A co-founder of Artellus Ltd with deep roots in transatlantic publishing, film, and theatre, Leslie Gardner is a rare generalist who handles fiction, non-fiction, film rights, and periodicals across international markets—with a scholarly edge and a track record that stretches back to Salman Rushdie's breakthrough deal.
In brief
Leslie Gardner is not a niche specialist—she operates across fiction, non-fiction, film, and periodicals, and her agency markets rights globally, making her a particularly strong choice for writers with international ambitions.
Her career credentials are extraordinary by any measure: she facilitated the deal for Rushdie's Midnight's Children, collaborated with Anthony Burgess throughout his career, and manages the literary estate of Robert Aickman—signaling a serious literary sensibility with a taste for the strange and the canonical alike.
The agency's current team page emphasizes literary fiction, social history, travel, memoir, nature writing, science, biography, and cookery as active interests—writers in commercial genre fiction, children's books, or high-concept thriller/romance should look elsewhere.
Gardner holds an MA from the University of Iowa's International Writers Workshop and a PhD in Rhetoric, and is a fellow in Psycho-social and Psychoanalytic Studies at the University of Essex—expect a rigorous editorial intelligence and an interest in work that operates on psychological or rhetorical depth.
Her agency's international infrastructure and co-founder Gabriele Pantucci's Italian periodical connections suggest particular strength in placing work with European publishers and in literary journalism contexts—a meaningful advantage for writers targeting continental markets.
Lately
In a brief public comment, Gardner noted the widespread closure of bank branches—a small but telling signal that she is culturally observant and engaged with shifts in everyday institutional life, consistent with an interest in social and cultural non-fiction.
What Leslie is looking for
Gardner handles fiction internationally and her agency's entire team skews toward intelligent, original literary work. Given her editorial history with writers of Rushdie's caliber and her management of the Aickman estate, she responds to fiction that is stylistically assured and thematically serious. Debut fiction is welcomed by the broader team, and her own taste runs toward work with psychological depth and rhetorical craft.
The agency as a whole is active in social history, biography, memoir, travel, and science writing. Gardner's own background in rhetoric and psychoanalytic studies suggests she is drawn to non-fiction with a strong authorial voice and intellectual framework, not purely commercial narrative non-fiction.
Gardner explicitly handles film rights and has direct production credentials—she set up the critically acclaimed TV drama Tenko. Writers with screen-ready properties or those seeking an agent who can navigate both the publishing and film industries will find her background genuinely useful here.
Artellus handles periodical rights, with co-founder Pantucci managing Italian and broader European literary journalism. For writers who produce long-form journalism or essays alongside books, or who want their work placed in international literary outlets, the agency has active infrastructure to support this.
Gardner manages the estate of Robert Aickman, the celebrated author of 'strange stories,' pointing to a genuine personal affinity for fiction operating at the borders of the uncanny, the psychological, and the literary. This is not an open call for horror or supernatural genre fiction, but literary work with eerie or psychologically unsettling depths may resonate strongly with her.
Not the right fit
On Leslie's list
Taste fingerprint
How to query Leslie
Lead with your literary credentials, academic background, or prior publication history—Gardner holds advanced degrees herself and the agency has a clear bias toward writers with intellectual seriousness.
Make the international appeal of your work explicit in your query: Gardner handles rights globally and is most energized by projects with cross-market potential, particularly UK, US, and European audiences.
If your work has film or television potential, note it—Gardner has direct production experience and handles film rights, so a screen-ready quality is a genuine asset, not a throwaway line.
For non-fiction, foreground your platform and expertise. The agency's non-fiction track record spans history, biography, memoir, and travel—situate your project within a recognizable tradition while making its original contribution clear.
Avoid pitching your work as genre-first. Even if your novel has elements of the uncanny or the historical, frame it through literary and thematic ambitions rather than shelving categories.
Research the full Artellus team before querying: Jon Curzon and Darryl Samaraweera have their own specific interests (literary fiction, social history, travel, cookery, nature writing) and may be a better fit for certain projects than Gardner directly. Address your query to the most appropriate agent.
Confirm the submission page is still accepting queries before sending—status was verified in mid-April 2026 but can change.