Hannah VanVels
@hannahvanvels
Literary Agent
📚 Literary Agent @belcastr | Editor | Writer | #RevPit | Devoted German shepherd & cat mom | Amateur baker | Sparkling water enthusiast | she/her ✏️
55 MSWL
55 AskAgent
65 Queries
3 Tips

In Middle Grade, I'd love to see:
⚽️Fantasy inspired by myths, folklore, or legends
⚽️Historical that centers POC stories
⚽️Contemporary with an environmental bent
⚽️Horror with ghosts, creepy crawlies, and witches
⚽️Growing up in non-traditional settings
⚽️Earth-based sci-fi

Rachel Mann
@rachelpmann
Literary Agent
Literary agent | She/her
23 MSWL

Also some mythical retellings and / or adventures inspired by non-Western myths and legends for the middle grade market? #mswl

Zoie Janelle
@zoiejanelle
Editorial Assistant
editorial assistant @PeachtreePub & @PeachtreeTeen • cat enthusiast • the L in LGBTQ • (all views are my own!)
1 MSWL
Hannah VanVels
@hannahvanvels
Literary Agent
📚 Literary Agent @belcastr | Editor | Writer | #RevPit | Devoted German shepherd & cat mom | Amateur baker | Sparkling water enthusiast | she/her ✏️
55 MSWL
55 AskAgent
65 Queries
3 Tips

Things I love across the board:
🌟Stories inspired by mythology, folklore, and legends
🌟Magical schools
🌟Empathetic villains and morally gray heroes/antiheroes. Bring on the thieves, assassins, and characters with questionable pasts

Shannon
@shanmairead
Assistant Editor
28. NY. Assistant Editor at Kensington Publishing. All opinions are my own. Oxford comma or bust.
3 MSWL

I would also love to see some retellings in my inbox, whether that be of classics or myths #MSWL

Alexandra Weiss
@akaweiss
Literary Agent
Associate agent at Azantian Literary. Book lover, space enthusiast, dream chaser. (Closed to queries!) She/her. 💖💜💙 Profile pic: @KaneIcarusLynch
63 MSWL
2 Tips

Things I DO love/DO want to see: fun settings that push the story along (museums, resorts, amusement parks, public transit, etc.), wholesome cinnamon rolls, anti-capitalist themes, non-western mythology, school trips, smashing the patriarchy, found family, cozy fantasies

#MSWL

Emily Byron
@emilycbyron
Editor
Commissioning editor of science fiction and fantasy @OrbitBooks UK. Usually found shouting about books. Views are my own. (She/her)
14 MSWL

I want to see tales inspired by myth and folklore (from any part of the world) with the rich, lush storytelling of master-wordsmith Alix E. Harrow. Please and thank you #mswl

Kelly Dyksterhouse
@KellyDHouse
Literary Agent
Literary Agent, The Tobias Literary Agency, Kidlit, Hiker, Writer, Professional Daydreamer, MFA from VCFA. AALA. SCBWI She/Her
23 MSWL

For both #mg and #ya, would love historical fiction, especially stories not centered in Western history or culture.

#mswl for #ya:
--fresh "inspired by" takes on familiar tales, myths or classics, rather than retellings
--I'd love an historical novel based on the Trung Sisters.

Caroline J. Trussell
@carolinejtrulit
Literary Agent
junior literary agent with @metamorphlitag , mental health advocate/warrior, reader, indie/self pubbed author. INFJ & Capricorn😇 (she/her)
44 MSWL

I would love to see Egyptian, Roman, and Greek mythology retellings in my submissions #MSWL #manuscriptwishlist

Christina Miller
@chrissymiller__
Literary Agent
📚☕🍷 Admin. Coordinator + Junior Agent at Nancy Yost Literary Agency. Just trying to read as many HEAs as possible. She/Her 📖 Currently closed to queries
21 MSWL

Some favorite Adult Romance tropes would include:
 
- second chance romance
- only! one! bed!
- beauty and the beast re-telling (any fairytale/folklore/myth really)
*** bonus points for including a small, furry partner in crime 🐶🐱🐰
 
#MSWL

Anjanette Barr
@bookbarrista
Literary Agent
Agent @ Dunham Literary, Author, YouTuber, mother of four in Juneau, AK. 💕📚💕🫖💕🥃💕 Member AALA, SCBWI, Alaska Writers Guild, Catholic Writers Guild.
13 MSWL

Give me books with religion that aren't *about* religion. If you have a manuscript that explores myth, faith, anthropology, philosophy, or the intersection of those, but isn't for an explicitly religious audience, I want to see it.

