Ugandan poet and writer Ber Anena has landed a high-profile literary representation. She is officially represented by Sophie Scard at United Agents. Anena now shares an agency with the likes of Caleb Azumah Nelson, Eleanor Catton, Sheila Heti, Stephen Hawkins, and many other prominent authors.

Anena shared the news on Instagram, noting the importance of an agent in a writer’s professional journey:

Beyond thrilled to announce that l now have a book agent. Grateful to United Agents and the wonderful Sophie Scard for taking me in.

In May, my professor Joy Castro told us to write down our “impossible goals.” One of mine was to find a literary agent by December 2023. I had already been looking since l graduated from Columbia in 2021. A few weeks ago, Sophie emailed me saying she had read my work online and loved it and would like to represent me.

In the book business, this is a really big deal, and even bigger that l’m associated with a leading lit agent and a simply amazing human, Sophie. l can’t wait to see where we take my memoir, and my other writing!

United Agents is a prominent talent agency in London, specializing in the literary, entertainment, and artistic sectors. They represent artist from a wide range of fields, including film, TV, books, theatre, and comedy. Their literary division, which Anena is a part of, represents a diverse range of writers spanning fiction, non-fiction, history, children’s literature, and illustrators.

Ber Anena is a Ugandan writer, poet, editor, and performer.  She is currently a Ph.D. student in English (Creative Writing) at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Anena earned her MFA at Columbia University, and holds degrees in journalism and human rights from Makerere University in Uganda.

Her debut poetry collection A Nation in Labour won the Wole Soyinka Prize for Literature in Africa in 2018. Her poetry and prose have been published in The Atlantic, adda, Off Assignment, Brittle Paper, Isele, The Plentitudes and New Daughters of Africa anthology, among others.

Congrats to Anena on landing a literary agent! Go here for her profile page. A literary agent is the kind of support, advocacy, and access she needs at this time in her career.