Iris Blasi is a New York–based Arc Literary Management agent with nearly two decades of multi-role publishing experience who hunts for voice-driven literary and commercial fiction, upmarket mysteries and thrillers, and deeply researched nonfiction rooted in feminism, nature, social justice, or a writer's consuming obsession.
In brief
Blasi's professional background is unusually broad — she has held editorial, marketing, publicity, and consulting roles at major houses before becoming an agent, giving her a full-picture view of a book's commercial life that few agents can match.
Her stated fiction tastes cluster tightly around a single tonal sweet spot: witty, character-dense ensemble stories, compressed-timeline or single-setting dramas, and campus or boarding-school settings — if your novel fits two or more of those boxes, she is an unusually targeted reader.
On the nonfiction side, her academic background (a Princeton BA in English with Gender Studies, an NYU master's with a thesis on Dawn Powell) telegraphs where her personal passions lie — intersectional feminism, cultural criticism, and the kind of obsessive deep-dive that begins as a scholarly or journalistic fixation and becomes a book.
Her public enthusiasm for Linda Holmes's work — she posted about a Holmes book launch with clear personal excitement — confirms that smart, warm, voice-forward commercial fiction is not just a category she represents but one she genuinely reads and loves.
Her pre-agenting tenure at Pegasus Books as both Marketing Director and Senior Editor means she understands the retail and publicity machinery a book must survive after the sale — a practical advantage she can offer debut clients in particular.
Lately
Blasi posted publicly to celebrate the launch of a book by a client, noting it was the perfect read for difficult times — smart, funny, and uplifting — and singling out the author's audiobook narration as a special pleasure for existing fans of the author's media work. The enthusiasm was clearly personal, not just promotional.
What Iris is looking for
Blasi wants fiction with a genuinely distinctive voice above all else. She gravitates toward ensemble casts reunited by a high-stakes event — a wedding, a funeral, a reunion — and stories that unfold in a single location or compressed time frame. Campus settings (boarding schools, colleges) are a particular draw. A gently comedic undertone is welcome, even preferred. Think character-rich, emotionally intelligent, and propulsive without being genre-hard.
She is specifically after mysteries and thrillers that sit at the literary or commercial-upmarket end of the spectrum — projects where strong writing and character depth matter as much as plot mechanics. Authors she admires in adjacent territory include Megan Abbott, which suggests she responds to psychological tension, female interiority, and social unease as drivers of suspense rather than pure procedural plotting.
Blasi is drawn to biography and memoir as well as history told through a compelling personal or journalistic lens. Her NYU thesis on Dawn Powell signals a real affection for deep-dive literary biography and cultural recovery projects. Books that begin from a writer's consuming personal or academic obsession — what she calls a 'quirky' fixation — are exactly what she hopes to find.
Conservation, climate change, and the natural world are areas of strong personal interest. She is well positioned for narrative-forward science and nature writing, particularly when it intersects with environmental justice or cultural stakes — not just data-driven reporting but storytelling that makes readers care.
Blasi welcomes cultural criticism, pop-culture analysis, and politically engaged nonfiction, including work on social and racial justice. Her own writing has appeared in arts-and-culture venues, and her feminist academic background informs what she finds compelling in this space — she is especially interested in work that uses an intersectional lens.
Feminism — and specifically intersectional feminism — is called out as a strong personal interest. This spans memoir, cultural criticism, history, and narrative nonfiction. Projects that center women's lives, reclaim overlooked histories, or engage critically with gender and power from a nuanced, non-monolithic perspective align closely with her graduate training and ongoing interests.
Not the right fit
On Iris's list
Taste fingerprint
How to query Iris
Lead with tonal comps she will recognize: if your novel sits near Jami Attenberg, Curtis Sittenfeld, Emma Straub, or Megan Abbott, name them explicitly — she has told writers these names are the roadmap.
For fiction, identify your structural hook immediately: does your story unfold over a single compressed event? Is it set on a campus? Does it reunite an ensemble? These are precisely the features she calls out — don't bury them.
For nonfiction, frame the origin of your obsession. Blasi responds to the writer who became consumed by a subject — academic, journalistic, or deeply personal. Explain not just what the book is about but what drove you to it.
Her feminist and social-justice interests are substantive, not decorative — if your nonfiction engages these themes with rigor and an intersectional lens, say so directly rather than gesturing vaguely at 'important topics.'
Voice is the top criterion for fiction. If your opening pages don't demonstrate a distinctly individual narrative voice, revise before querying — a compelling plot summary will not substitute for the voice on the page.
She has a genuine background in marketing and publicity. A brief, clear articulation of your target readership and why this book is timely is not out of place in your query — it speaks to her whole-book sensibility.
Confirm the current submission format (query letter, pages, synopsis) on the live Arc Literary site before sending, as specific requirements may be updated independently of her general openness to queries.