Here are ten new literary agents actively seeking clients. New agents are a boon to writers. They are actively building their lists, and will go the extra mile for their clients. All of these agents work for established agencies with good track records. They are looking for all genres.
Always check the agency website and agent bio before submitting. Agents can switch agencies or close their lists, and submission requirements can change.
NOTE: Don't submit to several agents at the same agency simultaneously. If one rejects you, you may then submit to another. (Some small agencies share. Be alert to a notice that "a no from one is a no from all.")
You can find a full list of agents actively seeking new clients here: Agents Seeking Clients.
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What she is seeking: I’m interested in fiction manuscripts in the following genres––literary fiction, upmarket/book club/women’s lit, grounded genre fiction (like Project Hail Mary or Sea of Tranquility), contemporary romance (literary leaning, like Normal People), and humor/satire––but I’m open to anything with an exciting plot and a strong voice. As for nonfiction, I’m interested in stories about 60s-90s band culture, medieval history, and cults. I am not interested in anything (fiction or nonfiction) related to AI.
How to submit: Email your query letter along with the first ten pages pasted into the body of your message to ella@kepneragency.com.
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Claire Lee of The Kepner Agency
I'm a graduate of The George Washington University with majors in Creative Writing and American Studies, and currently pursuing my MFA at Brown University.
What she is seeking: When it comes to manuscripts, I am most interested in acquiring character-driven literary and upmarket novels, novellas, and short story collections. Though I love any good story, I'm partial to road-trip novels and Westerns, grounded sci-fi and speculative fiction, magical realism, or anything with a particularly humorous, surreal, or even absurd note.
Erin Gray of The Kepner Agency
I studied English and Creative Writing (Publishing) at the University of Iowa, and I now live in Cedar Rapids and work as Advancement Communications Coordinator for Coe College, in addition to my role as Associate Literary Agent.
Alyssa Santoleri of The Kepner Agency
Previously working in the editorial department at Dumbo Press, an indie publisher of experimental literature, I’ve handled a diverse range of genres, voices, and styles before coming to The Kepner Agency. I studied English and CW (Publishing), Theatre, and Media Management at the University of Iowa.
Amelia Theriault-Brown of Laura Gross Literary Agency
Rita Veras is an Associate Agent at Rosecliff Literary. She started writing short stories and poetry at a young age, inspired by her upbringing in the Dominican Republic. Rita is passionately dedicated to uplifting BIPOC voices, enhancing representation, and championing diverse narratives.
What she is seeking: She’s seeking immersive, atmospheric stories across genres, especially historical fiction—gothic or moody tales, BIPOC romances rooted in heritage, and magical realism with political nuance. She welcomes feminist retellings that reclaim overlooked voices and narratives on identity and ancestry. Rita also enjoys folklore-inspired horror, blending beauty and terror. Above all, she is drawn to books that linger in your soul and stay with you long after the last page is turned.
Loni Crittenden of Handspun Literary Agency
Pronoy Sarkar of Georges Borchardt, Inc.
Previously, he worked at Little, Brown as a senior editor, where some highlights include publishing the New York Times bestselling, Heat Will Kill You First by Jeff Goodell, finalist for the Helen Bernstein Award for Excellence in Journalism, LA Times Book Prize, and PEN/EO Wilson Prize for Literary Science Writing; San Francisco Chronicle bestseller, If Nietzsche Were a Narwhal by Justin Gregg; The Everything War by WSJ reporter and Pulitzer winner Dana Mattioli, a finalist for the Financial Times Book Prize, and acquiring forthcoming books by bestselling historian Rick Perlstein, Washington Post op-ed columnist Dana Milbank, Congressman James Clyburn, and bestselling management professor at MIT, Andrew McAfee, among many others. He was also an editor at St. Martin’s Press, where he published 2030 by Mauro F. Guillen, a Wall Street Journal bestseller and Financial Times Best of the Year pick, New York Times bestselling The Fund by NYT reporter Rob Copeland, Aftershocks by Biden officials Colin Kahl and Thomas Wright, Profit and Punishment by 2019 Pulitzer Prize winner Tony Messenger, among others. Some notable authors he's worked with include Olivia Laing, Jonathan Franzen, Jonathan Safron Foer, Nobel Laureate Mario Vargas Llosa, Lucia Berlin, Daryl Pickney, Andre Aciman, Dean Erwin Chemerinsky, economist Linda Yueh, diplomat Phillip Gordon, Eric Posner, Edmund Richardson, playwright Andre Gregory, and the Wu-Tang Clan. He's also held jobs at Picador US and Simon & Schuster.
