Erik Hane

An agent with Headwater Literary Management (see other agents at this agency).

About

After graduating with a B.A. from Knox College and obtaining a publishing certificate from the Denver Publishing Institute, Erik Hane began his career on the editorial staff at Oxford University Press and then as an editor at The Overlook Press.
At Headwater, Erik’s client list features some of the sharpest and most essential critics, artists, novelists, journalists, essayists, and commentators working today. His projects reliably find homes across a diverse swath of the publishing industry, from Big-5 commercial publishers to prestigious independent houses to university presses. Books he represents are on the front edge of radical political discourse, cultural shifts, and trends in literary writing. He is looking for writers who, rather than reacting to or distracting themselves with the chaos of the current cultural and political moment, have used it as a reason to dig steadily deeper into their indispensable work.
Along with Laura, he is a host of Print Run Podcast, which was Digital Book World’s 2019 industry award winner for best podcast. He and Laura were Publishers Weekly’s reader picks for “Person of the Year” in 2019 as well.
Away from work, Erik is an ardent tennis fan, naturalist, Magic: The Gathering player, card collector, and published fiction writer.

Country

United States

AI Policy

Human-created work only; no AI use allowed

34 members set this agent as a Favorite.

Statistics Synopsis

Slower: Erik Hane's overall average response time is slower than most agents.

Learn more about our statistics

Collapse section Fiction Open

I love what might get classified in pitch terms as “adult literary fiction” and it’s what I read the most away from work. I have a hard time describing literal elements I look for in novels, but contemporary writers I love include: Karen Russell, Marlon James, Michael Chabon, Patrick Nathan, Garth Greenwell, Jonathan Lethem, Jennifer Egan, Brit Bennett, Olga Tokarczuk, Ben Lerner, and Ling Ma.
I'm interested in unique structural or craft decisions, as long as they make sense and feel necessary. I like folklore, ghost stories, myths, religion; I typically pick up realist fiction, but I really love when things feel slightly surreal because of the prose. I really like fiction that's class-, race-, or power-conscious, that sets up shop in the many divides, contradictions, dangers, and inequities of the world. I really like understatement; the most important craft decision an author makes is what to leave unsaid but present just off the page.
I am probably not the right agent for projects that center the experiences of cops or military officers.
Favorite recent reads: The Overstory by Richard Powers; Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk; Severance by Ling Ma.
I do not represent thrillers, mystery, or children’s literature. While I enjoy elements of the speculative (science fiction, fantasy, and horror) infused into the categories I list above, I do not represent hard science fiction, high fantasy, or genre horror.

Audience:

Open to a broad Audience, including: Adults.

Genres:

General Open to all/most Subgenres, including: Cross-Genre, Slipstream

Lengths:

Novel

Styles:

Open to all/most Styles, including: Literary.

Topics:

Open to all/most Topics including...
Folklore/Mythology.

Submissions:

Method: QueryTracker.
Simultaneous submissions: Simultaneous submissions are allowed.

Collapse section Nonfiction Open

Political nonfiction: I’m looking for work from progressive writers that have something novel, rigorous, and provocative to say about contemporary politics. I do not work on books that rely on a current fleeting news cycle to be relevant or sounds like the sort of watered-down, surface-level argument I might find on cable news. I am interested in political nonfiction across a variety of fields of study: economics, race, history, sports, arts criticism, gender studies, political theory, and much more. Everything is political; show me the real-world stakes in whatever you’re writing about and I bet it fits this category.
Favorite recent reads: We Do ‘Til We Free Us by Mariame Kaba; Work Won’t Love You Back by Sarah Jaffe
History: History—especially American history—feels up for grabs in our current political moment. I am very interested in history writing that critiques American domestic inequality or imperialism abroad, as well as historical narratives that center groups of people who have been severely underrepresented in popular retellings of this country’s past. I work on history that has at least a partial focus on labor struggles or capitalism as a fundamental force in American life.
Favorite Recent Reads: The Dawn of Everything by David Graeber and David Wengrow; Fight Like Hell by Kim Kelly
Literary nonfiction and essays: I am very interested in essays right now—whether those contain arts criticism, culture critique, personal elements (with strong rationale for why), or any of the myriad other ways talented writers are currently exploring the form. This includes creative nonfiction as well; I love distinct structural choices or experimentation, as long as it serves the goal of the project and enhances it in either theme or voice.
Essay collections work best though as books that build off other published work, whether that’s in journals or magazines or elsewhere; I like when books like this feel like they’ve leapt from a writer’s existing body of work.
Favorite recent reads: Make It Scream, Make It Burn by Leslie Jamison; How To Do Nothing by Jenny Odell
Popular Science: Somewhat separately from the rest of my nonfiction (but only somewhat; science is political and so is good science writing), I love popular science, in particular books on neuroscience, evolutionary biology, or how science intersects with culture and politics. I’m drawn to writing on the emergence of life, extinction, evolution, natural selection, ecology, and climate.
Favorite recent reads: The Sixth Extinction by Elizabeth Kolbert; I Contain Multitudes by Ed Yong

