Adult Fiction
K Chiucarello’s debut NANNY NANNY, about a single, queer, 35-year-old career nanny who yearns to have a baby of her own in order to sublimate the violence she endured in a relationship with her ex-girlfriend, subverting status quo notions of motherhood, domestic abuse, gender, class, and the politics of care work, to Ecco, in a pre-empt.
Author of the forthcoming THE DARK WE KNOW ‘s WHEN THEY BURNED THE BUTTERFLY, a sapphic fantasy duology in which a schoolgirl becomes entangled with a magical, fire-starting girl gang in the criminal underworld of 1970s postcolonial Singapore, pitched for fans of Fonda Lee, R.F. Kuang, and Silvia Moreno-Garcia, to Ruoxi Chen at Tor, with Sanaa Ali-Virani editing, in a six-figure deal, at auction, in a two-book deal, for publication in fall 2025, by Isabel Kaufman at Fox Literary (NA).
Podcaster and executive producer at the TDPS Network and Dinner Partners Christopher Rice writing as C. Travis Rice’s book five in the Sapphire Cove series, devoted to tales of gay romance, set at a beachfront resort in Southern California, to Blue Box Press, in an exclusive submission, for publication in June 2025 (world English).
Hugo finalist and author of CAMP DAMASCUS and BURY YOUR GAYS ‘s LUCKY DAY, in which a bisexual statistics professor and an ethically dubious government agent must travel to Las Vegas to unravel the connection between deadly bouts of absurdity and a supernaturally lucky casino; and three more standalone novels including NEVER BE APART and FABULOUS BODIES, to Kelly Lonesome at Nightfire, in a four-book deal, for publication in summer 2025, by DongWon Song at Howard Morhaim Literary Agency (NA).
French PEN Club-winning ‘s SHE WHO REMAINS, translated from Bulgarian by NEA Fellow Izidora Angel, a Bulgarian queer novel written as a stream of consciousness, tracing the gender evolution of one of the last remaining Albanian sworn virgins—women who have taken a vow of chastity and been accepted into society as men—set in a remote Albanian village still ruled by blood feuds and tribal laws and in Bulgaria, to Buzz Poole at Sandorf Passage, in a nice deal, in a pre-empt, for publication in spring 2026, by Gergana Pancheva at Sofia Literary Agency (NA).
Yigit Karaahmet’s SUMMERHOUSE, a gay thriller about a closeted elderly couple in Turkey whose peaceful life is upended by the arrival of a dangerously attractive new neighbor, translated from the Turkish by Nicholas Glastonbury, to Taz Urnov at Soho Crime, by Amy Spangler at Anatolialit Agency (world English).
Author of the Hugo and Nebula-nominated title THE MIMICKING OF KNOWN SUCCESSES and THE IMPOSITION OF UNNECESSARY OBSTACLES Malka Older’s THE POTENCY OF UNGOVERNABLE IMPULSES, the third entry in the Investigations of Mossa and Pleiti series, pitched as a sapphic, Holmesian mystery series set on Jupiter featuring an enigmatic investigator and her former ex-girlfriend, a keen university scholar, to Eli Goldman at Tor, with Brent Lambert editing, in a nice deal, in a three-book deal, for publication in summer 2025 (world English).
Poet Paige Lewis’s CANON, a coming-of-age epic that follows a nonbinary young person suddenly chosen by God to slay the leader of a vicious army, a quest that, unbeknownst to them, is simultaneously being undertaken by a washed-up prophet as keen to prove her worth as the youth is to find refuge, their parallel journeys unfolding in a series of humorous adventures confronting the extremes of love, death, and transformation, to Allie Merola at Viking, by Jacqueline Ko at The Wylie Agency (NA).
Spanish author and poet Sara Torres’s SEDUCTION, pitched as Jeanette Winterson’s WRITTEN ON THE BODY meets R.O. Kwon, exploring the intricate world of desire, sexual fantasy, and its manifestations between two women, to Yezanira Venecia at Primero Sueno, in a nice deal, for publication in winter 2026, by Maria Juncosa at Casanovas & Lynch Agency (NA).
Pushcart Prize-nominated author ‘s THE GRYPHON KING, pitched as a Southwest Asian-inspired epic fantasy debut full of magic, queer and polyamorous romances, and dynastic politics, drawing inspiration from the sweeping history of the Ottoman Empire, to Katie Dent at Titan Books, in a nice deal, in a three-book deal, for publication in July 2025, by Anna Carmichael at Abner Stein, on behalf of Lane Clarke at Ultra Literary (world English).
Author of WOUND ‘s STEPPE, in which a queer literature student travels across central and southern Russia with her estranged father, a long-distance truck driver secretly dying of AIDS, while reflecting on the violent patriarchal structure of Russian society in the 1990s and Russia’s struggle to reckon with its own history, translated by Elina Alter, to Kendall Storey at Catapult, for publication in 2026, by Irina Gachechiladze at New Literary Observer (world English).
‘s SHE’S A REAPER, a sapphic rom-com in which a young woman has to fake-date the grim reaper in order to save her mother’s soul, pitched as Van Helsing meets Gilmore Girls, to Elizabeth Trout at Kensington, by Claire Friedman at Inkwell Management.
Avery Curran’s SPOILED MILK, a queer gothic horror set in 1928 at Briarley School for Girls, where the death of a charismatic student heralds a series of paranormal happenings at the school, untangling the intricacies of friendship, female desire, and haunted institutions, to Carolyn Williams at Doubleday and to Sarah St. Pierre and Lauren Park at Random House Canada, in a good deal, at auction, by Stephanie Delman at Trellis Literary Management, on behalf of Imogen Morrell at Greene & Heaton (NA).
