Tag Archives: Rachael Lippincott

January 2023 Deal Announcements

Adult Fiction

Hana Lee’s debut MAGEBIKE COURIER, a cross-cultural fantasy pitched as Mad Max: Fury Road with magic and sapphic romance, about a messenger between star-crossed royals who finds herself embroiled in a high-speed chase across the perilous desert wastelands when the princess she works for decides to escape an unwanted betrothal, to Amara Hoshijo at Saga Press, in a two-book deal, for publication in spring 2024, by Paul Lucas at Janklow & Nesbit (world English).

Author of THE MAGIC BETWEEN Stephanie Hoyt’s PROVE IT, the first in a New Adult romance series pitched as The Mighty Ducks’s queer adventures in the NHL, in which a poorly timed comment during a joint interview leaves the relationship between the first and second overall picks a point of interest long after the draft is over, to Elizabeth Coldwell at NineStar, for publication in spring 2024.

Johanna van Veen‘s MY DARLING DREADFUL THING, a sapphic Gothic novel pitched as THINGS IN JARS meets THE DEATH OF JANE LAWRENCE, about a young woman who has a spirit companion only she can see; but as she’s undeniably drawn to an enigmatic young widow, a gruesome death puts both her innocence and her sanity in question, to Jenna Jankowski at Sourcebooks, in a very nice deal, at auction, in a two-book deal, for publication in spring of 2024, by Kristina Perez at Zeno Agency (world English).

Author of WE ARE WATCHING ELIZA BRIGHT A.E. Osworth‘s AWAKENED, in which a 30-something gay witch wakes up one morning with magic powers and subsequently charms their way through love, loss, drag brunches, and the gig economy while battling an evil AI along with their newly adopted chaotic trans coven, to Seema Mahanian at Grand Central, by Ryan Harbage at Fischer-Harbage Agency (world).

Queer librarian Arden Brax’s debut THE LILY OF ENARAH, a sapphic science fiction novel in which an adopted daughter of the viceroy quickly learns that duty comes before all when she is forced to make an enemy of the girl she loves in order to save her people, to Cate Pearce at Hansen, for publication in May 2024.

Miniaturist and fantasy author Mary Lynne Gibbs’s THE PRINCESS AND THE THIEF, pitched as a sapphic Rapunzel retelling in which a cursed elvish princess escapes her sheltered home to seek the help of the empress and reluctantly enlists a rogue thief to aid in her quest, but fighting, torture, revenge, monsters, chases, escapes, and maybe true love stand in their way, to Cate Pearce at Hansen, for publication in July 2024.

Author of EVERYBODY (ELSE) IS PERFECT Gabrielle Korn’s THE SHUTOUTS, the sequel to the forthcoming YOURS FOR THE TAKING, a queer dystopian novel about the people excluded from a global climate change relief program, their struggle to survive, and their search for truth that reveals an interconnectedness larger than all of them, to Hannah O’Grady at St. Martin’s, by Nicki Richesin at Dunow, Carlson & Lerner (world).

New School MFA graduate Alana Saab’s PLEASE STOP TRYING TO LEAVE ME, in which, while god is sending her signs through Instagram and Spotify telling her to break up with her girlfriend, a 27-year-old meets a new therapist for one reason: she really needs to write again, to Ellie Pritchett at Vintage, for publication in summer 2024, by Mina Hamedi at Janklow & Nesbit (NA).

Author of ASK A QUEER CHICK Lindsay King-Miller‘s THE Z WORD, a debut queer horror novel about a zombie outbreak at a small-town Pride festival, in which a scrappy found-family band of queers must confront corporate pinkwashing, political manipulation, and shambling monsters who want to eat them, to Jess Zimmerman at Quirk Books, for publication in spring 2024, by Kate McKean at Howard Morhaim Literary Agency (world).

NBCC award finalist, Dylan Thomas Prize, Lambda Literary Award, National Book Award 5 Under 35 recipient, and author of LOT and MEMORIAL Bryan Washington‘s FAMILY MEAL, about two queer best friends who reconnect after an estrangement and a shocking loss, to Laura Perciasepe at Riverhead, by Danielle Bukowski at Sterling Lord Literistic.

