Featured Agents
PLEASE READ THIS FIRST
The genres listed by each agent’s name are general; please closely read the entire profile of each agent who considers work in your genre to ensure that they will consider work in your subgenre or category.
For example: an agent who is listed under Fiction may represent literary fiction, speculative fiction, and thrillers, but may not represent upmarket fiction or other types of crime fiction. Another example: an agent who is listed under Nonfiction may represent only memoirs that connect with larger social issues, but may not be interested in literary memoirs, or may not represent any memoirists at all.
To find the best possible fit, MWPA recommends that before registering, prospective attendees read agents’ profiles on our website and also do some research into their agencies, as well as their clients. Please note that for Pitch Plus sessions, agents will provide feedback and advice regardless of whether or not they are interested in representing a writer, as long as they represent writers in the same genre as the manuscript being pitched (for example, an agent representing only literary fiction would not be helpful for a writer pitching a crime fiction manuscript).
PITCH agents are available for either Quick Pitch, or Pitch Plus, as specified below. They may represent the following (very general) genres: Fiction, Nonfiction, Memoir, YA, Middle Grade, and Picture Books. Please click HERE for a handy explanation of the differences between the categories of literary, upmarket, and commercial fiction.
If an agent who interests you is listed as “full/wait list only,” please email Nathan Conroy at programs@mainewriters.org to be added to the wait list.
PITCH 2024 will take place on Saturday, September 21 in Portland, Maine. Registration options and instructions can be found HERE.
QUICK PITCH
Agnes Bushell (Fiction, poetry)
Agnes Bushell is the editorial director of Littoral Books, a small press based in Portland, Maine, which focuses on publishing the work of Maine writers and artists. She has been writing fiction for over forty years and is the author of fourteen novels. She has also written for many magazines, including Down East, and was an editor at The Dissident, a Maine journal of politics and art. One of the founders of Maine Writers and Publishers Alliance, she is the 2016 recipient of MWPA’s Distinguished Achievement Award. She has served as a member of the board of directors of the Maine Review, and is Professor Emerita in Liberal Arts at Maine College of Art and Design.
Looking For: Literary novels, short stories, and poetry.
NOT Looking For: Romance novels, science fiction (aka speculative fiction), crime novels, fantasy, children's books, YA books, and memoir.
Featured Clients: Gillian Burnes, Laurel Dodge, Richard Foerster, Gary Lawless, and Leslie Moore.
PITCH PLUS AGENTS
Mina Hamedi (Fiction, Nonfiction, memoir)
Full - Waitlist Only
Mina Hamedi grew up in Istanbul, Turkey before moving to New York in 2010. She received her BA in Nonfiction and Global Identity from NYU’s Gallatin School and an MFA in Creative Nonfiction from Columbia University. Mina began her career in publishing at David Black Literary Agency and Writers House. She joined Janklow & Nesbit in 2018 where she supports co-founder Lynn Nesbit and her various authors including Andre Aciman, Robert Caro, Ronan Farrow, Andrew Sean Greer, Anand Giridharadas, and Maaza Mengiste, as well as the estates of Joan Didion, Shirley Hazzard, Anne Rice, and Tom Wolfe. Twitter: @mina_hamedi
Looking For: Adult fiction and nonfiction: international stories, intergenerational tales, family secrets, strong voices, translation, writers from underrepresented backgrounds, deep excavations into relationships, motivations, and obsessions.
Featured Clients: Ruth Madievsky, Mona Eltahawy, Fortesa Latifi, Myriam Gurba, Allan Martin Nava, Tree Abraham, Sarah-Jane Collins, Kylie Cheung, Alana Saab, Shy Watson, Nazli Karabiyikoglu, Sarp Sözdinler, and more.
Leah Petrakis (Fiction, Nonfiction, Memoir)
Full - Waitlist Only
Leah Petrakis is a literary agent at Europa Content specializing in voice-driven nonfiction and dynamic, own-voices upmarket/literary fiction. She started her publishing career at HarperCollins Children’s Books and the former trade division of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt before making the leap to agenting in 2021. A graduate of the Martin Scorsese Department of Cinema Studies at the Tisch School of the Arts, she also served as Music Director of WNYU Radio and interned for Wes Anderson's team of Music Supervisors as an undergraduate at NYU. She has a lifelong love of pop culture and New York City and is particularly drawn to narratives that seem niche at first but aim to resonate widely and chart new ground.
