Tasneem Motala is a literary agent with The Rights Factory.

She is seeking: fantasy, graphic novels, middle grade, new adult, science fiction, young adult contemporary YA, cyberpunk, fairytale retellings, low fantasy, magical realism, robots/A.I., steampunk, urban fantasy.

Sometimes she doesn’t know what she’s looking for until it’s in her inbox, but some things are timeless, like retellings of well-known myths and classics, teenage romances, and mysteries with fascinating protagonists, just to name a few.

In the realm of Middle Grade and YA, Tasneem is currently seeking stories (regardless whether fantasy, sci-fi, or contemporary) that are raw, emotional, heartfelt, and authentic. She’s especially drawn to stories with a focus on found families and friendships with morally grey leads and coming-of-age themes. Some of her favourite tropes include enemies to lovers, unreliable narrators, and ragtag team-ups.

Tasneem is currently looking for character-driven MG and YA fiction and graphic novels, with or without a touch of magic, written by BIPOC authors.

If there’s literally anything to do as a kid growing up in rural Niagara, it’s read, and Tasneem did so much of it that she turned it into her career with a degree in English and Classical Civilizations and a post-grad in Publishing. Her experience includes writing beauty articles for Elevate Magazine, promoting Sonia Faruqi’s book, The Oyster Thief, to the book-blogging sphere as a marketing manager, and building her very own #ownvoices literary zine, KROS Magazine, from scratch.