What he is seeking: He is interested in bold, ambitious, and conversation shifting projects across a range of areas, including history, biography, popular science, politics and current affairs, economics/law, high concept/big think, investigative journalism, culture, and paradigm-defining works focused on feminism, race, sexuality, and the intersections thereof. Also, cultural tastemakers and critics with fresh perspectives and points of view.
How to submit: Use his querytracker form HERE.
Erika Staiger of Spencerhill Associates
What she is seeking: When it comes to manuscripts, I am most interested in acquiring character-driven literary and upmarket novels, novellas, and short story collections. Though I love any good story, I'm partial to road-trip novels and Westerns, grounded sci-fi and speculative fiction, magical realism, or anything with a particularly humorous, surreal, or even absurd note.
How to submit: Email your query letter along with the first ten pages pasted into the body of your message to claire@kepneragency.com
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What she is seeking: I’m interested in your adult literary, upmarket, historical, and survival fiction; family sagas; Westerns; mysteries, crime novels, and thrillers; narrative nonfiction; novellas; and short story collections. I’ve been known to enjoy grounded science fiction and fantasy, as well as folk/gothic horror, too. If your book has complex characters, a setting that functions as a character, and/or engaging pacing, send it my way! My favorite books include The Nix by Nathan Hill, The Birthday Party by Laurent Mauvignier, and Table for Two by Amor Towles, and I’m always looking to find their successors.
How to submit: Email your query letter along with the first ten pages pasted into the body of your message to erin@kepneragency.com
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What she is seeking: I have a soft spot for any genre fiction including (but not limited to) fantasy, soft sci-fi, historical fiction, contemporary fiction, and women's fiction and am always looking for anything with romance. Unfortunately, I’m not a good choice for any faith-based or Christian stories, or books with a plot that centers a sentient AI system.
How to submit: Email your query letter along with the first ten pages pasted into the body of your message to alyssa@kepneragency.com
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A lifelong Bostonian, Amelia studied psychology and worked in several research labs before pursuing an MFA in fiction at Bennington College and beginning her publishing career at Charlesbridge, an independent children’s publisher in Watertown, MA.
What she is seeking: Amelia is looking for literary and upmarket fiction, and narrative non-fiction. Across all of these, Amelia is most drawn to books with an obsessive bent. Her ideal fiction skews voicey and strange, with an indelible sense of place, written by someone who spends an unreasonable amount of time revising at the line level. She likes speculative and dark, but prefers the weird, surreal and uncanny over horror. In narrative non-fiction, she is looking for writers who celebrate or investigate the overlooked and the difficult-to-categorize, and anything to do with the natural world. Having worked in psychology and neuroscience labs, she has interest in that field—contemporary developments and the history of the science—but she has a high bar, and a low tolerance for pop psychology. She got her start in children’s publishing and is always happy to read picture book and middle grade submissions, preferably off-beat and contemporary fiction or non-fiction about things as wild and strange as kids are. Across all categories and genres, Amelia is looking to amplify underrepresented voices, and whatever stories they want to tell.
What she is seeking: Amelia is looking for literary and upmarket fiction, and narrative non-fiction. Across all of these, Amelia is most drawn to books with an obsessive bent. Her ideal fiction skews voicey and strange, with an indelible sense of place, written by someone who spends an unreasonable amount of time revising at the line level. She likes speculative and dark, but prefers the weird, surreal and uncanny over horror. In narrative non-fiction, she is looking for writers who celebrate or investigate the overlooked and the difficult-to-categorize, and anything to do with the natural world. Having worked in psychology and neuroscience labs, she has interest in that field—contemporary developments and the history of the science—but she has a high bar, and a low tolerance for pop psychology. She got her start in children’s publishing and is always happy to read picture book and middle grade submissions, preferably off-beat and contemporary fiction or non-fiction about things as wild and strange as kids are. Across all categories and genres, Amelia is looking to amplify underrepresented voices, and whatever stories they want to tell.
How to submit: Use her querymanager HERE.
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Rita Veras is an Associate Agent at Rosecliff Literary. She started writing short stories and poetry at a young age, inspired by her upbringing in the Dominican Republic. Rita is passionately dedicated to uplifting BIPOC voices, enhancing representation, and championing diverse narratives.
