Adult Fiction
Talia Samuels‘s THE CHRISTMAS SWAP, a queer Christmas romcom featuring a woman who fake dates her friend in order for him to bring someone home for the holidays, only to fall for his sister, to Melissa Rechter at Alcove Press, in a nice deal, for publication in October 2023, by Sarah Scarlett at Penguin Random House UK (NA).
Lyla Lee‘s LOVE IN FOCUS, an adult debut, featuring a sapphic second chance rom com pitched for fans of Delilah Green Doesn’t Care, in which a relationship advice columnist in her late 20s finds herself re-evaluating her own past after an unexpected breakup, when she’s forced to work with an ex-girlfriend who inexplicably abandoned her during college, the two must pair up to work on a career defining piece about modern love that could not only potentially save the protagonist’s job, but also maybe her heart, to Junessa Viloria at Forever, at auction, in a two-book deal, for publication in summer 2025, by Penny Moore at Aevitas Creative Management (NA).
Kelli Storm‘s CHALLENGE ACCEPTED, in which a small town business owner challenges her teenage boyband crush–and local hero–to save the town Main Street from a big business takeover and figures out her own happily ever after while navigating her mother’s dementia, asexuality, and sudden viral fame, to Megan Broderick at Harlequin Special Edition, in a two-book deal, by Jill Marsal at Marsal Lyon Literary Agency (world).
Author of FOR HER CONSIDERATION Amy Spalding’s next two novels in the Out in Hollywood series, to Norma Perez-Hernandez at Kensington, in an exclusive submission, in a two-book deal, for publication in winter 2025 and 2026, by Kate Schafer Testerman at kt literary (world).
Jem Zero‘s A SPARK IN HIS HAND, in which a vulnerable man stripped of his memories yearns for independence when forced to perform unpaid labor to earn his keep, and runs away to begin an affair with a shy, handsome politician who holds information about his true identity, to Lisa Green at City Owl Press, in a nice deal, for publication in June 2024 (US).
NYU graduate and ex-movie marketer Phil Melanson’s THE FIGUREHEAD, a queer historical novel set in Renaissance Florence, pitched as WOLF HALL meets THE SONG OF ACHILLES, in which the bloody feud between the ruling Medici family and the pope’s court in Rome forever alters the career of a young, gay painter, known today as Leonardo da Vinci, to Gina Iaquinta at Liveright, at auction, by Chad Luibl at Janklow & Nesbit (NA).
Laura Piper Lee’s ZOE BRENNAN, FIRST CRUSH, a sapphic rom-com about a Georgia vineyard owner who’s forced to team up with her childhood crush turned Napa vintner snob to win a prestigious wine festival’s local showcase and save her family’s vineyard, again to Laura Schreiber at Union Square & Co, by Carrie Pestritto at Laura Dail Literary Agency (world).
D.L. Sims’s EVERYTHING IS JUST FINE, a contemporary LGBTQIA+ love story following a college freshman who develops feelings for not one, but two of his classmates, to Anna Todd at Frayed Pages, for publication in fall 2024 (world).
Author of THE SHADOW CABINET Juno Dawson’s QUEEN B, a prequel to HER MAJESTY’S ROYAL COVEN, sweeping us to the reign of Henry VIII and the origins of the coven under the beautiful and bewitching Anne Boleyn, to Nidhi Pugalia at Penguin, by Katelyn Dougherty at Paradigm (NA).
Kamilah Cole’s THE SINISTER ELITE, a speculative dark academia thriller about a college freshman haunted by a sense of deja vu that turns deadly when she finds a message scrawled on her skin written in her own hand that simply says REMEMBER, to Mary Altman at Poisoned Pen Press, in a two-book deal, for publication in summer 2025, by Emily Forney at BookEnds (world).
Nebula, Lambda, and Hugo Award finalist Lee Mandelo, ed.’s AMPLITUDES: STORIES OF QUEER AND TRANS FUTURITY, a short fiction anthology about how we can imagine better worlds as an act of literary resistance during a time of rising threats against queer and trans people, to Diana Pho at Erewhon, in a nice deal, for publication in summer 2025, by Tara Gilbert at Jennifer De Chiara Literary Agency (world).
