THE SECOND PEN
a literary consultancy
Elodie Olson-Coons is a writer / editor / bookseller / ghostwriter / translator.
Under my own name, I write fiction, poetry and essays. I’m particularly interested in work relating to memoir, travel, culture and food; in the lyric, the strongly rooted, the personal and the descriptive.
With eight years of professional experience, I specialise in copy-editing literary and historical fiction, memoir, travel writing and works in translation. I enjoy working closely with writers on coherence, clarity and style.
An internationally published ghostwriter of fiction and memoir with eleven books to other people’s names, I love the process of transforming the spark of an idea, or the thread of a life story, into a finished book.
As a bilingual writer, I’m interested above all in work that would benefit from a literary touch. Within the English-language publishing world, I am also a keen editor of works in translation.
SELECTED PROJECTS
SMALL FIRES, REBECCA MAY JOHNSON (PUSHKIN PRESS)
LA SERENISSIMA, JONATHAN KEATES (HEAD OF ZEUS)
ANIMAL LIFE, AUÐUR AVA ÓLAFSDÓTTIR (PUSHKIN PRESS)
WHEN WE CEASE TO UNDERSTAND THE WORLD, BENJAMÍN LABATUT (PUSHKIN)
NIGHT AS IT FALLS, JAKUTA ALIKAVAZOVIC (FABER AND FABER)
THE YELLOW KITCHEN, MARGAUX VIALLERON (SIMON & SCHUSTER)
DINNER PARTY, SARAH GILMARTIN (PUSHKIN PRESS)
THE SECOND WOMAN, LOUISE MEY (PUSHKIN PRESS)
LOVE IN A TIME OF WAR, LARA MARLOWE (HEAD OF ZEUS)
THE WOLF AGE, TORE SKEIE (PUSHKIN PRESS)
THE TEMPLAR'S GARDEN, CATHERINE CLOVER (DUCKWORTH BOOKS)
THE LIMITS OF MY LANGUAGE, EVA MEIJER (PUSHKIN PRESS)
IMMORTAL, JESSICA DUCHEN (UNBOUND)
GROWN UPS, MARIE AUBERT (PUSHKIN PRESS)
THE REPUBLIC OF FALSE TRUTHS, ALAA AL ASWANY (FABER AND FABER)
THE LANTERN BOATS, TESSA MORRIS-SUZUKI (JOFFE BOOKS)
GRANDMOTHER'S STORIES, REDA AL-DABBAGH (WHITE MOUNTAIN BOOKS)
NOT SPEAKING, NORMA CLARKE (UNBOUND)
THE CABIN IN THE MOUNTAINS, ROBERT FERGUSON (HEAD OF ZEUS)
THE MYSTERY OF HENRI PICK, DAVID FOENKINOS (PUSHKIN)
