SORCHE FAIRBANK

Woman with dark hair, thinking about books.

Since establishing Fairbank Literary Representation in 2002, Sorche Elizabeth Fairbank has had the pleasure of working with a dynamic and varied client list, representing bestselling authors, award-winning journalists, artists, and illustrators, television and YouTube stars, and of course one of her favorite kinds of client—the debut author. Her authors are found with all the major publishers, as well as in the New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Boston Globe, the New Yorker, Guernica, Granta, Glimmer Train, the Best American series, Pushcart Prize, Smithsonian, McSweeney’s, Narrative, One Story, and many more.

Sorche’s tastes in novels tend toward literary fiction, international voices, and voice-y novels with a strong sense of place. On the nonfiction side, books that tackle current events and topical and societal issues with a narrative treatment. She has a strong interest in women’s voices and class and race issues, quality lifestyle books (food, craft, design), and the rare memoir, providing it goes beyond the “memoir.” Sorche reps a few wildly successful children’s books and is eager for more submissions from illustrator authors only. She is one of the leading agents of humor, pop culture, and gift books. She and her co-agents work closely to maximize clients’ ancillary rights, including film and television, merchandising, and translation rights.

In 2022 Sorche got a taste of the author experience, publishing her own debut picture book (Trucks on Trucks) with Harper Collins. Truly every agent should experience the publishing process from the author's perspective, for better and worse.

WHAT I'M LOOKING FOR

Literary, international fiction. Prose both original, lyric, and thought-provoking (think Deacon King Kong, Interior Chinatown, Homeland Elegies, anything like Lauren Groff's work)
Short story collections by published authors.

Narrative nonfiction both contemporary and historical (untold stories, cultural importance, soapbox journalism), (think Three Women, Soul of an Octopus, The Feather Thief...).

Humor and gift books (likely illustrated) with national appeal, the kinds of books one sees at cash registers and in stores that aren't bookstores primarily.

Children's books by illustrator authors—fiction and nonfiction.

SAMPLE TITLES OR AUTHORS

House of Caravans by Shilpi Suneja (lyrical literary novel about the long arm of the Partition)
East of the West by Miroslav Penkov (acclaimed short story collection, published by FSG, still one of my favorites)
Feather Wars and other Skirmishes in the Great Fight to Save Birds (forthcoming fascinating narrative nonfiction coming from St Martin's Press)

Specializes In

FICTION: Children's, Commercial Fiction, Literary Fiction, Multi-Cultural/Global Fiction, Picture Books, Short Story Collections

NONFICTION: Cultural/Social Issues, Gift Books, Investigative Journalism, Juvenile, Current Affairs, Food & Lifestyle, History, Humor, Multicultural/Global Perspectives, Narrative, Nature/Ecology, Pop Culture, Science, Women's concerns

Considers

FICTION: Graphic Novels, Family Saga

NONFICTION: LGBTQIA+, Memoir, Music, Psychology, Sports, Technology, Travel, True Crime