Audience:

Open to a broad Audience, including: Adults.

Lengths:

Nonfiction Collection
Book

Styles:

Open to all/most Styles, including: Critical, Mainstream.

Topics:

Open to all/most Topics (Excluding: Memoir) including...
History.
Life Sciences: General, Neurosciences.
Politics/Political Science: General, International relations.
Science.
Society/Culture: General, Current events, Pop culture.
Sports/Recreation: General, See guidelines.

Submissions:

Method: QueryTracker.
Simultaneous submissions: Simultaneous submissions are allowed.

Always check guidelines for details and restrictions. If you aren't familiar with these terms, see our glossary.

No recent cover image of a book represented by Erik Hane available.

Go to agent's webpage

Report:
Submission/Query
Correction/Update
New Cover Art

Social:
Bluesky @erikhane.bsky.social
Bluesky @headwaterlit.bsky.social

For the Agent:
Request Interview
Duosuma Submission Manager
Link to Duotrope

Agent Impersonation Scams are becoming commonplace.
A legitimate agent will not contact you and request money to represent you. Never pay an agent an up-front fee. That is not how literary agent representation works. Agents earn a commission only after they've landed a publishing deal for you. Also, agents scarcely ever contact writers. If an agent that you haven't queried contacts you about representation, be suspicious. Look up the agent and check if the email address is correct for that agent/agency.

Erik Hane Submission Statistics

The statistics in this section are compiled from submission reports sent to us through our submission tracker. They are not provided by the agency or by Duotrope's admins. Information in this section is updated a few times per day. Learn more about the statistics.

This agent ranks among the 25 Slowest Fiction Agents in our database.

Filter:

Group by submission

Include outliers

Include other agents at the same agency

Accuracy

We have received 7 reports from 7 different members within the past 12 months, not including pending responses (see below). The more responses reported, the more accurate the information.

Days Reported

72 min | 207.5 mean avg | 192.0 median | 286 max days (785.3 std dev)

Pending

3 responses are pending (1 min | 27.0 mean avg | 37.0 median | 43 max days waiting | 140.8 std dev) from 3 different members

Other Information

The agent will try to make a decision within 45 days. (100.0 % of the responses reported to us for this listing have taken longer than 45 days.)
Most submissions are acknowledged on the same day.
Most recent response reported was received on 08 May 2026.
Responses have been received for submissions sent as recently as 26 Oct 2025.
Date compiled: 15 Sep 2026 01:19 UTC (5 hours, 16 minutes ago).

Work submitted to this agent was also submitted to...

This section is available to subscribers only. Sign up and start your free trial today!

Members accepted by this agent also had work accepted by...

This section is available to subscribers only. Become a member and start your free trial today!

Your Submissions

This section is available to subscribers only. Join today!

Laura Zats

Before Submitting

We cannot guarantee that the information on this page is correct. We do our best to keep up, but it isn't always possible. Duotrope listings do not imply endorsement or recommendation of the agent or agency being listed. Before submitting, you should use your own judgment to determine whether the agent/agency meets your standards.

Always read the full guidelines provided by the agency/agent.
Unless the agency's guidelines state otherwise, always use industry standard manuscript formatting.
For agency submissions, it is standard to submit a query letter and sample instead of the full manuscript. Do this unless otherwise instructed.
Be professional, patient, and persistent.

Dates

Last Updated: 03 Aug 2026

We check their guidelines for changes every four weeks, and we audit the listing twice a year.