About Us
Finding Inspiration in Every Turn
Banke, Goumen & Smirnova Agency is a leading rights agency based in Sweden and Cyprus. We specialize in handling book and film rights, with a primary emphasis on fiction encompassing a wide spectrum, from highly literary works to commercial titles with mass-market appeal. Our list includes writers from countries like Russia, Ukraine, Armenia, Belarus, Moldova, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, among others.
Meet the Team
Natasha Banke
Natasha Banke was born in Moscow in 1975 and has been based in Sweden since 2000. A film producer with over 15 years of experience and a literary translator with a number of English and Swedish-language translations to her name (including Candace Bushnell, John Ajvide Lindqvist, Jonas Gardell, Katarina Mazetti and many others), Natasha started her journey as literary agent in 2007 handling Scandinavian titles in former CIS-countries and Russian-language literature worldwide. Having joined forces with Goumen & Smirnova Literary Agency in 2012, Natasha is responsible for the agency’s representation in international publications and film industry.
Julia Goumen
Julia Goumen was born in Leningrad in 1977. With a PhD in English, she has worked in publishing since 2001, and started her own literary agency after three years as a foreign rights manager. Since 2006 Goumen has run the Goumen & Smirnova Literary Agency with Natalia Smirnova, with whom she also coedited Moscow Noir and St. Petersburg Noir.
Julia Goumen is the coordinator of The Russian Criminal Tattoo Encyclopedia project (published by Fuel Publishing, UK) and handles the estate of Danzig Baldaev as well as Home-Made by Vladimir Arkhipov, also published by Fuel Publishing in UK. Her clients list includes Ludmilla Petrushevskaya, Sergei Kuznetsov, Marina Stepnova, Eugene Vodolazkin and others. Her field is Russian-language publication, film and theater adaptation rights.
Our Story
As literary agents, we have the privilege of representing some of the most prominent award-winning contemporary authors, such as Ludmilla Petrushevskaya, Mikhail Shishkin, Eugene Vodolazkin, Marina Stepnova, and Narine Abgaryan, translated into over thirty languages. Our guiding philosophy revolves around providing a personalized approach for each author, connecting them with the perfect publishers or film production companies worldwide, and crafting unique marketing and promotional strategies for every title.
Our journey in the publishing and film industries has transformed us into a full-service agency, representing authors in publishing, film, television, and theatre.