Lambda Award-winning author Julia Watts‘s LOVESICK BLOSSOMS, set in 1953, in which two married women struggle to come to terms with their deepening love for each other in a small college town in Kentucky, against a backdrop of racism, sexism, and complete rejection of same-sex liaisons, to Kat Georges at Three Rooms Press, in a nice deal, for publication in October 2023 (world English).

WHY AREN’T YOU SMILING, GUTTER BOYS, and I MARRIED AN EARTHLING, and Lambda Award finalist for the memoir DISASTERAMA Alvin Orloff‘s VULGARIAN RHAPSODY, a tour of San Francisco’s fabled queer bohemia in the waning days of the 20th century, as the city’s budget bon vivants work to save their eccentric lifestyles in the face of tech gentrification, to Peter Carlaftes at Three Rooms Press, in a nice deal, for publication in October 2023 (world English).

Metalsmith and queer horror author Sofia Ajram’s BURY YOUR GAYS: AN ANTHOLOGY OF TRAGIC QUEER HORROR, to Max Booth III at Ghoulish Books, for publication in April 2024 (world English).

Children’s/Middle Grade Fiction

Rainie Oet’s MONSTER SEEK, about two children playing hide-and-seek during a thunderstorm, exploring gender identity, the love between siblings, and the meaning of monstrosity, illustrated by Deb JJ Lee, to Susan Dobinick at Astra Young Readers, in an exclusive submission, for publication in fall 2026, by Abigail Frank at Sanford J. Greenburger Associates for the author, and by Edward Maxwell at Sanford J. Greenburger Associates for the illustrator (world).

Author-illustrator of GENDER QUEER Maia Kobabe and Lucky Srikumar’s SAACHI’S STORIES, a coming-of-age middle-grade graphic novel about an aspiring author who struggles to navigate changing social dynamics and her evolving identity, as her friends start coupling up and everybody else seems to fit neatly into a boy/girl binary, to David Levithan at Graphix, in a good deal, at auction, for publication in spring 2025, by Emily Mitchell at Wernick & Pratt Agency (world).

Melanie Gillman’s RECLUSIVIA, a graphic novel about a nonbinary kid going to an art summer program where things take a turn for the strange and haunted, to Whitney Leopard at Random House Graphic, for publication in summer 2025, by Jen Linnan at Linnan Literary Management (world).

Young Adult Fiction

NYT-bestseller Rachael Lippincott’s PRIDE & PREJUDICE & PITTSBURGH, pitched as Freaky Friday meets Bridgerton, about a girl sent back in time who meets an unexpected love interest in the 19th century, to Alexa Pastor at Simon & Schuster Children’s, in a significant deal, for publication in fall 2023, by Emily van Beek at Folio Literary Management (world).

Freddie Kolsch’s debut NOW, CONJURERS, in which the partially devoured body of a high school quarterback is discovered in a local cemetery, and his bereaved boyfriend and close-knit coven of queer misfits are plunged into an occult murder investigation that leads to a wish-granting demon lurking beneath their town, to Laura Schreiber at Union Square Kids, at auction, in a two-book deal, for publication in spring 2024, by Molly Ker Hawn at The Bent Agency (NA).

Author of I THINK I LOVE YOU Auriane Desombre’s I LOVE YOU S’MORE, a queer rom-com in which a teen has her heart broken after her high school sweetheart-turned-celebrity cheats on her, and she soon finds herself swept up in a fun and new swoony romance at summer camp with another camp counselor, to Kelsey Horton at Delacorte, in an exclusive submission, in a two-book deal, for publication in fall 2024, by Penny Moore at Aevitas Creative Management (world).

Author of MAJOR DETOURS and SO YOU WANNA BE A POP STAR? Zachary Sergi’s THIS PACT IS NOT OURS, a queer YA horror in which four college-bound best friends return to the idyllic campsite their families have visited every summer, only to discover they are cursed by an ancestral pact that threatens to tear their friendships–and the world—apart, pitched as WE WERE LIARS meets Stranger Things, to Joshua Dean Perry at Tiny Ghost Press, for publication in October 2023, by Moe Ferrara at BookEnds (world English).