Children’s/Middle Grade Fiction
Stonewall Honor author of THE OTHERWOODS and BIANCA TORRE IS AFRAID OF EVERYTHING Justine Pucella Winans’s A LITTLE TOO HAUNTED, a spooky middle grade, in which a girl whose moms run a business flipping so-called “haunted” houses is pulled into the adventure of her life when their new project comes with an actual ghost, to Alex Borbolla at Bloomsbury Children’s, in a two-book deal, for publication in fall 2025 and winter 2025, by Patricia Nelson at Marsal Lyon Literary Agency (world English).
Young Adult Fiction
NYT bestselling author and Stonewall Honoree Andrew Joseph White’s YOU’RE NO BETTER, in which a transgender, autistic protagonist must contend with his fame-hungry mother, a true crime-obsessed classmate, and his own destructive impulses to prove he is nothing like his serial killer father; and BEAST//WARDEN, in which a cursed boy plans to kill the other apprentice vying for the dangerous position of Beastwarden, ensuring his survival in a village that hates him, only to become entangled in a monstrous love story instead, to Ashley Hearn at Peachtree Teen, in a good deal, in an exclusive submission, in a two-book deal, for publication in fall 2026 and 2027, by Jennifer March Soloway at Andrea Brown Literary Agency (world English).
Blair Hanson’s JUST FOR SHOW, in which the maligned winner of a reality show agrees to go on a cross-country road trip with his ex-boyfriend in order to restore his reputation while recreating and “queerifying” famous movie kisses for an art scholarship, pitched for fans of RED, WHITE, & ROYAL BLUE and Big Brother, to Tamara Grasty at Page Street, for publication in spring 2025, by Ismita Hussain at Great Dog Literary (world).
Stonewall Honor author of THE OTHERWOODS and BIANCA TORRE IS AFRAID OF EVERYTHING Justine Pucella Winans’s HOW TO SURVIVE A SLASHER, a horror in which a queer teen who lives in a town famous as the site of the legendary wolfman massacres must use everything she knows about the rules of horror to stay alive when a prophetic manuscript puts her at the center of a new murder spree to Alex Borbolla at Bloomsbury Children’s, in a two-book deal, for publication in fall 2025 and winter 2025, by Patricia Nelson at Marsal Lyon Literary Agency (world English).
Author-illustrator Alondra Araujo’s debut graphic novel MI TIO HERNAN, about a genderfluid teen sent to live with their estranged tio, a Mexican horseman, in an attempt to “masculinize” them, where they must balance two separate lives over the summer until they uncover the truth to their tio’s mysterious past, to Rachel Diebel at Feiwel and Friends, in a very nice deal, for publication in winter 2028, by Alexandra Weiss at Azantian Literary Agency (NA).
New Adult Fiction
Author of Stonewall honoree ANDER AND SANTI WERE HERE Jonny Garza Villa’s FUTBOLISTA, a romance following a college freshman soccer player who, after befriending (and kissing) a classmate, realizes he’s not as straight as he thought he was, to Nick Thomas at Levine Querido, for publication in spring 2025, by Claire Draper at Azantian Literary Agency (world).
Non-Fiction
Author of UNTOLD POWER Rebecca Boggs Roberts‘s RENEGADE ROSE, about Rose Elizabeth Cleveland, who, in addition to being America’s only openly gay First Lady, was also a novelist, literary critic, commercial farmer, translator, editor, real estate investor, hair and fashion influencer, suffragist, heroic nurse, celebrity, and citrus entrepreneur of the Gilded Age—exploring the brief window of time in which a woman could live such a huge, unabashed life, the swinging pendulum of progress in America, and why so few of us remember her name now, to Viking.
Founder and director of the West Virginia Innocence Project and author of MANIFESTING JUSTICE ‘s JUST GENDER: THE LAW’S RAMPED UP WAR ON WOMEN, PREGNANT PEOPLE, AND QUEER IDENTITY, which uses the examples of innocent women who have spent decades in prison for “no-crime convictions,” and the strategic use of criminal law by today’s right-wing movement to limit the bodily autonomy of and criminalize pregnant women, new mothers, and queer people, to argue that the criminal treatment of the most vulnerable endangers the rights of everyone, to Zakia Henderson-Brown at New Press, in a pre-empt, for publication in 2026, by Jill Marr at Sandra Dijkstra Literary Agency (world).
Sports journalist and author of MIND GAME ‘s FINDING RENEE, about the tennis legend and transgender pioneer Renee Richards, who successfully sued for her right to compete in the women’s draw of the 1977 U.S. Open, based on interviews with Richards herself and those in her orbit and drawing on archival footage and never-before-seen material, to Maya Alpert at Harper One, in a pre-empt, for publication in June 2026, by Iris Blasi at Arc Literary Management (world).
Editor-in-Chief of Electric Literature Denne Michele Norris, ed.’s BOTH/AND, an anthology of essays by trans and gender nonconforming people of color, building on the Electric Literature series of the same name, featuring contributors such as J Wortham, Tanais, and Meredith Talusan, alongside Peppermint, Raquel Willis, and several writers from the original series, to Harper One, in a pre-empt.
Social media marketing expert and conversion therapy survivor Timothy Schraeder Rodriguez’s GOOD CHURCH KID: FINDING MYSELF AND MY FAITH AFTER CONVERSION THERAPY, a memoir of the author’s fraught journey from basement conversion therapy meetings in Midwest churches to finally living in the light as a gay Christian in New York City, to Lisa Kloskin at Broadleaf, in a nice deal, for publication in 2025, by Rachelle Gardner at Gardner Literary.