2017 PEN/Robert J. Dau Short Story Prize winner Laura Chow Reeve’s A SMALL APOCALYPSE, a debut collection of stories in which human bodies shape shift, queer ghosts haunt their friends, a young woman pickles memories with her Chinese grandmother, and a movie theater floods during an apocalyptic movie marathon, pitched for fans Carmen Maria Machado and Karen Russell, to Marisa Siegel at Northwestern University Press, for publication in spring 2024, by Soumeya Bendimerad Roberts at HG Literary (NA).
Briony Cameron’s THE BALLAD OF JACQUOTTE DELAHAYE, an epic tale pitched as based on the legend of a woman of color from colonial Haiti as she becomes one of the few infamous female pirate captains to sail the Caribbean in the 17th century, with a queer love story at its heart, in an exploration of human connection, friendship, and the search for freedom and home, to Natalie Hallak at Atria, in a good deal, in a pre-empt, by Rebecca Wearmouth at PFD, on behalf of Laurie Robertson (NA).
Rhodes Scholar and filmmaker Eli Zuzovsky’s MAZELTOV, an offbeat coming-of-age debut centered on a closeted gay boy in Israel, who on the day of his bar mitzvah must wrestle with lust and longing as he confronts the forces of family neurosis and national dysfunction, pitched as Philip Roth for millennials, to Riva Hocherman at Holt, in a nice deal, by Jessica Kasmer-Jacobs at Deborah Harris Agency (NA).
Children’s and Middle Grade Fiction Ben Kahn and Jeremy Whitley’s graphic novel THE DASHING SCHOOL FOR WAYWARD PRINCES, the story of a supposed prince who knows that, deep down, she’s really a princess; despite the school’s rigid and outdated gender norms, the princess and her newfound misfit friends find the courage to embrace themselves and stand up to anyone who says otherwise, illustrated by Melissa Capriglione, to Julia McCarthy at Atheneum, for publication in summer 2025, by Moe Ferrara at BookEnds for the authors, and by Laurel Symonds at kt literary for the illustrator (world).
Young Adult Fiction
Pushcart and Discovery/The Nation prize-winning poet, critic, and editor Rebecca Stafford’s RABBIT AND JULIET, a starstruck queer story about a grieving girl in a small Georgia town who meets the enigmatic daughter of a world-famous actor and embarks on a revenge plot to hold local boys accountable for a series of assaults, to Alyssa Miele at Quill Tree, in a pre-empt, in a two-book deal, for publication in fall 2024, by Marcy Posner at Folio Literary Management (NA).
Debut author-illustrator Mars Lauderbaugh’s HOLLOW MAGIC, in which a 17-year-old witch, searching for ways to understand her magic, meets an intriguing knight full of secrets, and, with their help, must find a way to lift the curse from an ancient castle or lose the chance to learn the truth about her lineage forever, to Rachel Diebel at Feiwel and Friends, for publication in fall 2026, by Jennifer March Soloway at Andrea Brown Literary Agency (world).
Cass Biehn’s debut VESUVIUS, a queer YA historical fantasy pitched as THEY BOTH DIE AT THE END by way of THE SONG OF ACHILLES, set in Pompeii days before the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in which two boys must grapple with their closely guarded secrets and untangle their fates to make it out of the burning city alive, to Zoie Konneker at Peachtree Teen, in a nice deal, for publication in summer 2025, by Annalise Errico at Ladderbird Literary Agency (world).
Author of QUEER AS A FIVE-DOLLAR BILL Lee Wind’s A DIFFERENT KIND OF BRAVE, an adventure romance in which two gay teens—one who has escaped from a gay reprogramming institute in California, and the other, a privileged New Yorker who idolizes James Bond—come together to save each other and free the other teens trapped in the institute, to Jerome Pohlen at Chicago Review Press, for publication in March 2024, by Marietta Zacker at Gallt and Zacker Literary Agency (world).
Author of THE BEST LIARS IN RIVERVIEW and THE HOUSE THAT WHISPERS Lin Thompson’s THE REAPER’S GLASS, pitched as Our Flag Means Death meets THE GENTLEMAN’S GUIDE TO VICE AND VIRTUE, a queer/trans historical duology about three teens who set sail to face down a secret magical society in 1840s New England, to Camille Kellogg at Bloomsbury Children’s, in a two-book deal, for publication in spring 2025, by Beth Phelan at Gallt and Zacker Literary Agency (world).
