Kelsey Evans [SOLD OUT OF PITCH APPOINTMENTS] is a literary agent with Rosecliff Literary.

Kelsey is a publishing professional with a background in communications, marketing, and editing. After a decade helming marketing strategy and content development for agencies with major clients like AAA, Dannon, and Target, she transitioned into publishing. She began as an editor, helping writers shape their work through developmental feedback, query critiques, and revision guidance.

Later, she moved into agenting, interning with Triada US and Creative Media Agency (CMA), where she gained hands-on experience in manuscript evaluation, submissions, and client development. Passionate about championing authors, Kelsey now combines editorial insight with marketing expertise to help writers navigate both craft and career.

She is especially excited to seek out independent voices by tracking breakout self-published successes, surfacing under-the-radar talent, and scouting the indie authors whose sales, platforms, and craft signal they’re ready to leap into traditional publishing.

SHE IS SEEKING:

Adult fiction: romance, horror, science fiction, fantasy, suspense, mystery, thriller.

Adult nonfiction: narrative nonfiction — specifically in sports, nature, and science.

Young adult fiction: fantasy and magical realism.

Generally looking for: immersive settings (fantasy or otherwise), jaw-dropping plot twists, distinctive voice, tight plotting, high concept hooks, emotional character journeys, slow burn romances, top-tier banter.

NONFICTION SPECIFICS:

Anything science-related, specifically physics, is a yes for me! Think Brian Greene and Carlo Rovelli, making complex topics accessible to a wide audience.

Personal women’s rowing or basketball stories like The Red Rose Crew or In These Girls, Hope is a Muscle. I’d also love a larger look at the WNBA and growth of women’s basketball as a whole.

Nature-based nonfiction like The Hidden Life of Trees or quiet, uplifting stories like Raising Hare.

Heartfelt, funny, compelling cooking stories. Everything from Calvin Trillin’s The Tummy Trilogies to Marissa Ross’s Wine, All the Time. Coming from a food background, I’d love personal insights into the world beyond The Bear. Think: The Sharper Your Knife, the Less You Cry; The Making of a Chef; Animal, Vegetable, Miracle; The Omnivore’s Dilemma; A Homemade Life; Tender at the Bone; On Food and Cooking.

A deep dive into the recent “tradwife” phenomenon, specifically as it intersects with social media, capitalism, economic precarity, and right-wing ideology.

ROMANCE SPECIFICS:

Sports (anything but hockey or football). Send me lacrosse stories, basketball rivals, rowing books — especially if they’re queer. They can be witty, snarky, and fun (Cleat Cute) or deeply moving and compelling (A Sharp Endless Need).

Formula 1 or English Premier League stories!

Grounded, laugh out loud grumpy x sunshine stories like Morbidly Yours by Ivy Fairbanks.

If you’re a fanfic writer and have banter chops like DMATMOOBIL or Lionheart please (please please) send stories my way!

Action/adventure romps like Pirates Of the Caribbean or National Treasure with a romance through-line.

YES to dark academia and gothic aesthetics. I’d love to see these trends explored more deeply in the Romance space, especially with emotional complexity and immersive but accessible atmospheres (Spells for Forgetting, for example).

Speculative Romance (think The Dead Romantics from Ashley Poston).

HORROR SPECIFICS:

Cults

Mike Flanagan-esque stories or anything that mixes religion or spirituality with horror, like Hell Followed With Us or Black Sheep or Archive 81.

Slow unfolding horror with an unreliable narrator like Meg Smitherman’s Thrum.

BIPOC-centered stories like The Only Good Indians or Kindred.

X-Files. Twin Peaks. Give me weird and creepy and a slow-burning fire.

SCIENCE FICTION & FANTASY:

Supernatural investigators like Dresden Files or Constantine, or an aged-up heist story like Six of Crows.

I like a good Romantasy but very selectively. It has to be a fresh take on the genre and not a rewrite of SJM or RY.

Cozy fantasy is a yes, especially if it has some romance and a bit of mystery. Think The Spellshop by Sarah Beth Durst or The Honey Witch by Sydney J. Shields. If I could live inside Ghibli’s Howl’s Moving Castle I would be the happiest camper.

I’m really interested in branching out to sci-fi. This can look like the creepy corporate world within Severance, the isolated, character-driven stories of Andy Weir, or something more expansive and adventurous in the spirit of Firefly or Doctor Who — helmed by a complex lead (Malcolm Reynolds and the Tenth Doctor, be still my heart).