Debut author Jamie D’Amato‘s THE GOOD VAMPIRE’S GUIDE TO BLOOD AND BOYFRIENDS, a rom-com in which the last thing a boy expects after surviving serious depression is to wake up a vampire; now he has to navigate not only college but bloodthirsty instincts, vampire clans who may not be as “good” as they claim, and feelings for the cute boy who is helping him keep his secret, to Vicki Lame and Vanessa Aguirre at Wednesday Books, at auction, in a two-book deal, for publication in winter 2025, by John Cusick at Folio Jr. (NA).

Non-Fiction

Annenberg Innovation Lab Fellow, writer, oral historian, and founder and director of Country Queers Rae Garringer’s COUNTRY QUEERS: THE STORY OF A DIY RURAL QUEER ORAL HISTORY PROJECT, part memoir of a project, part activation of a trove of over 90 oral histories, part collection of photographs of rural queer people, places, and ephemera made/found along the way, revealing the joys, challenges, and nuances of rural queer life, to Katy O’Donnell at Haymarket, with Dao Tran editing (world).

LGBTQ+ advocate and former professional hockey player Harrison Browne and investigative journalist Rachel Browne‘s LET THEM PLAY, centering trans and nonbinary voices to debunk myths around the increasingly volatile debate about the participation of gender-diverse athletes while advocating for the inclusion of trans athletes across all levels of sport, to Joanna Green at Beacon Press, by Carly Watters at P.S. Literary Agency (NA).

Author of the Pacific Northwest Book Award winner and an NPR Best Book of the Year RED PAINT Sasha LaPointe‘s THUNDER SONG, a meditation on what it means to be a proudly queer, indigenous woman in America today, suffused with the power of community and music to heal and inspire and drawing connections between the personal and the communal, the spiritual and the physical, the mundane and the miraculous, again to Harry Kirchner at Counterpoint, for publication in spring 2024, by Duvall Osteen at Aragi Inc. (NA).

Managing editor at The Experiment Zachary Pace‘s I SING TO USE THE WAITING, an inquiry into the nature of the queer voice through the lens of female singers—such as Cat Power, Rihanna, and Whitney Houston—who have informed the author’s identity, to Eric Obenauf at Two Dollar Radio, in a nice deal, for publication in spring 2024 (world).

Santiago-based travel writer Mark Johanson‘s MARS ON EARTH, about a gay expat searching the otherworldly Atacama Desert of northern Chile for a deeper understanding of the forces that have shaped both his relationship to his partner and to his adoptive homeland, to Don Gorman at Rocky Mountain Books, for publication in fall 2024, by Max Sinsheimer at Sinsheimer Literary (world English).

Clinical psychologist and therapist Dr. Jonathan Mathias Lassiter‘s HOW I KNOW WHITE PEOPLE ARE CRAZY, a memoir of growing up poor, gay, and Black, navigating the systemically racist field of psychology, sharing lessons about how anti-Blackness harms mental health and the connection between mental and political liberation, to Alison Dalafave at Hachette Go, at auction, for publication in February 2025, by Cecilia Lyra at P.S. Literary Agency (world).

Whiting Award winner and winner of the 2022 Lambda Literary Award for Gay Fiction for 100 BOYFRIENDS Brontez Purnell’s TEN BRIDGES I’VE BURNT, a memoir in verse, tracing Purnell’s life from Alabama to Oakland and everywhere in between; and an untitled novel, about a family of feuding Black psychics living in 1970s Alabama, again to Jackson Howard at MCD/FSG, in a two-book deal, by Julia Masnik at Watkins Loomis (world).

Fave Five: Sapphic YA for fans of Heartstopper

Late to the Party by Kelly Quindlen

You Should See Me in a Crown by Leah Johnson

Cool for the Summer by Dahlia Adler

Hani and Ishu’s Guide to Fake Dating by Adiba Jaigirdar

Some Girls Do by Jennifer Dugan

Bonus: She Gets the Girl by Alyson Derrick and Rachael Lippincott is set in college, not high school, but read it anyway

Happy Lesbian Visibility Day 2022!

This post only includes books that were not featured in past posts. For even more visibly lesbian goodness, check out posts from 2021, 2020, and 2019, too!

Books to Read Now

D’Vaughn and Kris Plan a Wedding by Chencia C. Higgins

56918560. sy475 Instant I Do could be Kris Zavala’s big break. She’s right on the cusp of really making it as an influencer, so a stint on reality TV is the perfect chance to elevate her brand. And $100,000 wouldn’t hurt, either.