Author of KINGS, QUEENS AND IN-BETWEENS Tanya Boteju’s MESSY PERFECT, exploring questions of faith, sexuality, and responsibility in the story of an overachieving teen’s efforts to run an underground gender and sexuality alliance and the complications that arise—because not only does she attend a Catholic high school, she also happens to be closeted, to Jennifer Ung at Quill Tree, in a good deal, in a two-book deal, for publication in summer 2025, by Jim McCarthy at Dystel, Goderich & Bourret (world).
Brazilian author Clara Alves’s LONDON ON MY MIND, originally published in Brazil as ROMANCE REAL, translated into English by Nina Perrotta, in which a girl moves from Rio de Janeiro to London to live with her estranged father and his new family, and strikes up an unexpected romance with a beautiful and mysterious girl who is clearly hiding something about her connection to the royal family, to Orlando Dos Reis at Scholastic, for publication in summer 2024, by Danielle Burby and Alba Milena at Mad Woman Literary Agency, on behalf of Seguinte (world English).
Non-Fiction and Poetry
Illustrator, cartoonist, and author Lonnie Mann’s GAYTHEIST: COMING OUT OF MY ORTHODOX CHILDHOOD, a coming-of-age graphic memoir about growing up gay in an Orthodox Jewish community, to Liz Frances at Street Noise, with Matt Madden editing, in a nice deal, in an exclusive submission, for publication in February of 2024 (world).
Grammy Award-nominated, Mercury Prize-winning singer, songwriter, and poet Arlo Parks’s THE MAGIC BORDER, a collection of poetry exploring the queer experience, blackness, grief, trauma, and love, featuring photographs by Daniyel Lowden and the complete lyrics to her sophomore album My Soft Machine, to Stuart Roberts at Dey Street Books, at auction, for publication in September 2023, by Meredith Miller at UTA (NA).
Author of RAINBOW: A FIRST BOOK OF PRIDE Michael Genhart’s picture book biography EDIE FOR EQUALITY: EDIE WINDSOR STANDS UP FOR MARRIAGE EQUALITY, about the LGBTQ icon whose landmark case before the Supreme Court paved the way for marriage equality, illustrated by Cheryl Thuesday, to Jessica Echeverria at Lee and Low, for publication in spring 2025, by Nicole Geiger at Full Circle Literary (world).
Author of QUEERING THE TAROT, QUEERING YOUR CRAFT, and LESSONS FROM THE EMPRESS Cassandra Snow’s TAROT: IN OTHER WORDS, an anthology of essential writing by leading queer tarot writers and community leaders about their tarot practice and its relevance to LGBTQ+ issues, with contributions from Charlie Claire Burgess, Meg Jones Wall, Siri Vincent Plouff, Asalie Earthwork, Rebecca Scolnick, Maria Minnis, Nick Kepley, and others, to Peter Turner at Weiser Books, in an exclusive submission, for publication in spring 2025, by Kelly Van Sant at kt literary (world English).
Poet charles theonia’s GAY HEAVEN IS A DANCE FLOOR BUT I CAN’T RELAX, a poetry collection where poetic citation assumes the form of cross-generational conversation between queer and trans artists and writers, with methodologies and forms promiscuous (not limited to pop songs, paintings, a sexological study, and AIDS activist agitprop), variable in their structure, and invested in intergenerational queer connectivity, to Nicodemus Nicoludis at Archway Editions, for publication in spring 2024 (world English).
Atara loves to wear her crown – to the library, to the dentist, even to her swim lessons. It gives her confidence, and shows the world that she is a girl, not a boy, like everyone thought at first. But when Atara reads the story of Queen Esther, on the Jewish holiday of Purim – she realises that you don’t need a costume to express who you really are…
Covid lockdown is over, but A’s world feels smaller than ever. Coming out as trans didn’t exactly go well, and most days, he barely leaves his bedroom, let alone the house. But the low point of A’s life isn’t online school, missing his bar mitzvah, or the fact that his parents monitor his phone like hawks—it’s the weekly Save Our Sons and Daughters meetings his parents all but drag him to.
At forty, Peter, an asylum lawyer in New York City, is overworked and isolated. He spends his days immersed in the struggles of immigrants only to return to an empty apartment and occasional hook-ups with a man who wants more than Peter can give. But when the asylum case of a young gay man pierces Peter’s numbness, the event that he has avoided for twenty years returns to haunt him.