Looking For: Fiction: Debut, Contemporary, Upmarket/Book Club Literary Fiction, Family Saga, Literary Thriller/Suspense, Speculative, Women’s Fiction, Own Voices, Coming of Age, Workplace Dramedy, and Satire. Nonfiction: Music, Humorous Essay Collections, Pop Culture, Literary Non-Prescriptive Self-Help, Braided Memoir, Journalism, Narrative, True Crime, Culinary Memoir, and Cookbooks.
NOT Looking For: Fiction: Super commercial or book club fiction, romance, romcom, sci-fi, fantasy, and historical. Nonfiction: Overly prescriptive nonfiction, traditional self-help, biographies (unless it's about an unexpected and wildly captivating figure), anthologies, traditional memoir, and inspiration.
Anna Worrall (Fiction, Nonfiction, Food & Drink)
Full - Waitlist Only
Anna Worrall is a Vice President and literary agent at The Gernert Company, which she joined in 2010. Anna lives with her husband and sons in Portland, Maine.
Looking For: Upmarket and commercial fiction and psychological thrillers, and on the nonfiction side she’s interested in practical, narrative, food & drink, and lifestyle. She also sells audio rights for the agency.
NOT Looking For: Memoir, sci-fi/fantasy, graphic novels, screenplays, and poetry.
Featured Clients: Jamie Beck, Jen Besser & Shana Feste, Cody Cassidy, Lauren Chambers, Gretchen Lidicker, Courtney Naliboff & Ruth Macy, Cathy McCarthy/Heather Tedesco/Jennifer Weaver, Nicole Modic, Remy Morimoto Park, Jill Shulman, Brandon Skier, Tito's Handmade Vodka, Mariana Velásquez, and more.
Zoe Howard (fiction, nonfiction, memoir)
Full - Waitlist Only
Zoe Aline Howard is a literary agent at Howland Literary and literary publicist at Pine State Publicity. Zoe holds a BFA with Distinction and Publishing Certificate from the University of North Carolina Wilmington, and has had the privilege to work across publishing with several entities: previously on publicity and marketing teams at Lookout Books, and currently as an agent acquiring adult fiction and nonfiction at Howland Literary, and as a literary publicist at Pine State Publicity. Through each of these and her own writing, Zoe has garnered an eye for those interdisciplinary, lyrical, quiet books that demand more space in publishing. In every book she works on, her largest goal is to find those niche and wider spaces where the voice of a project can truly be heard.
Looking For: More than anything, Zoe is drawn to writing where language comes first—she would love to see the work of poets-turned-to-prose, lyrical voices, and sentence-level craft that plays (Patti Smith, Ali Smith). She would love to read writing that explores boundaries: deconstructions of the coastal or “convenience store” south & the mountain states of the US, non-traditional narrators, cross-discipline books, and so on. In adult fiction, she is seeking voice-driven stories that subvert reader expectations of their subject matter. Zoe is especially interested in unashamed characters; characters at their breaking point; literary fiction with speculative elements, especially those that tend dark and underground (Sharks in the Time of Saviors); joyous girlhood; body horror & transformations of the body; and insular settings (small towns, amusement parks, summer camps, hotels). In adult nonfiction, Zoe is looking for narrative nonfiction, memoir, and essay collections that blend personal narratives with research or questions about the larger world. She would love to see more nonfiction that reads like fiction. Her niche interests include material culture, why & how we use objects, celebrities, pop culture, parasocial relationships, and the connections between people and the places they inhabit.
NOT Looking For: Representing primarily literary/upmarket adult fiction and nonfiction, Zoe is not the right fit for commercial fiction, high fantasy/sci-fi, prescriptive nonfiction, or for personal reasons, projects involving eating disorders, or explicit depictions of suicide or sexual assault.
Featured Clients: Sara Maurer (A Good Animal), Lauren Haddad (Fireweed), Maria Pinto (Fearless, Sleepless, Deathless: A Fungal Lens of Hidden Histories, Blackness, and Survival), Sydney Hegele (The Pump, Bird Suit, and Bad Kids), Jen Jackson Quintano (founder Pro-Voice Project), Emma Glenn Baker (STARGRL podcast host), Amelia Ada (Hard and Glad), and more.
Aurora Fernandez (fiction, romance, nonfiction, memoir)
Full - Wait List Only
Aurora Fernandez is an Associate Agent at Trident Media Group. She joined the agency in 2021 as an assistant to Robert Gottlieb. Before joining Trident, Aurora was an intern at Simone Garzella International Book Scouting and attended the Columbia Publishing Course. She earned a B.A. in Anthropology with a concentration in Political Science from Wellesley College and spent a year studying at St. Peter’s College, Oxford University.