D’Vaughn Miller is just trying to break out of her shell. She’s sort of neglected to come out to her mom for years, so a big splashy fake wedding is just the excuse she needs.

All they have to do is convince their friends and family they’re getting married in six weeks. If anyone guesses they’re not for real, they’re out. Selling their chemistry on camera is surprisingly easy, and it’s still there when no one else is watching, which is an unexpected bonus. Winning this competition is going to be a piece of wedding cake.

But each week of the competition brings new challenges, and soon the prize money’s not the only thing at stake. A reality show isn’t the best place to create a solid foundation, and their fake wedding might just derail their relationship before it even starts.

Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon | IndieBound

Continue reading Happy Lesbian Visibility Day 2022!

2022 Paperback Redesigns

As with last year’s, this post will be updated as new designs emerge.

Yesterday is History by Kosoko Jackson (January 4th)

  • Design by Philip Pascuzzo

Weeks ago, Andre Cobb received a much-needed liver transplant.

He’s ready for his life to finally begin, until one night, when he passes out and wakes up somewhere totally unexpected…in 1969, where he connects with a magnetic boy named Michael.

And then, just as suddenly as he arrived, he slips back to present-day Boston, where the family of his donor is waiting to explain that his new liver came with a side effect―the ability to time travel. And they’ve tasked their youngest son, Blake, with teaching Andre how to use his unexpected new gift.

Andre splits his time bouncing between the past and future. Between Michael and Blake. Michael is everything Andre wishes he could be, and Blake, still reeling from the death of his brother, Andre’s donor, keeps him at arm’s length despite their obvious attraction to each other.

Torn between two boys, one in the past and one in the present, Andre has to figure out where he belongs―and more importantly who he wants to be―before the consequences of jumping in time catch up to him and change his future for good.

Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon | IndieBound

A Tip for the Hangman by Alison Epstein (January 4th)

  • Design by Mark Abrams

A Tip for the Hangman: A NovelEngland, 1585. In Kit Marlowe’s last year at Cambridge, he is approached by Queen Elizabeth’s spymaster offering an unorthodox career opportunity: going undercover to intercept a Catholic plot to put Mary, Queen of Scots on Elizabeth’s throne.

Spying on Queen Mary turns out to be more than Kit bargained for, but his salary allows him to mount his first play, and over the following years he becomes the toast of London’s raucous theater scene. But when Kit finds himself reluctantly drawn back into the world of espionage and treason, he realizes everything he’s worked so hard to attain—including the trust of the man he loves—could vanish in an instant.

Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon | IndieBound

History is All You Left Me by Adam Silvera (January 11th)

  • Art by Alexis Franklin
  • Design by Janine Agro 

History Is All You Left me coverWhen Griffin’s first love and ex-boyfriend, Theo, dies in a drowning accident, his universe implodes. Even though Theo had moved to California for college and started seeing Jackson, Griffin never doubted Theo would come back to him when the time was right. But now, the future he’s been imagining for himself has gone far off course.

To make things worse, the only person who truly understands his heartache is Jackson. But no matter how much they open up to each other, Griffin’s downward spiral continues. He’s losing himself in his obsessive compulsions and destructive choices, and the secrets he’s been keeping are tearing him apart.

If Griffin is ever to rebuild his future, he must first confront his history, every last heartbreaking piece in the puzzle of his life.

Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon | IndieBound

Everything Leads to You by Nina LaCour (February 8th)

  • Art by Adams Carvalho

Just out of high school, Emi Price is a talented young set designer already beginning to thrive in the L.A. film scene. But her artistic eye has failed her in one key area: helping her to design a love life that’s more than make-believe. Then she finds a mysterious letter at an estate sale, and it sends her chasing down the loose ends of a movie icon’s hidden life. And along the way, she finds Ava, and at long last, Emi’s own hidden life begins to bloom.

Buy it: Amazon | IndieBound

As Far As You’ll Take Me by Phil Stamper (March 29th)

  • Art by Patrick Leger
  • Design by Jet Purdie

Marty arrives in London with nothing but his oboe and some savings from his summer job, but he’s excited to start his new life–where he’s no longer the closeted, shy kid who slips under the radar and is free to explore his sexuality without his parents’ disapproval.

