Oksana Vasyakina | LGBTQ Reads

Adult Fiction

Russian poet, artist, and feminist activist Oksana Vasyakina’s WOUND, following a young queer woman on a journey across Russia to Siberia, where she has promised to take her mother’s ashes, woven through with memories of a traumatic and impoverished childhood, experiences of the sublime, her sexual and artistic awakening, and the pains and joys of life as a lesbian in Russia, to Katharina Bielenberg at MacLehose Press, in a nice deal, at auction, by Rachel Clements at Abner Stein on behalf of Marleen Seegers at 2 Seas Agency, for Catapult.

Victoria Lee’s A SHOT IN THE DARK, a contemporary queer romance featuring Elisheva Cohen, a now-sober young artist who returns to New York to study photography after nearly a decade in Los Angeles and has an unforgettable one-night stand with a gorgeous trans man who turns out to be her teacher, the legendary Wyatt Cole, to Shauna Summers at Dell, at auction, in a two-book deal, by Holly Root and Taylor Haggerty at Root Literary.

Sophie Burnham’s SARGASSA, a queer speculative novel set in contemporary North America in a world where the Roman Empire never fell, following the high-and low-born children of a murdered politician as they are swept up in a revolution and race to find a powerful artifact, to Joshua Demarest at CatStone, by Maria Napolitano at Bookcase Literary Agency (world English).

ACLU-NJ honoree and LGBTQ activist Robyn Gigl’s next two books in her Erin McCabe legal thriller series, featuring a transgender attorney, to John Scognamiglio at Kensington, in a two-book deal, for publication in 2023 and 2024, by Carrie Pestritto at Laura Dail Literary Agency (world).

Author of NYTBR Editors’ Choice THE RECENT EAST Thomas Grattan’s IN TONGUES, a coming-of-age novel set in New York City and Europe in fall 2001, following a gay 24-year-old Midwesterner as he gets swept up in the charm and desires of a powerful older couple, examining issues of social class and queer desire, the pursuit of religious and physical ecstasy, and the complicated relationships between fathers and sons, both biological and chosen, again to Jackson Howard at MCD/FSG, for publication in fall 2023, by Jody Kahn at Brandt & Hochman (world).

Argentinian author Marina Yuszczuk’s THIRST, a queer Gothic vampire novel set in Buenos Aires, following two women in different time periods who confront desire, fear, violence, loneliness, and mortality, pitched as having echoes of Mary Shelley’s FRANKENSTEIN and for readers of Samanta Schweblin, Carmen Maria Machado, and Samantha Hunt, to Pilar Garcia-Brown in her first acquisition for Dutton, by Elianna Kan at Regal Hoffmann & Associates (world English).

Hell’s Library series author A.J. Hackwith’s HOLLOW ROAD HOME and its sequel, pitched as a queer, millennial AMERICAN GODS, about a fae working at a truck stop in Kansas to hide from her past, until she’s blackmailed by a self-taught magician to guide him and his sister—a girl born with a changing map on her skin—across the strange backroads and forgotten spaces of the gothic American Midwest in search of a powerful treasure, to Miranda Hill at Ace, in a two-book deal, for publication in spring 2023, by Caitlin McDonald at Donald Maass Literary Agency (world).

Provincetown Fine Arts Work Center Fellow and UMass Amherst MFA/PhD Shastri Akella’s THE SEA ELEPHANTS, a queer bildungsroman set in 1990s India, following a young gay man who, after the sudden death of his sisters, flees his father’s threats to send him to a conversion center by joining a street theater troupe; pitched as reminiscent of THE GOD OF SMALL THINGS in the way it blends the personal and the political to tell an epic story of forbidden love, to Caroline Bleeke at Flatiron Books, in a pre-empt, by Chris Clemans at Janklow & Nesbit (NA).

Author of A TIP FOR THE HANGMAN Allison Epstein’s LET THE DEAD BURY THE DEAD, a historical novel in which the arrival of a mysterious woman at the 19th-century Russian court divides the second son of the tsar and his lover, a captain in the imperial army, when one of them believes her to be a creature out of myth, setting all three on a collision course with revolution, again to Carolyn Williams at Doubleday, in a very nice deal, by Bridget Smith at JABberwocky Literary Agency (NA).

