Stephanie Delman is a co-founding partner at Trellis Literary Management who champions literary and upmarket adult fiction with psychological depth, a dark or uncanny edge, and diverse feminist voices, alongside a curated slate of narrative nonfiction.
In brief
Delman co-founded Trellis Literary Management in fall 2021 alongside Michelle Brower and Allison Hunter, after an earlier stint at Sanford J. Greenburger Associates — confirm which agency she is actively accepting queries through before submitting.
Her stated fiction sweet spot is literary/upmarket writing with psychological propulsion, near-historical settings, or a controlled genre-bending element — surrealism, a touch of magic, or speculative flavor layered over a grounded story.
Her nonfiction lane is narrow and platform-dependent: longform reportage that reads like a novel, true crime, and immersive accounts of extreme or underexplored worlds — authors without an established platform are unlikely to break through here.
Her publicly named favorite novels — including works by Alexander Chee, R.O. Kwon, Rebecca Makkai, Oyinkan Braithwaite, and Charlotte McConaghy — map a clear taste profile: lyrical prose, marginalized or underrepresented voices, moral and emotional complexity, and a willingness to live in darkness.
Query status is unverified as of the observation date; given her agency transition (from SJGA to Trellis), writers should confirm her current submission portal and open/closed state before querying.
Lately
Delman co-founded Trellis Literary Management in the autumn of 2021 alongside fellow agents Michelle Brower and Allison Hunter, describing the venture as a collaborative, community-minded agency built to support both author growth and the professional development of the agents themselves. The agency has since expanded its team to include additional agents and a foreign rights director.
What Stephanie is looking for
This is Delman's core territory. She wants fiction that is emotionally and psychologically demanding — writing that is literary in ambition but carries genuine narrative momentum. Themes she gravitates toward include intergenerational trauma, inheritance (literal and metaphorical), cultural identity, devotion, hunger, and the psychological weight of belonging to something — a family, a cult, a community. Wit and whimsy are welcome when they serve a deeper darkness.
Delman is drawn to suspense that operates from the inside out — narratives where the dread is as much psychological as plot-driven. Think character-first thriller energy with literary bones. Hauntings (literal or figurative), obsession, cults, competition, and curses are recurring thematic signals in her wishlist.
She has a specific appetite for fiction set in the not-quite-distant past — history that still echoes viscerally into the present. Migration stories and narratives that trace how trauma moves across generations are especially resonant for her.
Delman welcomes novels that play at the edges of genre — books that are fundamentally literary but carry a thread of magic, surrealism, or near-future science fiction woven through. The key qualifier is 'slight': she is looking for genre as atmosphere or lens, not as the dominant structural mode. A pure fantasy or hard science fiction novel is unlikely to be the right fit.
Delman takes a limited number of nonfiction projects and is explicit that platform and perspective are prerequisites. She is drawn to longform reportage with the texture and momentum of literary fiction, true crime, and expert-level dispatches from dark, remote, or rarely-examined corners of the world. Writers without an established platform or clear authority on their subject should not query her in this category.
Not the right fit
On Stephanie's list
Taste fingerprint
How to query Stephanie
Use her preferred subject-line format exactly: 'Query: [Your Book's Title] by [Your Name]' — she has specified this explicitly, and ignoring it signals carelessness.
Paste your query letter and opening chapters directly into the body of the email; do not send attachments unless specifically invited to do so.
Her stated response window is four to six weeks for projects she wants to read further — no response likely means a pass, as she cannot reply to every query.
Before emailing, verify that her current agency affiliation and submission address are still active — she moved from her previous agency to co-found Trellis Literary Management, and contact details may have changed.
Lead your query letter with the thematic heart of your book, not just its plot mechanics. Given her buzzword vocabulary (cults, hauntings, intergenerational trauma, devotion, cultural commentary), writers whose books speak to those themes should name them directly and briefly in the opening pitch.
If you are querying nonfiction, make your platform and your authority on the subject immediately clear — she has stated explicitly that she only takes a limited number of nonfiction projects and that perspective and platform are prerequisites.
Diverse, own-voices, and feminist narratives are a stated priority — if your book fits that description authentically, it is worth signaling in your letter.
Avoid querying with straightforward genre fiction, YA, children's, or self-help — these fall outside her list entirely.