From the outside, Marty’s life looks like a perfect fantasy: in the span of a few weeks, he’s made new friends, he’s getting closer with his first ever boyfriend, and he’s even traveling around Europe. But Marty knows he can’t keep up the facade. He hasn’t spoken to his parents since he arrived, he’s tearing through his meager savings, his homesickness and anxiety are getting worse and worse, and he hasn’t even come close to landing the job of his dreams. Will Marty be able to find a place that feels like home?

Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon | IndieBound

After Francesco by Brian Malloy (April 26th)

The year is 1988 and 28-year-old Kevin Doyle is bone-tired of attending funerals. It’s been two years since his partner Francesco died from AIDS, an epidemic ravaging New York City and going largely ignored by the government, leaving those effected to suffer in silence, feeling unjustifiable shame and guilt on top of their loss.

Some people might insist that Francesco and the other friends he’s lost to the disease are in a better place, but Kevin definitely isn’t. Half-alive, he spends his days at a mind-numbing job and nights with the ghost of Francesco, drunk and drowning in memories of a man who was too young to die.

When Kevin hits an all-time low, he realizes it’s time to move back home to Minnesota and figure out how to start living again—without Francesco. With the help of a surviving partners support group and friends both old and new, Kevin slowly starts to do just that. But an unthinkable family betrayal, and the news that his best friend is fighting for his life in New York, will force a reckoning and a defining choice.

Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon | IndieBound

The Lost Coast by A.R. Capetta (May 3rd)

The Lost CoastThe spellbinding tale of six queer witches forging their own paths, shrouded in the mist, magic, and secrets of the ancient California redwoods.

Danny didn’t know what she was looking for when she and her mother spread out a map of the United States and Danny put her finger down on Tempest, California. What she finds are the Grays: a group of friends who throw around terms like queer and witch like they’re ordinary and everyday, though they feel like an earthquake to Danny. But Danny didn’t just find the Grays. They cast a spell that calls her halfway across the country, because she has something they need: she can bring back Imogen, the most powerful of the Grays, missing since the summer night she wandered into the woods alone. But before Danny can find Imogen, she finds a dead boy with a redwood branch through his heart. Something is very wrong amid the trees and fog of the Lost Coast, and whatever it is, it can kill. Lush, eerie, and imaginative, Amy Rose Capetta’s tale overflows with the perils and power of discovery — and what it means to find your home, yourself, and your way forward.

Buy it: Amazon | B&N | IndieBound

We Play Ourselves by Jen Silverman (May 10th)

60190578Not too long ago, Cass was a promising young playwright in New York, hailed as “a fierce new voice” and “queer, feminist, and ready to spill the tea.” But at the height of all this attention, Cass finds herself at the center of a searing public shaming, and flees to Los Angeles to escape — and reinvent herself. There she meets her next-door neighbor Caroline, a magnetic filmmaker on the rise, as well as the pack of teenage girls who hang around her house. They are the subjects of Caroline’s next semi-documentary movie, which follows the girls’ violent fight club, a real-life feminist re-purposing of the classic.

As Cass is drawn into the film’s orbit, she is awed by Caroline’s ambition and confidence. But over time, she becomes increasingly troubled by how deeply Caroline is manipulating the teens in the name of art. When a girl goes missing, Cass must reckon with her own ambitions and ask herself: in the pursuit of fame, how do you know when you’ve gone too far?

Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon | B&N | IndieBound

The Lucky List by Rachael Lippincott (May 31st)

  • Art by Poppy Magda

Emily and her mom were always lucky. But Emily’s mom’s luck ran out three years ago when she succumbed to cancer, and nothing has felt right for Emily since.

Now, the summer before her senior year, things are getting worse. Not only has Emily wrecked things with her boyfriend Matt, who her mom adored, but her dad is selling the house she grew up in and giving her mom’s belongings away. Soon, she’ll have no connections left to Mom but her lucky quarter. And with her best friend away for the summer and her other friends taking her ex’s side, the only person she has to talk to about it is Blake, the swoony new girl she barely knows.

