Max Edwards

Max Edwards joined ACM UK at its foundation in 2019. Before that he worked at a number of literary agencies including United Agents and Rogers, Coleridge and White, as well as founding his own agency, Apple Tree Literary. He was named a Bookseller Rising Star in 2021.

He represents both non-fiction and fiction, with a focus on the former. He works with a number of journalists, thinkers, memoirists, nature writers and academics writing for a trade audience, as well as adult fiction, predominantly commercial, SFF and crime novelists. Non-fiction he represents include musician Melanie C (Sporty Spice); mental health campaigner, comedian and actor Joe Tracini; Sunday Times Bestselling memoirist Nick Pettigrew; Suzanne Wrack, The Guardian’s Women’s Football Correspondent; political editor of The Daily Telegraph, Ben Riley-Smith; historian of slavery Dr Hannah Durkin; and world renowned scientist Prof. Luke O’Neill. Fiction includes two time Clarke Award shortlistee Aliya, crime novels from Guy Morpuss and fantasy from Juliet E. McKenna.

Max graduated from Kings College, London with a degree in English literature. He worked as a bookseller at Blackwell’s in Oxford and for Sports Interactive, developers of the computer game Football Manager, before moving into publishing a decade ago before joining ACM UK. He was a Bookseller Rising Star in 2021.

In non-fiction, Max is looking for experts telling a new story for a trade audience; incredible memoirs and untold histories; journalists looking to take their stories long-form; and smart and original ideas. Recent favourite non-fiction books he doesn’t represent include Islands of Abandonment by Cal Flyn, Otherlands by Thomas Halliday, Empire of Pain by Patrick Radden Keefe; and A Class of Their Own by Matt Knott.

In fiction, Max is looking for commercial and genre novels, and is a massive fan of novels that mix genres in a unique way. He’s a sucker for high concepts, smart plots and unique characters – twists and turns, good (and bad) guys with depth and life. Favourites include Station 11 by Emily St. John Mandel; Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus; the Windham and Banerjee series by Abir Mukherjee; and Martha Wells’ Murderbot Diaries.

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