Young Adult Fiction

Author of SWEET & BITTER MAGIC Adrienne Tooley’s THE THIRD DAUGHTER and THE SECOND SON, pitched in the tradition of Three Dark Crowns and Girl, Serpent, Thorn, a dual PoV series featuring a crown under siege, an enchanted well of sadness, a ruthless antiheroine, and a slow-burning romance, to Jessica Anderson at Christy Ottaviano Books, in a good deal, at auction, in a two-book deal, for publication in summer 2023, by Jim McCarthy at Dystel, Goderich & Bourret (world).

Jenna Miller’s OUT OF CHARACTER, a queer, fat-positive contemporary romance that follows a girl who escapes the stressors of the real world by roleplaying online in secret—but after falling for her roleplay bestie, she must decide if she can be honest about her double life, to Alyssa Miele at Quill Tree, in a two-book deal, for publication in winter 2023, by Michaela Whatnall at Dystel, Goderich & Bourret (world).

Author of THE MYTHIC KODA ROSE Jennifer Nissley’s THE RULES OF US, pitched as the intersection between Becky Albertalli and Nina LaCour in a queer YA love story about longtime couple and best friends, who have dated throughout high school only to come out to each other on prom night, challenging their meticulously planned future as they try to disentangle their lives and identities, explore their sexualities, and learn not only a new way to be together, but how to be alone, to Liesa Abrams at Labyrinth Road, for publication in summer 2023, by Danielle Burby at Mad Woman Literary Agency (NA).

University of Cambridge student Sarah Underwood’s LIES WE SING TO THE SEA, pitched as a sapphic, feminist reclamation of the story of the hanged maids in THE ODYSSEY in a YA CIRCE, in which a failed oracle and a vengeful immortal must break the curse on their kingdom by killing its prince, to Stephanie Stein at Harper Teen, in a major deal, in a pre-empt, in a two-book deal, for publication in winter 2023, by Catherine Cho at Paper Literary (NA).

Dan Clay’s BECOMING A QUEEN, about a teenage boy who turns to drag performance to overcome his grief when tragedy strikes, to Mekisha Telfer at Roaring Brook Press, in a very nice deal, for publication in spring 2023, by Brent Taylor at TriadaUS Literary Agency (world).

LGBTQ+ romance and fantasy author Lauri Starling’s POISON FOREST, pitched as HOUSE OF SALT AND SORROWS meets Holly Black, featuring a mage who joins two teens with powerful abilities to track down the magic-stealing sorcerer who kidnapped her royal ex-girlfriend, braving a cursed forest and a betrayal that leaves them at the sorcerer’s nonexistent mercy, to MaryBeth Dalto-McCarthy at Sword and Silk, for publication in October 2022.

Screenwriter and NYT-bestselling coauthor of FIVE FEET APART and ALL THIS TIME Mikki Daughtry’s untitled lesbian love story, unfolding over two sets of lives, 100 years apart, to Stephanie Pitts at Putnam Children’s, in a pre-empt, for publication in fall 2023, by Liz Parker at Verve Talent & Literary (NA).

Non-Fiction

Men’s Health sex and relationship columnist Zachary Zane’s BOYSLUT: A MEMOIR-MANIFESTO, a series of essays told through a bisexual lens, exploring the author’s coming-of-age in a world riddled with harmful messages about sex and sexuality, moving toward a place of embrace and celebration unencumbered by shame, to Zachary Knoll at Abrams Image, at auction, by Katherine Latshaw at Folio Literary Management (world).

Prince Shakur’s WHEN THEY TELL YOU TO BE GOOD, a memoir that mines the author’s many eras of radicalization and self-realization through examinations of place, childhood, queer identity, and a history of uprisings, to Hanif Abdurraqib at Tin House Books, for publication in October 2022 (NA).

Author of A NIGHT AT THE SWEET GUM HEAD Martin Padgett’s PRIVATE MATTERS, an exploration of the 1986 Supreme Court case Bowers v. Hardwick, which Laurence Tribe lost in the Court’s ruling that allowed Georgia to prosecute private homosexual acts (and which was not overturned until 2003), showing how the case ignited the gay rights movement of the 1980s while upending the life of Michael Hardwick, to Amy Cherry at Norton, in an exclusive submission, for publication in summer 2023, by Beth Marshea at Ladderbird Literary Agency (world English).

Adult Fiction

Author of YA novels WE USED TO BE FRIENDS and THE SUMMER OF JORDI PEREZ Amy Spalding’s OUTFOXED, a queer f/f romcom about chosen family, honoring your dreams, and falling for the person who sees you as you really are, in which a woman believes that she’s cursed to be alone forever, but when her talent agency job leads her to spend time with an up-and-coming actress and notorious control freak, she reconsiders her exile; can she keep her chosen family, embrace the future she actually wants, and let go of her fears?, to Norma Perez-Hernandez at Kensington, in a two-book deal, for publication in winter 2023, by Kate Schafer Testerman at kt literary (world).