But that’s when Emily finds the list—her mom’s senior year summer bucket list—buried in a box in the back of her closet. When Blake suggests that Emily take it on as a challenge, the pair set off on a journey to tick each box and help Emily face her fears before everything changes. As they go further down the list, Emily finally begins to feel close to her mom again, but her bond with Blake starts to deepen, too, into something she wasn’t expecting. Suddenly Emily must face another fear: accepting the secret part of herself she never got a chance to share with the person who knew her best.

Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon | IndieBound

Reverie by Ryan La Sala (June 7th)

  • Art by Jonathan Bartlett
  • Design by Liz Dresner and Nicole Hower

A few weeks ago, Kane Montgomery was in an accident that robbed him of his memory. The only thing he knows for certain is that the police found him half-dead in the river. The world as he knows it feels different―reality seems different. And when strange things start happening around him, Kane isn’t sure where to turn.

And then three of his classmates show up, claiming to be his friends and the only people who can tell him what’s truly going on. Kane doesn’t know what to believe or who he can trust. But as he and the others are dragged into increasingly fantastical dream worlds drawn from imagination, it becomes clear that there is dark magic at work. Nothing in Kane’s life is an accident, and only he can keep the world itself from unraveling.

Buy it: Amazon | IndieBound | Indigo | Book Depository

The Very Nice Box by Laura Blackett and Eve Gleichman (June 14th)

  • Cover design by Elsa Mathern

Ava Simon designs storage boxes for STÄDA, a slick Brooklyn-based furniture company. She’s hard-working, obsessive, and heartbroken from a tragedy that killed her girlfriend and upended her life. It’s been years since she’s let anyone in.

But when Ava’s new boss—the young and magnetic Mat Putnam—offers Ava a ride home one afternoon, an unlikely relationship blossoms. Ava remembers how rewarding it can be to open up—and, despite her instincts, she becomes enamored. But Mat isn’t who he claims to be, and the romance takes a sharp turn.

Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon | B&N | Book Depository

All Eyes on Us by Kit Frick (September 27th)

  • Art by Levente Szabó
  • Design by Debra Sfetsios-Conover

PRIVATE NUMBER: Wouldn’t you look better without a cheater on your arm?
AMANDA: Who is this?

The daughter of small town social climbers, Amanda Kelly is deeply invested in her boyfriend, real estate heir Carter Shaw. He’s kind, ambitious, the town golden boy—but he’s far from perfect. Because behind Amanda’s back, Carter is also dating Rosalie.

PRIVATE NUMBER: I’m watching you, Sweetheart.
ROSALIE: Who IS this?

Rosalie Bell is fighting to remain true to herself and her girlfriend—while concealing her identity from her Christian fundamentalist parents. After years spent in and out of conversion “therapy,” her own safety is her top priority. But maintaining a fake, straight relationship is killing her from the inside.

When an anonymous texter ropes Amanda and Rosalie into a bid to take Carter down, the girls become collateral damage—and unlikely allies in a fight to unmask their stalker before Private uproots their lives.

PRIVATE NUMBER: You shouldn’t have ignored me. Now look what you made me do…

Buy it: B&N | Amazon | IndieBound

Fave Five: New Queer College-Set YA

These are books with publication dates in 2021-22. For older titles, click here.

Fresh by Margot Wood

Icebreaker by A.L. Graziadei

And They Lived… by Steven Salvatore

She Gets the Girl by Alyson Derrick and Rachael Lippincott

The Pledge by Cale Dietrich

June 2021 Deal Announcements

Adult Fiction

World Fantasy Award winner Emily Tesh‘s SOME DESPERATE GLORY, her debut novel, pitched as Vorkosigan meets GIDEON THE NINTH set in a world reminiscent of Mass Effect, in which a young soldier trains to avenge the murder of Earth at the hands of an all-powerful, reality-shaping alien weapon, before discovering she might have to take everything into her own hands, to Ruoxi Chen at Tor.com, in a good deal, in an exclusive submission, in a two-book deal, for publication in for hardcover in fall 2022, by Kurestin Armada at Root Literary (NA).

Campiello Prize winner Viola Di Grado‘s BLUE HUNGER, an erotic novel tinged with Gothic horror and urban pop—a story of obsessive love between a young Italian woman who is mourning her twin brother and a young Chinese woman who shows her Shanghai’s illicit and abandoned side, to be translated from the Italian by recent NEA translation fellowship recipient Jamie Richards, to Callie Garnett at Bloomsbury, for publication in 2023, by Sandra Pareja at Massie & McQuilkin (NA).