Anjanette Barr
@bookbarrista
Literary Agent
Agent @ Dunham Literary, Author, YouTuber, mother of four in Juneau, AK. 💕📚💕🫖💕🥃💕 Member AALA, SCBWI, Alaska Writers Guild, Catholic Writers Guild.
13 MSWL

I have some favorite topics and genres. I have a soft spot for portal fantasies, magical realism, time slip, nature-heavy settings, popular science, religion, myth, philosophy, gothic fiction, handcrafts, biographies, and music.

Kristie Choi
@minjipatterson
Editor
Acquiring EA @ Atheneum (S&S) | she/her 🌈💗💛💙 최민지, Korean-Am, cottagecore meets a punky morbid grandma, waterbender, sex/kink-positive leftist Christian
23 MSWL

Karolina Sutton @KarolinaSutton

From the coalface of publishing: all editors are saying no more witches please or retellings of myths.

I'll always want witches & myth retellings! Just give me a strong voice, layered characterization, & beautiful textured writing with them. Would especially love to see witches from underrepresented backgrounds - like, can I get a witch living in a hanok in the woods? #mswl twitter.com/KarolinaSutton…

Liza DeBlock
@lizadeblock
Literary Agent
Reader 🤓 Rower 🚣🏻‍♀️ Baker 🧁 Always looking for the next great book. Bookseller Rising Star 2022. Foreign Rights Executive at @MushensEnt .
6 MSWL

Liza DeBlock @lizadeblock

Hi #authors! In anticipation of #NaNoWriMo I want to let you know that I am on the hunt for some great books to sign! People always wonder what #literaryagents look for, and I have a few things I am desperate to see hit my submissions inbox. What are they? Let me tell you…

I love historical fiction. I love mythological retellings, and I would love to find what comes next! Send me your folklore, your Tristan & Isolde, or better yet: King Arthur’s court written from Guinevere’s perspective! Give me new perspectives that make you excited!

Asia Harden
@asiacharden
Editorial Assistant
editorial assistant at FSG BYR (@mackidsbooks) ☆ @columbiapubcrse & @olemiss alum ☆ 1908 ☆ grace upon grace ☆ all thoughts my own
7 MSWL

things I’ve been dying to see in my inbox #MSWL

- unapologetic female protagonists
- revenge stories
- retellings with a twist
- mythology, meddling gods
- smart mystery thrillers
- spooky middle grade
- royals!!

Antoinette Van Sluytman
@Antoinight
Literary Agent
🇬🇾🇨🇷 | Writer | Artist • Dark Polymath • @VS_Antoinette agent acct • The Decolonizer • Aspiring filmmaker • Chaos by milk tea🥷🏾🧋 Repped by: @julieacrisp
13 MSWL

For adult fantasy I’d love something a-la BLACK SUN but without magic. Decolonial epic fantasy without magic with a dark atmospheric edge — the more psychological and twisted the better. Would love to see some fresh voices and mythology retellings on second worlds

Kelly Peterson
@LitAgentKelly
Literary Agent
Literary Agent at @reesagency . Twitter Valkyrie. Philadelphian. Pisces. She/her. Multitasks #LikeABoss . Gandalf of #TheFellowship . Tweets are my own.✌🏻
263 MSWL
217 AskAgent
40 Queries
115 Tips

YES:
2. Anything with an industrial feel. I still haven’t quite gotten over my steampunk phase, and maybe never will.
3. Different forms of magic (bone magic, song magic, written magic, etc.)
4. Anything based in/on history (Vikings, court intrigue, creepy mythology, etc.) #mswl

Julie Gourinchas
@literaryfey
Literary Assistant
she/they 🌿 literary flâneuse @BLM_Agency . 🇫🇷🇺🇸 in 🇬🇧. intellectual (non-practicing). likes: literary fiction, cheap wine, Aragorn II Elessar. views mine.
47 MSWL

I have *obsessively* been playing Hades for the past nine days, so, naturally: #mswl for folklore or myth retellings; #mswl for fraught family dynamics, particularly difficult fathers; and #mswl for a polyam triad in the vein of Thanatos x Zagreus x Megaera 💕

Meg Gaertner
@MEGaertner
Editor
Senior editor @fluxbooks + @jollyfishpress . YA fantasy/sci-fi writer. Swing dancer. Music lover. Philosophizer. Tweets are my own. she/her. meggaertner.com
33 MSWL

At last, I have a profile on ManuscriptWishList.com. My current wish list is live, though I'll continue to tweet new and specific items as they come to me. #MSWL

manuscriptwishlist.com/mswl-post/meg-…