Joëlle Delbourgo

An agent with Joëlle Delbourgo Associates Literary Agency (see other agents at this agency).

About

Joëlle Delbourgo is President and Founder. She represents a broad range of adult nonfiction and fiction.
Her authors include Jim Obergefell, named plaintiff in the Supreme Court marriage equality case (Obergefell v. Hodges), Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Debbie Cenziper and Dale Russakoff; Dr. Michele Borba, award-winning educator; the late Dr. Susan Forward, memoirists Ariel Burger, Ashley Rhodes-Courter, Israel Meir Lau (former Chief Rabbi of Israel), Grace Jung and Sara Sherbill; historians Philip Freeman, Joanna Sliwa and Elizabeth White; true crime writer James Renner; novelists Marilyn Simon Rothstein, Lindsey J. Palmer, Roy Hoffman, Rosa Kwon Easton, Emily Harding, and Audrey Bellezza among others.
What Joelle would like to see more of right now: history and science (especially neuroscience) that tells a great story or is cutting edge, nonfiction and fiction with a strong voice or point of view, lifestyle books with an innovative twist, out of the box thinkers, diverse and own voices, literature in translation. She is no longer seeking middle grade and YA fiction, unless by an existing client of the agency.
Prior to founding the agency, Delbourgo was a senior editorial executive at HarperCollins and Ballantine Books, a division of Random House for more than two decades. Among the authors she worked with are Ken Davis, Abraham Verghese, Lee Smith, Barbara Tuchman, Carl Sagan, Robert Massie, James P. McPherson, Jim Davis, Sophy Burnham, Delia Ephron, and Margaret George. She began her editorial career at Bantam Books, where she discovered and launched the Choose Your Own Adventure series for kids, which sold millions of copies worldwide.
Joëlle is a member of AALA (Association of American Literary Agents), an industry organization that upholds ethical standards.
She holds a Master of the Arts in English and Comparative Literature with Honors from Columbia University, and a Bachelor of the Arts from Williams College, where she graduated Magna Cum Laude, Phi Beta Kappa with a double concentration in History and English Literature. Joëlle is as sought-after speaker, panelist, workshop leader and instructor at writing conferences. She has taught publishing and editing at Rutgers University to graduate students. She has lived on three continents, is fluent in French, and considers herself to be a citizen of the world. The proud mother of two, she is an ardent student of Latin and ballroom dance and a dedicated home baker.

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Country of Publication

United States

Professional Associations

Member of AALA

AI Policy

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Collapse section Fiction Temp Closed

Audience:

Open to a broad Audience, including: Adults. Excluding: Middle grades, Young adults.

Genres:

General Open to all/most Subgenres, including: Women's Fiction

Lengths:

Novel

Styles:

Open to all/most Styles, including: Mainstream.

Topics:

Open to all/most Topics.

Submissions:

Method: Email.
Simultaneous submissions: Simultaneous submissions are allowed.

Collapse section Nonfiction Temp Closed

Audience:

Open to a broad Audience, including: Adults.

Lengths:

Book

Styles:

Open to all/most Styles, including: Literary, Mainstream, Personal.

Topics:

Open to all/most Topics including...
History.
Life Sciences: Neurosciences.
Lifestyle.
Science.

Submissions:

Method: Email.
Simultaneous submissions: Simultaneous submissions are allowed.

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Cover image of a book recently represented by Joëlle Delbourgo.

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Joëlle Delbourgo Submission Statistics

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We have not received any submission reports for this listing in the past 12 months.

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Dates

Last Updated: 14 Jun 2026

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