Author of The Hotel Tito Ivana Bodrozic’s SONS, DAUGHTERS, the story of great complexity that depicts a wrenching love between a transgender man and a woman, a demanding love between a mother and a daughter; with all characters deeply marked and wounded by the patriarchy in each owns way; also a story of breaking through and liberation of the mind, family, society through one’s body, and about the power of narration, to Dan Simon at Seven Stories, for publication in fall 2023, by Diana Matulic at Corto Literary Agency (world English).

Claudia Cravens’s RED, a genre-bending queer feminist Western pitched as True Grit meets Sarah Waters, following a young woman’s transformation from forlorn orphan to successful prostitute to revenge-seeking gunfighter, exploring desire, loyalty, power, and chosen family, to Katy Nishimoto at Dial Press, in a major deal, at auction, by Alexa Stark at Trident Media Group (NA).

Winner of the Betty Berzon Emerging Writer Award and finalist for the Lambda Literary Award for Trans Fiction Imogen Binnie’s NEVADA, previously published in 2013, following a terminally self-aware trans woman living in New York City who, when her life falls apart, embarks on an eventful cross-country road trip, to Jackson Howard at MCD/FSG, for publication in fall 2022, by Julia Masnik at Watkins Loomis (world).

Longlisted for the CBC Short Story Prize Ashton Noone‘s SUBURBAN ANIMALS, an #OwnVoices queer suspense thriller, where a woman on the run from a violent ex finds herself thrust back into a troubling mystery that haunts the town of her youth, to Luisa Cruz Smith at Scarlet, in a nice deal, in an exclusive submission, for publication in spring 2022, by Penelope Burns at Gelfman Schneider/ICM (world).

Coeditor of literary journal The Hunger and author of two poetry books Erin Slaughter’s A MANUAL FOR HOW TO LOVE US, a debut story collection pitched as reminiscent of Alissa Nutting and Samantha Hunt, about the animalistic nature of women’s grief, which queers the domestic and honors the feral and fantastic ways women embrace their wild to claim control, to Emma Kupor at Harper Perennial, for publication in 2022, by Cassie Mannes Murray at Howland Literary (world).

Children’s Fiction

Terry Benton‘s ALEX WISE VS. THE END OF THE WORLD, in which a 12-year-old is reeling from his best friend abandoning him, after he told his friend that he’s gay, and must save his sister and the world when his sister is possessed by the spirit of one of the four horsemen—evil former gods from a parallel world determined to bring forth the apocalypse—all while learning to love himself and accept that he is enough just as he is, to Liesa Abrams at Labyrinth Road, in a significant deal, at auction, in a three-book deal, for publication in fall 2023, by Patrice Caldwell at New Leaf Literary & Media (world English).

Author of QUEER, THERE, AND EVERYWHERE and RAINBOW REVOLUTIONARIES Sarah Prager’s picture book KIND LIKE MARSHA: LEARNING FROM LGBTQ+ LEADERS, introducing young children to important and inspiring historical figures in the queer community, along with empowering them with strong attributes, such as kindness, resilience, thoughtfulness, and more, illustrated by Cheryl “Ras” Thuesday, to Julie Matysik at Running Press Kids, for publication in May 2022, by Carrie Howland at Howland Literary (world).

Veronica Park Anderson’s BLOOD CITY ROLLERS, pitched as a tween Buffy the Vampire Slayer meets Roller Girl, a humorous and queer graphic novel following a talented ice skater recruited into an underground roller derby league as the “human jammer” on an otherwise all-vampire team who are hiding out in an abandoned mall, illustrated by Tatiana Hill, to Liesa Abrams at Labyrinth Road, for publication in summer 2023, by Mandy Hubbard at Emerald City Literary Agency for the author, and by Moe Ferrara at BookEnds for the illustrator (world English).

Young Adult Fiction

Alyson Derrick and NYT-bestselling coauthor of FIVE FEET APART Rachael Lippincott‘s SHE GETS THE GIRL, a LGBTQ+ romance in which two college freshmen who are total opposites set out to help each other get the girls of their dreams to fall for them, but as they do they both begin to wonder if maybe they’re the ones falling for each other, to Alexa Pastor at Simon & Schuster Children’s, for publication in spring 2022, by Emily van Beek at Folio Literary Management (world).

