Soumeya Bendimerad Roberts

About the Agent

Soumeya Bendimerad Roberts joined HG Literary in 2017. Prior to becoming a literary agent, she worked as a book scout at Sanford J. Greenburger Associates and began her career in editorial at an independent publishing company in San Francisco. She was previously an agent at Writers House and the Susan Golomb Literary Agency, where she also served as Foreign Rights Director. Soumeya represents award-winning and best-selling authors in literary and upmarket fiction, narrative non-fiction, and memoir, including Tara M. Stringfellow, Rosalie Knecht, Debra Jo Immergut, Melissa Coss Aquino, Fernando A. Flores, and Sonora Jha. She also represents a curated list across creative fields such as design, craft, and lifestyle by makers like Darryl Cheng, Rachel Corry, Luke Pyenson, Alex Bleeker, and Tuft the World. She is seeking new voices in fiction and narrative nonfiction, particularly stories about dynamic relationships between complex but sympathetic characters; families, siblings, and motherhood; social commentary; unconventional settings and subcultures; our relationship with land, nature, and animals; and controlled experiments with form. She is especially interested in work that investigates or reflects on the post-colonial world, marginalized and liminal spaces, and narratives by people of color. In non-fiction, she primarily looks for idea-driven or voice-forward memoirs, personal essay collections, and narrative non-fiction of all kinds. Soumeya is not looking for fantasy, science fiction, religious books, commercial romance, middle grade, young adult, or picture books. She is a member of the Board of the Association of American Literary Agents (AALA) and served on their International Rights Committee. She also participates in the Literary Agents of Change mentorship program. Originally from the California Bay Area, she remains drawn to the spirit of originality, diversity, and independence of the West Coast. She now lives in Brooklyn with her family.