stated enthusiasm for character-driven plots that deliver a clever twist and for nonfiction authored by genuine subject-matter experts.
What Elizabeth is looking for
She wants character-driven plots that land a genuinely clever, earned twist — not just a surprise for its own sake, but one that reframes everything before it. Domestic suspense and literary thrillers both qualify. If your protagonist's inner world is as dangerous as the plot around her, this is a strong fit.
This is her widest fiction lane: literary fantasy, high fantasy, epic fantasy, gothic fantasy, adult romantasy, fantasy romance, and LGBTQ+ fantasy are all named. She is especially drawn to fantasy grounded in reality, modernized mythologies, fairy-tale retellings, and African and Asian fantasy traditions — meaning culturally specific world-building with literary ambition is a genuine sweet spot.
She welcomes historical fiction broadly, with particular interest when it intersects with her other passions — gothic sensibility, LGBTQ+ perspectives, mythology, or military history. The emphasis on character-driven plots applies here too; pure plot-engine historicals are a harder sell than ones rooted in a richly drawn inner life.
Among romance sub-genres, she explicitly calls out fantasy romance/romantasy, historical romance, and LGBTQ+ romance. Contemporary romance without a speculative or historical element is not called out, so lean into the sub-genre if you have it.
Gothic fiction, gothic horror, literary horror, and psychological horror all appear in her sub-genre list. The throughline is interiority: she wants horror that unsettles psychologically, not just viscerally.
She lists apocalyptic, dystopian, post-apocalyptic, and African sci-fi as interests, with feminist SF/F and speculative fiction broadly welcomed. This reads as a genuine interest but slightly less foregrounded than her fantasy and thriller categories.
One of her most clearly stated nonfiction passions. No specific sub-type is excluded, suggesting she is open across the spectrum from historical cold cases to contemporary investigations.
She singles out music as a special interest, and is candid that blues and classic rock are her personal touchstones — though she notes an openness to almost any genre. A well-told music biography, cultural history, or scene-defining narrative would land well here.
She wants character-driven, pop-history-style narrative — not dry academic chronicle. Ancient civilizations and the history of ideas are named as particular draws. Art history is also on her list.
Her PhD and public-health background make this genuinely personal territory. She is seeking expert-driven wellness (not generic self-help), popular psychology, mental health, neurodiversity, and popular science with a focus on biology or physics. The word 'expert-driven' is load-bearing: credentials or deep reporting matter more here than platform alone.
She lists BIPOC literature, LGBTQ+ fiction and nonfiction, cultural criticism, marginalized voices, and Asian American literature as areas of interest across both fiction and nonfiction. This appears as an identity-based lens that runs across categories rather than a stand-alone genre.
Listed in her nonfiction categories. No specific detail is given, but the pairing with history and true crime suggests narrative, personality-driven biography is more her speed than authorized corporate or political biography.
Not the right fit
Taste fingerprint
How to query Elizabeth
Email your query to query@psliterary.com and address it directly to Elizabeth Guthrie — the agency asks writers to name the agent they believe is the best match.
Paste everything into the body of the email. Attachments are not accepted under any circumstances.
Your query letter should follow a strict three-paragraph structure: (1) title, category, word count, and a brief framing; (2) a back-cover-style overview that hooks like jacket copy; (3) a bio that foregrounds relevant credentials, awards, or affiliations.
Paste the first ten pages of your manuscript directly below the query letter — no separate file, no link.
If your project is under consideration elsewhere, say so in the query. The agency expects this disclosure.
Do not query more than one P.S. Literary agent at the same time. If you receive no response within four to six weeks, treat that as a pass — no follow-up calls.
For nonfiction, lead your bio paragraph with your expert credentials. Her stated preference for 'expert-driven' nonfiction means your authority in the subject is as important as the concept itself.
For psychological thrillers and literary horror, name your twist in the query — she specifically values clever, earned reveals, so signaling that yours exists (even obliquely) tells her the payoff is there.
If your fiction draws on African, Asian, or LGBTQ+ cultural traditions, say so clearly. These are not incidental interests for her; they are named priorities.
Do not follow up by phone or social media — the agency only accepts and responds to email communication.