Author of HOT DOG GIRL Jennifer Dugan’s MELT WITH YOU, a queer rom-com about two girls on a summer road trip in an ice cream truck, to Stephanie Pitts at Putnam Children’s, for publication in summer 2022, by Brooks Sherman, formerly at Janklow & Nesbit. Dugan is now represented by Sara Crowe at Pippin Properties (world English).

Author of A WICKED MAGIC Sasha Laurens’s YOUNGBLOOD, when a teen vampire transfers into an elite vampire boarding school, she is drawn into a dark conspiracy at the heart of Vampirdom, and she suddenly finds herself falling for her roommate, Kat’s childhood friend and the school’s only out student, to Ruta Rimas at Razorbill, in a nice deal, in an exclusive submission, for publication in summer 2022, by Stephanie Kim at New Leaf Literary & Media (world English).

Actress Asha Bromfield‘s SONGS OF IRIE, set in ’70s Jamaica in the midst of devastating political turmoil, following two girls who must navigate their opposing upbringings as they fall in love and choose between the futures decided for them and the futures they desire, to Sara Goodman at Wednesday Books, for publication in spring 2023, by Emily van Beek at Folio Literary Management (NA).

Non-Fiction

Manuel Betancourt’s THE MALE GAZED, a narrative that uses film and television to examine queer men’s complex and often conflicted relationship with masculinity, mingling personal anecdotes with cultural history and gender theory to offer an exploration of desire, intimacy, and homoeroticism, to Alicia Kroell at Catapult, by Michael Bourret at Dystel, Goderich & Bourret (NA).

Former radio host and Daily Show correspondent Frank DeCaro’s DISCO AT 50, a celebration of the musical phenomenon that brought LGBTQ and BIPOC cultures into the pop mainstream in its 1970s heyday and its continued influence on current music, to Ellen Nidy at Rizzoli USA, by Rica Allannic at David Black Literary Agency (world).

BBC journalist William Lee Adams’s WILD DANCES, a memoir of a queer, Vietnamese American boy from Georgia who survives an unconventional childhood to become the world’s most recognized Eurovision blogger, diving into notions of belonging, identity, how our origins and passions shape us, and the powerful joy, and surprising importance, of the song contest itself, to Alessandra Bastagli at Astra House, in a pre-empt, for publication in spring 2023, by Will Lippincott and Max Edwards at Aevitas Creative Management UK (world).

Queer Kid Stuff host, activist, and TED speaker Lindz Amer’s THE RADICAL NOTION OF QUEER JOY: THE IMPORTANCE OF TALKING TO KIDS ABOUT GENDER AND SEXUALITY, a guidebook for progressive adults who want to create queer-positive spaces for today’s kids but don’t know how, to Sylvan Creekmore at St. Martin’s, for publication in fall 2022, by Claire Draper at The Bent Agency (world).

Global trans rights advocate, model, TV host, and producer Geena Rocero‘s OPEN THE LIGHT, about a young femme born in Manila who grew up to become the highest-earning and most successful trans pageant queen in the Philippines and ultimately one of the most visible and prolific trans women of color in the world, and the persistence, grit, and love that paved her road to self-acceptance, to Katy Nishimoto at Dial, at auction, by Jon Michael Darga at Aevitas Creative Management (world).

Author/illustrator of the 2020 YALSA finalist THE GREAT NIJINSKY Lynn Curlee‘s THE OTHER PANDEMIC: AN AIDS MEMOIR, an illustrated account of coming of age during the gay liberation movement in New York City and living through the AIDS pandemic, losing multiple friends and his life partner, to Yolanda Scott at Charlesbridge Teen, for publication in spring 2023, by Liz Nealon at Great Dog Literary (world).

Journalist Andrew Sampson‘s TOMMY SEXTON: COMIC GENIUS, QUEER REVOLUTIONARY, a biography of Newfoundland icon Tommy Sexton, a groundbreaking gay comedian and founding member of CODCO, to Bruce Walsh at House of Anansi, with Michelle MacAleese editing, for publication in fall 2023 (world).