Alexis Hall’s SOMETHING FABULOUS, a queer Regency romp, to Lauren Plude at Montlake, in a two-book deal, by Courtney Miller-Callihan at Handspun Literary (world).

Artist, musician, and performer Khan Wong’s THE CIRCUS INFINITE, pitched as a queer space fantasy where the hero finds a new family in an intergalactic circus and comes up against a crime boss who threatens their lives and livelihood, to Gemma Creffield at Angry Robot, in a nice deal, for publication in April 2022, by Amy A. Collins at Talcott Notch Literary Services (world English).

Nghi Vo’s INTO THE RIVERLANDS, in the Singing Hills Cycle series, linked fantasy tales about empire, truth becoming history, and women becoming legend, which follow a wandering cleric as they find both trouble and stories to collect, to Ruoxi Chen at Tor.com, in a three-book deal, for publication beginning in 2022, by Diana Fox at Fox Literary (world English).

Katalina Gamarra‘s BEN & BEATRIZ, pitched as an #OwnVoices, Latinx retelling of MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING, set in the early days of the Trump presidency, in which a queer, biracial young woman must untangle her complicated relationship with the scion of a wealthy, white dynasty; a rumination on race, colorism, passing, class, wealth, sexuality, and privilege, to Brittany Lavery at Graydon House, at auction, for publication in summer 2022, by Larissa Melo Pienkowski at Jill Grinberg Literary Management (world).

Russian poet, artist, and feminist activist Oksana Vasyakina‘s WOUND, following a queer young woman on a journey across Russia to Siberia, where she has promised to take her mother’s ashes; with memories woven through of a traumatic and impoverished childhood, experiences of the sublime, her sexual and artistic awakening, and the pains and joys of life as a lesbian in Russia, to Kendall Storey at Catapult, for publication in 2023, by Irina Gachechiladze at New Literary Observer (world English).

Young Adult Fiction

James Acker’s THE LONG RUN, an #OwnVoices YA debut pitched as ARISTOTLE AND DANTE DISCOVER THE SECRETS OF THE UNIVERSE meets FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS, following two male track and field athletes as they fall in love during their senior year; their story unpacks themes of identity, independence, and toxic masculinity in South Jersey, to Claire Stetzer at Inkyard Press, in a very nice deal, in a two-book deal, for publication in winter 2023, by Carlisle Webber at Fuse Literary (NA).

GIRL MANS UP author, Lambda Literary Award winner, and William C. Morris finalist M-E Girard’s THEN EVERYTHING HAPPENS AT ONCE, about an inexperienced girl pulled between an infatuation with a boy and a sweet courtship with a girl, while exploring lust, pleasure, love, internalized fat shaming, and selfishness, to Jill Davis at Harper Children’s, for publication in fall 2022, by Linda Epstein at Emerald City Literary Agency (NA).

NYT-bestselling author of THIS IS WHERE IT ENDS Marieke Nijkamp‘s WHEN THE NIGHT COMES, pitched as The Society meets Contagion, about a group of teens in a residential facility who celebrate when their guards abandon them, only to discover that a catastrophic event has occurred outside their walls, and they must work together if they want to survive, to Eliza Swift at Sourcebooks Fire, by Suzie Townsend at New Leaf Literary & Media (world English).

Debut #ownvoices author Mark Kelly’s GEIST, an Urban Paranormal pitched as a gay Romeo and Juliet, set in supernatural overlay of Chicago, wherein the Geist escort souls to the afterlife while battling a cult trying to destroy them, to Craig Gibb at Deep Hearts, for publication in summer 2022, by Amy Brewer at Metamorphosis Literary Agency.

Andrew Joseph White‘s HELL FOLLOWED WITH US, in which a trans boy teams up with an LGBTQ+ youth center to take down the fundamentalist cult who turned him into a monster, to Ashley Hearn at Peachtree Teen, for publication in June 2022, by Zabe Ellor at Jennifer De Chiara Literary Agency (world).

Non-Fiction

Oberlin College professor of sociology Greggor Mattson‘s WHO NEEDS GAY BARS?, a personal and sociological examination of the past, present, and future of gay bars across America and the diverse people of all sexualities, genders, and ethnicities they serve, to Marcela Cristina Maxfield at Stanford University Press, by Brenna English-Loeb at Transatlantic Literary Agency (world English).