Emma Shercliff is a literary agent with over 20 years of experience in the publishing industry. Her clients include Artem Chapeye, Mstyslav Chernov, Yuliia Iliukha, Max Kidruk, Oleksandr Mykhed and the estate of Victoria Amelina. Awards won by Emma’s clients include the Caine Prize for African Writing, the Whiting Award for Fiction, The Orwell Prize, an Academy Award and the Pulitzer Prize. She was shortlisted for Literary Agent of the Year at the British Book Awards in 2024 and 2026, and for the inaugural ‘ Ukrainian Book Ambassador’ Chytomo Award in 2023.
Emma has worked for publishing companies including Macmillan, Hachette and Cassava Republic Press in Paris, Melbourne, Abuja and London, and for the British Council in Nigeria and Iran. In 2020 she undertook a review of the publishing sector in Ukraine for the British Council, in partnership with the Ukrainian Book Institute.
Emma holds an MA in Modern Languages from Cambridge University. She is a doctoral candidate at the UCL Institute of Education; her research focuses on women within the African publishing industry.