What she is seeking: She’s seeking immersive, atmospheric stories across genres, especially historical fiction—gothic or moody tales, BIPOC romances rooted in heritage, and magical realism with political nuance. She welcomes feminist retellings that reclaim overlooked voices and narratives on identity and ancestry. Rita also enjoys folklore-inspired horror, blending beauty and terror. Above all, she is drawn to books that linger in your soul and stay with you long after the last page is turned.
How to submit: Use her querytracker form HERE.
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Loni Crittenden is an associate agent at Handspun Literary Agency, as well as assistant to Courtney Miller-Calihan, the agency’s founder and president. She holds a BA in Creative Writing from SUNY Oswego and an MFA in Writing Popular Fiction from Seton Hill University. Loni brings several years of freelance developmental editing experience across YA and speculative fiction, and completed an editorial internship with Sourcebooks.
What she is seeking: She is currently looking for imaginative, accessible fantasies with literary crossover appeal (ex: Piranesi, The Song of Achilles, This Is How You Lose the Time War, The Fifth Season) from historically underrepresented voices.
How to submit: Use her querytracker form HERE.
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What he is seeking: He is interested in bold, ambitious, and conversation shifting projects across a range of areas, including history, biography, popular science, politics and current affairs, economics/law, high concept/big think, investigative journalism, culture, and paradigm-defining works focused on feminism, race, sexuality, and the intersections thereof. Also, cultural tastemakers and critics with fresh perspectives and points of view.
How to submit: Use his querytracker form HERE.
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Erika Staiger of Spencerhill Associates
Erika Staiger re-joined Spencerhill as an assistant in 2024, following a semester-long internship in 2018. She holds an MFA in Fiction from the University of South Florida, where she also taught creative writing and worked as a writing tutor. After graduation, she worked in higher education at the University of Central Florida and as a trivia writer for Rez Events. At Spencerhill, Erika is primarily responsible for reading and responding to query submissions. Her greatest ambition in life is to turn her house into the library from Beauty and the Beast.
What she is seeking: Erika is interested in a wide range of popular fiction for adults, especially fantasy, romantasy, dystopian, horror, and all sub-genres of romance except for inspirational romance. She is also open to select science fiction projects, but only if the aliens are hot. While you are welcome to kill all the human characters you like, if you have any dogs, cats, or other animal friends in your books, they have to live happily ever after. Erika is particularly excited to work with authors with a background in writing fanfiction who are now seeking to publish original work.
How to submit: Use her querytracker form HERE.
Sarah Kelleher of The Seymour Agency
A former book scout turned book agent, Sarah loves nothing more than getting lost in a great read! After thirteen years at the preeminent Maria B. Campbell Associates, where she served as the Vice President and Director of Young Adult & Children’s Scouting, she is thrilled to work on the flip side of the industry, representing authors from a multitude of backgrounds.
What she is seeking: She is open to working with authors in the Adult, New Adult, and Young Adult fiction spaces, across many genres! A big Romantasy reader, she is particularly drawn to epic world building, spicy plot lines, and plenty of witty repartee. She likes both feel-good and heart-wrenching Romance - it’s all about the right mood. In the Dark Romance arena she is a devotee of morally grey protagonists and satisfying cat-and-mouse dynamics, and of course a HEA is a must. Bonus points if there are vampires! She is also a fan of the college setting for New Adult relationships, with a strong coming of age element and a will-they-won’t-they storyline with plenty of emotional angst. Horror is also a new addition to her TBR pile and she is eager to see more of it come her way. Genre mashups that include any or all of the above are also most welcome!
How to submit: Use her querymanager HERE.
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What she is seeking: She is open to working with authors in the Adult, New Adult, and Young Adult fiction spaces, across many genres! A big Romantasy reader, she is particularly drawn to epic world building, spicy plot lines, and plenty of witty repartee. She likes both feel-good and heart-wrenching Romance - it’s all about the right mood. In the Dark Romance arena she is a devotee of morally grey protagonists and satisfying cat-and-mouse dynamics, and of course a HEA is a must. Bonus points if there are vampires! She is also a fan of the college setting for New Adult relationships, with a strong coming of age element and a will-they-won’t-they storyline with plenty of emotional angst. Horror is also a new addition to her TBR pile and she is eager to see more of it come her way. Genre mashups that include any or all of the above are also most welcome!
How to submit: Use her querymanager HERE.
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