I’m excited to add literary and upmarket fiction writers to my client list in 2024. The novels I’m looking for are both beautifully written and have a compelling sales hook.

Some stories I’m particularly interested in reading:

upmarket fiction with genre elements—fantasy, magical realism, retellings of fairy tales and folktakes, and horror (ex: Of Bees and Mist by Eric Setiawan, The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter, Wicked by Gregory Maguire, Uprooted by Naomi Novik, The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker, Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Silver in the Wood by Emily Tesh, and anything by Helen Oyeyemi);

upmarket contemporary fiction exploring modern life, queer themes, friendship, nostalgia, existential dread—anything with “cool girl novel” vibes (ex: Bunny by Mona Awad, My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh, The New Me by Halle Butler, The Girls by Emma Cline, Conversations with Friends by Sally Rooney)

novels that explore mental health topics (ex: Juliet the Maniac by Juliet Escoria, The Virgin Suicides by Jeffery Eugenides, Girl, Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen, A Long Way Down by Nick Hornby, and Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk);

books that experiment with narrative structure (ex: Night Film by Marisha Pessl, Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid, and The Collected Works of Billy the Kid by Michael Ondaatje).

adult fiction with child/teen protagonists (ex: Gutter Child by Jael Richardson, My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer, The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery, and A Complicated Kindness by Miriam Toews);

stylish mysteries and thrillers (ex: Knives Out (film), Kingsman: The Secret Service (film), The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler, and the James Bond series by Ian Fleming);

Other favourites of mine include Bone and Bread by Saleema Nawaz, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon, A Beautiful Truth by Colin McAdam, and anything by Akwaeke Emezi.

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My favourite TV shows are a great representation of the fiction I’d like to read:

• in-depth explorations of complicated relationships (The Affair, Love Life)

• crime/mystery/thriller stories (The Undoing, White Collar, Search Party, Killing Eve)

• new adulthood (Girls, Insecure, The Sex Lives of College Girls)

• 20th century historical (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Mad Men, Pose)

• genre (Yellowjackets, Fringe, True Blood, The Last of Us, Orphan Black, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, American Horror Story, Severance)

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At this time I am not interested in science fiction or WW1/WW2 historical fiction.

I love nonfiction projects about the arts, pop culture, life sciences, psychology, cultural history, and the occult. I expect a nonfiction book proposal to offer a new perspective on an entertaining topic. I’m interested in nonfiction projects written for any age range of readers.

My favourite nonfiction reads include:

explorations of mental health topics (ex: Hello I Want to Die Please Fix Me by Anna Mehler Paperny and Reasons to Stay Alive by Matt Haig);

occult books (ex: Becoming Dangerous edited by Katie West, Witches of America by Alex Mar, and Taschen’s The Library of Esoterica series);

illustrated and photography gift books (ex: Literary Witches by Taisia Kitaiskaia and Katy Horan, Accidentally Wes Anderson by Wally Koval, and What We See in the Stars by Kelsey Oseid);

essay collections (ex: One Day We’ll All Be Dead and None of This Will Matter by Scaachi Koul, This Will Be My Undoing by Morgan Jerkins, The 2000s Made Me Gay by Grace Perry, Trick Mirror by Jia Tolentino, I Like to Watch by Emily Nussbaum, and Wannabe: Reckonings with the Pop Culture That Shapes Me by Aisha Harris);

single-topic personal development books (ex: All the Gold Stars: Reimagining Ambition and the Ways We Strive by Rainesford Stauffer, The Perfectionist's Guide to Losing Control: A Path to Peace and Power by Katherine Morgan Schafler, Enchantment: Awakening Wonder in an Anxious Age by Katherine May, How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy by Jenny Odell, and Rest is Resistance: A Manifesto by Tricia Hersey).

I represent creators of graphic novels, graphic memoirs, and graphic nonfiction for all age categories. I am currently only looking at graphic novel submissions created by author/illustrators (a sole creator writing and illustrating the book).

Some of my favourite graphic works include: Spinning by Tillie Walden, the Heartstopper series by Alice Oseman, The Runaway Princess by Johan Troïanowski, Constantly by gg, Operatic by Kyo Maclear and Byron Eggenschwiler, Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up With Me by Mariko Tamaki and Rosemary Valero-O’Connell, Lighter Than My Shadow by Katie Green, The Unwanted: Stories of the Syrian Refugees by Don Brown, Acquicorn Cove by Katie O’Neill, Through the Woods by Emily Carroll, and the A Quick & Easy Guide series published by Limerence Press.

A few specific things I’m looking for in 2024:

• YA LGBTQ+ romance
• graphic nonfiction
• OGNs with pages and panels that truly make use of the visual format to tell a story

I am looking for projects in a variety of YA genres: contemporary, magical realism, grounded fantasy, and horror.

Some teen novels I love:

contemporary stories (ex: Emergency Contact by Mary H.K. Choi, Don’t Read the Comments by Eric Smith, We Are Okay by Nina LaCour, Let Me Hear a Rhyme and Monday’s Not Coming by Tiffany D. Jackson);

weird and wonderful tales (ex: Wilder Girls by Rory Power, They Both Die at the End by Adam Silvera, and The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender by Leslye Walton);

and compelling historical stories (ex: The Weight of Our Sky by Hanna Alkaf).

Specific YA wish list items:

• LGBTQ+ romance
• historical fiction based on a music subculture (disco, grunge, emo, etc.)
• contemporary YA with Gossip Girl or Riverdale levels of drama

I am currently looking at all genres of middle grade fiction with the exception of science fiction.

Stories I’m eager to read:

realistic stories featuring characters with compelling interests (ex: The First Rule of Punk by Celia C. Pérez and The Thing About Jellyfish by Ali Benjamin);

inventive fantasy stories (stand-alones and series) (ex: The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill, When You Trap a Tiger by Kat Keller, The Land of Stories series by Chris Colfer, The School for Good and Evil series by Soman Chainani, and Dragon Pearl by Yoon Ha Lee);

animal stories (ex: Pax by Sara Pennypacker, Silverwing by Kenneth Oppel, Bunnicula by Deborah and James Howe, and Santa Paws by Nicholas Edwards);

Things I’m not looking for in the middle grade space: gross-out humour, pirates, time travel, portal fantasies, superheroes, and chapter books.

I’m only accepting submissions for illustrated picture books created by a single author/illustrator.

I’m looking for picture books that take big topics and feelings and make them child-friendly. And, of course, have stunning and diverse art. I also love poetic language (not to be mistaken for rhyming text—rhyme is not for me).

Some of my picture book favourites include: Lubna and Pebble by Wendy Meddoir and Daniel Egneus, Birdsong by Julie Flett, Virginia Wolf by Kyo Maclear and Isabelle Arsenault, Leo: A Ghost Story by Mac Barnett and Christian Robinson, This is Sadie by Sara O’Leary and Julie Morstad, Sometimes I Feel Like a Fox by Danielle Daniel, and Black Gold by Laura Obuobi and London Ladd.

My client Cat Min’s picture books (Shy Willow, The Little Toymaker, and The Shadow and the Ghost) are the perfect examples of my taste in picture books, both in story and art.