Jade Wong-Baxter is a New York–based agent at Frances Goldin Literary Agency who champions voice-driven adult literary and upmarket fiction alongside socially engaged narrative nonfiction, with a particular focus on AAPI writers, marginalized perspectives, and work that blends specific subcultures with broader human questions.
In brief
Her confirmed client list already punches above its weight: it includes a Lambda Literary Award finalist (Chris Belcher's PRETTY BABY) and a USA Today bestseller (Courtney Preiss's WELCOME HOME CAROLINE KLINE), signaling she has both literary credibility and commercial reach despite being a relatively new agent.
Her sales skew toward upmarket fiction with strong cultural specificity — immigrant families, queer identity, reproductive justice — suggesting she is most energized by work where identity is structural to the story, not decorative.
A February 2025 public note confirms she is actively seeking more voice-driven upmarket fiction to balance a growing nonfiction load; writers with propulsive, character-forward novels are well-timed right now.
She draws a firm line at high fantasy and science fiction — 'grounded speculative' means our-world strangeness only — and her agency page now explicitly adds science fiction to the exclusion, so genre writers should read that carefully.
Her touchstone comp titles (Zevin, Ozeki, Adjei-Brenyah, Alderton) reveal a taste for books that are emotionally ambitious and commercially readable at once — neither purely literary nor purely plot-driven.
Lately
In a February 2025 post, she noted she is currently working with a meaningful volume of nonfiction and is actively looking to bring in more voice-driven upmarket fiction to rebalance her list. She flagged a taste for books that carry a spark of genre strangeness alongside emotional warmth, citing recent reads as examples of the tone she is craving.
What Jade is looking for
This is her primary focus. She wants fiction that pairs a distinctive, commanding voice with genuine narrative momentum — prose that moves. She is especially drawn to coming-of-age stories written for an adult audience, novels that center queer identity, immigrant family dynamics, and AAPI or Asian diaspora experiences. Stories set within a specific subculture or hidden world (sports, music, fan culture, etc.) are a recurring interest, as are novels with a grounded speculative element — provided they stay anchored in the real world. No high fantasy, no science fiction.
She has a specific appetite for smart, emotionally grounded romantic comedies pitched at the Emily Henry readership — commercial in appeal but with real literary substance underneath. The tone she gravitates toward is warm and witty rather than frothy.
She is currently handling a significant nonfiction slate and is highly selective about what she adds, but cultural criticism and social-justice-oriented journalism remain core interests. Projects that fuse intimate personal narrative with rigorous sociological or public-policy framing are exactly what she is looking for. Linked essay collections in this vein are also welcome.
Memoir that threads personal experience through a larger cultural or sociological lens is her preference — not purely confessional, but stories where the individual life illuminates something structural about race, identity, family, or community.
One of her most consistent stated priorities across every iteration of her wishlist. She is particularly interested in Southeast Asian American perspectives, hidden or underrepresented histories, and nonfiction that excavates subcultures or communities that mainstream publishing has overlooked.
Food as a lens onto culture, identity, memory, or community — not instructional or prescriptive writing. The frame is literary and narrative throughout.
Books examining reproductive rights and equity, particularly those grounded in reporting, policy analysis, or community-centered storytelling.
A more recently surfaced interest: narrative nonfiction rooted in ecology, natural history, or outdoor culture, written with literary ambition rather than a purely popular-science approach.
Not the right fit
On Jade's list
Taste fingerprint
How to query Jade
Send a query letter plus the first 5–10 pages of your manuscript pasted directly into the body of the email — no attachments for the sample pages.
Email queries to jwb@goldinlit.com; this address is confirmed on both her agency page and her submission guidelines.
If you are submitting fiction, lead your query letter with the voice: her stated wish is for narrative momentum paired with a compelling narrator. Show that on the page immediately — do not bury it in plot summary.
Given her February 2025 note that she is nonfiction-heavy and fiction-hungry, fiction writers are particularly well-positioned right now. Flag in your query if your work fits the upmarket/bookclub sweet spot.
Her comp touchstones span literary-commercial (Zevin, Henry, Alderton) and more challenging literary (Adjei-Brenyah, Ozeki, Andreades) — calibrate your comps to where your book honestly sits on that spectrum, not where you wish it did.
For nonfiction, explicitly articulate the sociological or public-policy framework in your query, not just the personal story. She wants to see that you understand the larger stakes your book is entering.
AAPI writers — and especially Southeast Asian American writers — should highlight that identity and the cultural specificity of their work early in the query; it is one of her most consistent and explicit priorities.
Avoid pitching anything with worldbuilding that takes the story off Earth or into a secondary world; even 'soft' sci-fi or secondary-world fantasy is outside her current parameters per her agency page.