Looking for: Aurora is looking for romances, thrillers, and upmarket fiction. She enjoys romance ranging from rom-coms to romantasies to epic romances and loves books that feature swoon worthy romance, strong friendships, and witty dialogue. Aurora is also interested in thrillers with complicated female relationships, a good twist, and gothic or dark academia elements. For upmarket books, she is especially drawn to books with interesting female dynamics, moral dilemmas with no clearcut answer, unexplored perspectives of historical moments, and, of course, a unique hook backed by great writing. And anything involving mythic retellings or witchcraft will definitely catch her eye!
While Aurora’s interests mainly lie in fiction, she is open to nonfiction submissions. For nonfiction submissions, Aurora is looking for memoirs, narrative nonfictions, and forgotten moments in history. Particular topics that interest her are pop culture, modern dating, mental health, women’s issues, and true crime.
NOT Looking For: At this time, Aurora is not interested in representing fiction in the following genres: military/espionage thrillers, science fiction, horror, children’s/middle grade, and literary fiction. She is also not interested in representing nonfiction in the following spaces: military history, business, spirituality, and humor.
Featured Clients: Lexi Alexander, Shari Arnold, Julie Brett, Turner Gable Kahn, Liv Lowry, Emily J. Smith, Martyna Starosta, Ted Thomas, Karla Zabludovsky, and more.
Alia Hanna Habib (Fiction, nonfiction, memoir)
Full - Waitlist Only
Alia Hanna Habib is a literary agent and Vice President at The Gernert Company, which she joined in 2017 after starting her publishing career as a publicist at HMH and working as an agent at McCormick Literary. She is the author of TAKE IT FROM ME: An Agent’s No-Bullshit Guide to Building a Nonfiction Career from Scratch, forthcoming from Pantheon in 2025. She is on the board of n+1 literary magazine and on the creative council of Aspen Words. She lives in Brooklyn.
Looking For: Memoir, narrative nonfiction, literary mystery, and literary fiction.
Featured Clients: Among the New York Times-bestselling and prize-winning clients she represents are Nikole Hannah-Jones, Clint Smith, Lauren Oyler, Merve Emre, Adam Serwer, and Hanif Abdurraqib.
Lori Galvin (Fiction, nonfiction, Memoir)
Prior to joining Aevitas, Galvin was executive editor at the multimedia publisher America’s Test Kitchen, where she led a team that produced dozens of landmark cookbooks. Galvin was also an editor at Houghton Mifflin, a restaurant cook, and ran a bed-and-breakfast in Maine.
Looking For: Lori Galvin represents both adult fiction (especially domestic suspense, psychological thrillers & mysteries) and nonfiction (memoir, food writing, and cookbooks). A few of Galvin’s clients include Wanda M. Morris (All Her Little Secrets, Anywhere You Run, What You Leave Behind, William Morrow) and Jennifer Morita’s forthcoming debut Ghosts of Waikiki (Crooked Lane). On the culinary side, her clients include James Beard–award winners, Kwame Onwuachi (Notes from a Young Black Chef, My America Knopf) and Margaret Li and Irene Li (Perfectly Good Food, Norton).
NOT Looking For: Childrens or YA, fantasy, sci-fi, short story collections, and poetry. I am currently closed to cookbook submissions.
Featured Clients: Adrian Harris (The Food Gays’ Guide to Cooking in Color), BriAnne Wills (Girls and Their Cats), Cambria Brockman (Tell Me Everything), Cheryl Head (Time’s Undoing), Hannah Kirshner (Foreign Woman Works in Sake Bar), Holly Watt (To the Lions); Irene Li, Mei Lei, Andrew Li (Double Awesome Chinese Food, How to Be a Food Waste Hero), Jennifer Morita (The Ghost of Waikiki), Jeremy Inglett (The Food Gay’s Guide to Cooking in Color), Kelsey Barnard Clark (Southern Grit, Untitled Parties Book, Untitled Home and Gardens Book), Kim Nelson (Daisy Cakes Bakes), Kwame Onwuachi (Notes from a Young Black Chef, My Africa, My America), Nishita Parekh (The Night of the Storm), Phoebe Rowe (Swan Light), Regina McBride (Stranger From Across the Sea), Sara Goudarzi (The Almond in the Apricot), Sebastian J. Plata (Seeing Strangers), Stephanie Rohr (Feminist Cross-Stitch, Self-Care Cross-Stitch), Tamara L. Miller (Into the Fall), and Wanda M. Morris (All Her Little Secrets, Anywhere You Run, and Untitled Book 3).Galvin’s clients’ projects have been optioned by A24, Netflix, and CBS Studios.
