Sonali Chanchani

Literary Agent

Sonali Chanchani is a literary agent at Folio Literary Management, where she represents literary and book club fiction and narrative nonfiction. She earned her degree in English and Narrative Studies from the University of Southern California and began her career in publishing at Kaya, an independent press dedicated to publishing authors from the Asian diaspora. She is a member of the Association of American Literary Agents, where she serves on the Board of Directors and the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee. She also serves on the Board of Directors of the nonprofit organization Literary Agents of Change.

Sonali’s clients include New York Times bestseller and contributing editor to Vanity Fair Maureen “Mo” Ryan (Burn It Down: Power, Complicity, and a Call for Change in Hollywood); co-founder of the Asian American Writers’ Workshop Curtis Chin (Everything I Learned, I Learned in a Chinese Restaurant); psychologist and intergenerational trauma expert Dr. Mariel Buqué (Break the Cycle: A Guide to Healing Intergenerational Trauma); speaker and LGTBQ+ advocate Julie Rodgers (Outlove: A Queer Christian Survival Story); and poet, performer, and storyteller Joél Leon (Everything and Nothing at Once: A Black Man’s Reimagined Soundtrack for the Future); among many others.

Across the board, Sonali is drawn to character-driven stories that center historically marginalized voices.  

In nonfiction, she is looking for narratives and collections that illuminate some aspect of our society or culture with an eye towards social justice. She is especially drawn to investigative journalism and deeply researched narratives that advance our current conversations about race, class, gender, and politics. 

In fiction, she is looking for literary fiction and book club fiction with a strong, distinctive voice. She’s particularly interested in smart, funny coming of age novels; braided narratives of friendship or family; literary mysteries; and atmospheric stories with a speculative or fabulist twist. She loves novels that subvert dominant cultural narratives and explore questions of identity, belonging, community, inheritance, and diaspora.

Genres represented

Bookclub Fiction

Literary Fiction

Mystery

Narrative Non-Fiction

Thriller

Women’s Fiction

How to submit to me

Please send your query letter and the first 10 pages of your project (pasted in the body of your email) to sonali@foliolit.com. Please include the word QUERY and the title of your project in the subject line. Due to the volume of queries I receive, I’m afraid I can only respond to those in which I’m interested. If you don’t hear from me within 30 days, please consider it a pass.