Our Team
Peter Tallack
Founder & Director
Peter studied genetics at University College London before spending a decade on the editorial staff of Nature, where, among other things, he edited the commentary and book review sections. In 1998 he was appointed publishing director of Weidenfeld and Nicolson at Orion Publishing, commissioning many acclaimed popular science titles. Three years later he joined the London-based literary agency Conville and Walsh as an agent and a director. He founded Curious Minds in 2008 (as ‘The Science Factory’) in the United Kingdom, relocating it a few years later to Hamburg, Germany. A published author himself (In the Womb, National Geographic, 2006), he has also written book reviews for many publications including The Sunday Times, Daily Telegraph, New Statesman and The Economist and was editor of The Science Book (Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 2001).
Jeff Shreve
Agent
Jeff worked as an editor at W. W. Norton before joining Curious Minds in 2017. He represents authors sharing their insights about personal and professional development, health and medicine, business, and the sciences. In short, he loves books that help readers grow, by giving them new knowledge, new perspectives, and new tools to change their lives. In his spare time, he writes a Substack newsletter for nonfiction authors called Hook to Book. He lives in Portland, Oregon.
Marissa Koors
Agent
Before joining Curious Minds in 2023, Marissa worked as an editor at Basic Books, where she edited Kate Cooper’s Queens of a Fallen World – a Finalist for the 2023 Cundill Prize – and Sophie Duncan’s Juliet. She is seeking non-fiction authors in categories ranging from history, philosophy, and the ancient world to fashion, culture, the arts, and emerging science and technology who want to use their expertise to render the hidden structures of the world legible to readers. She is drawn to stylish and substantive books animated by bold argument that spark debate and start conversations. An avid gamer with a love of branching narrative, she also edits video games and tabletop roleplaying games in her spare time. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.
Eli Keren
Agent
Eli Keren worked at United Agents for eight years before joining Curious Minds in 2024. Before starting his publishing career, he had been a research scientist designing and synthesising novel drugs, and science books remain a particular passion of his. He mostly works with experts, academics and researchers on ideas-led books in the fields of smart science and current affairs, with a particular interest in LGBTQ+ books. He enjoys books written by writers who are obsessed with a niche subject and skilled enough communicators to make others fall in love with their subject too, and is keen to find books that are going to change the world for the better. In 2022 he wrote and delivered Jericho Writers’ How to Write a Proposal course, in 2023 he was elected treasurer of the UK’s Association of Authors’ Agents, and he has been a returning judge on the Bloomsbury Academic Writing Fellowship since its founding. He is based in the UK.
Louisa Pritchard
International Rights Partner
Through her company Louisa Pritchard Associates, Louisa sells international rights on behalf of Curious Minds. She has been a crucial part of our agency from its inception, providing us with what is effectively an in-house rights department and working closely with our authors to build successful long-term careers for them around the world. Louisa has more than 20 years of experience in selling rights in a wide range of fiction and nonfiction. She attends the London, Frankfurt and Turin book fairs each year and also make regular trips abroad to visit translation publishers in their offices. She deals direct in most international markets but works with carefully selected sub-agents where appropriate. Before founding LPA, she was head of rights at Peters, Fraser and Dunlop, foreign rights director at Orion Publishing and senior rights manager at Random House. She lives and works in London.