Kat Kerr (Fiction, Nonfiction, Memoir, YA)
Full - Waitlist Only
Kat Kerr joined Donald Maass Literary Agency in 2019. She graduated from Florida State University with a Bachelors in English in 2009 and is drawn to literary and commercial voices within the adult and YA markets, as well as adult nonfiction. Kat feels strongly about supporting programs like We Need Diverse Books and is passionate about creating space in this industry for those from historically marginalized communities.
Looking for: Kat is always hungry for literary, slice-of-life stories that reflect deeper meaning in the world around us, as well as literary blended stories with speculative leans. She will always look for women's fiction across the spectrum, especially ones whose stories touch on much needed conversation we have yet to cover within women's lived experiences, and young adult stories that are full of heart and hope. Within narrative nonfiction, she is focusing on journalistic nonfiction at the current moment, as well as selective memoirs.
NOT Looking For: Plots/themes centering around unresolved trauma, previously published or self-published works, MG, Chapter books, picture books, novellas, short stories, or poetry collections, Military/war stories, or Westerns.
Featured Clients: Robyn Lucas (Paper Doll Lina, Maybe She'll Stay), Laila Sabreen (You Truly Assumed, Study Break : anthology), DeAndra Davis ( All the Noise at Once, Spring 2025), Camilla Raines (The Hollow and the Haunted, Oct 2024) , and more.
Jenny Stephens (nonfiction, picture books)
Full - Waitlist only.
Jenny Stephens is a literary agent at Sterling Lord Literistic, Inc., which she joined in 2012 after starting her career as an intern with Islandport Press and Markson Thoma Literary Agency. She grew up in Harpswell, Maine, and studied English and film at Colby College in Waterville, and now lives in New Jersey with her husband and son.
Looking For: Nonfiction in a variety of categories including practical lifestyle projects; prescriptive books particularly in the wellness and mindfulness spaces; cookbooks; and narrative writing on environmental, social, and economic justice; natural sciences; history; food; and cultural criticism. For both adults and kids, Jenny is often drawn to visual books that inform and explore through both text and image.
Featured Clients: Ariel Aberg-Riger, Andrea Bemis, Khiara Bridges, Paco de Leon, Ashley Erdely, Mary L. Gray, Debbie Hines, John Holl, Alicia Kennedy, Jillian Keenan, Chelsey Luger and Thosh Collins, Ana Inciardi, Olivia McGiff and Sammi Katz, Daen Lia Kelly, Jeffrey Miller, Cecily Parks, Desmond Patton, Nicole Stott, and Wei Tchou. In addition, Jenny is honored to represent select literary estates on behalf of the agency, including the estate of National Book Award winning author Gloria Naylor and the estate of novelist Ken Kesey.
Leah Pierre (fiction, YA, picture books)
Leah Pierre is an agent at Ladderbird Literary Agency. A Texas native, she briefly moved to the East Coast to attend Rosemont College and to pursue her dream of working in publishing. She graduated from Rosemont College with a B.A. in English and History. Leah then went on to pursue and receive her M.A. in Publishing from her alma mater as well. Having accomplished her dream of working in publishing, she has since moved back to the South to begin her next adventure and continue searching for the next commercial YA or Adult project that will hook her (or make her cry).
Looking For: Leah is a tenacious advocate for BIPOC writers and is always looking for ways to bring more diverse intersectionality to publishing so she is exclusively looking for Black, Latinx, Indigenous, Asian, and Pacific Islander voices with or without LGBTIQA+ intersectionality—basically anyone underrepresented and/or marginalized in multiple genres such as mystery/thrillers, social horror, science fiction, fantasy, gothic, dark academia, romance, and contemporary.
NOT Looking For: MG, dystopian, legal or spy thrillers, and non-fiction. Please no cliche romances where the plot is centered around cheating, parental disapproval, or high school drama. Give her something out of the ordinary, and conflict that’s hard-hitting and really makes her wonder if anyone is right.
Featured Clients: Her projects include forthcoming books from H.D.Hunter, Ravynn K. Stringfield, Kay Sohini Sen, and three soon to be announced picture books.