SUSPENSE / THRILLER / MYSTERY:

A super dry, superbly paced English or Scottish standalone like Dept. Q, a series like Slow Horses by Mick Herron, or a multi-timeline, interwoven mystery like Case Histories by Kate Atkinson.

Sticky, evocative books like Bright Young Women and The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.

Compulsive page-turners a la Freida McFadden, The Devil in the Dark Water, We Solve Murders/The Thursday Murder Club, Killers of a Certain Age. If you have a novel where the trio from The First Wives Club solve a mystery, I’m BEGGING you to send it to me.

Tense thrillers in the vein of My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite, protagonists like Olivia Pope in Scandal.

Atmospheric suspense stories like The Cloisters by Katy Hays.

REQUESTS FOR ALL GENRES:

Family dynamics of White Oleander or Yellowstone (I’d love a ranch setting)

My Dark Vanessa should be required reading for everyone, ever. If you have an angry, heartbreaking, unputdownable story — please share it.

Make me sob like the last 100 pages of House of Earth and Blood did (I mean it, break my heart)

YOUNG ADULT SPECIFICS:

Fantasy:

A twist on a myth we haven’t seen before, complete with social commentary (Lore, Legendborn)

If Lex Croucher would approve, I want to see it. Gwen and Art are Not in Love and Not for the Faint of Heart are two of my favorite reads in this area.

Give me grounded fantasy with coming-of-age struggles like The Mediator series by Meg Cabot.

Misc. requests for YA specifically:

Books that tackle hard subjects like Gingerbread by Rachel Cohn and Dreamland by Sarah Dessen.

Magical Realism like Weetzie Bat or Every Heart a Doorway.

Stories about the pressures of being an elite student-athlete. Specifically focused on the balance required to excel at both, the day-to-day of what that looks like, the complicated teammate/friend/rival relationships that are formed, and the harsh truths about competing at the level.

I’m not a great fit for the following:

AI anything
Screenplays, poetry, and short stories
Picture books
Teen pregnancy stories
Zombies or dystopian
Pet deaths or animal abuse of any kind

Rose Ferrao [SOLD OUT OF PITCH APPOINTMENTS] is a literary agent with P.S. Literary.

Rose is currently acquiring both fiction and nonfiction.

In fiction, she is looking for commercial romance, adult and crossover fantasy, science fiction, horror, upmarket thrillers, contemporary fiction and select young adult fiction. She is drawn to stories that embrace genre conventions from a fun, fresh angle.

In nonfiction, she is looking for cookbooks and food writing, sports, pop culture, music, psychology, lifestyle, and wellness, especially when approached from a specific, unique perspective. She welcomes and encourages submissions from neurodivergent writers. If you would like to send a query to Rose, please review our submission guidelines above.

Rose began her publishing career in London, working in non-fiction at Bloomsbury and science fiction, fantasy and horror at Orbit Books. She has a BA in English Literature and Film from Queen’s University and an MA in Publishing from University College London. Rose has a wide range of reading tastes, but she is particularly drawn to compelling, character-driven stories that embrace the weird and wondrous. Outside of work, she spends her time cooking and watching too many movies.

Mikaela Roasa [SOLD OUT OF PITCH APPOINTMENTS] is an editor with HarperCollins Canada.

Since joining HarperCollins Canada in 2020, Mikaela has had the privilege of working on many bestselling books such as Amita Parikh’s bestselling novel The Circus Train; Never Been Better by Leanne Toshiko Simpson (winner of the 2025 Rakuten Kobo Emerging Writer Prize for Romance); Tanya Talaga’s highly acclaimed work of nonfiction The Knowing; and Juno award-winning Inuk artist Susan Aglukark’s memoir Kihiani.

Mika acquires and edits a range of commercial and upmarket character-driven stories and select narrative no-fiction and memoir. She is the editor of the forthcoming epic fantasy Dawn of the Firebird by Sarah Mughal Rana, the romantasy The Lure of Wolves and Whispers by Amanda Connolly, and The God of Lost Causes by Jules Arbeaux. Her authors also include Natalie Sue, Amy Chan, Ashley Winstead, and Rebecca Reid.

For fiction, Mika is interested in science fiction & fantasy; romance; and voicey, emotionally compelling contemporary fiction. For nonfiction, she is drawn to works that explore themes of identity, race, sexuality and gender with nuance, as well as food and community or pop culture.

While Mika is open minded to a range of submissions, she is not the right fit for historical fiction, police procedurals, high-concept literary fiction, poetry, business books, or true crime.

Select favourite books:

How to End a Love Story by Yulin Kuang
I Hope This Finds You Well by Natalie Sue
Jade City by Fonda Lee
Babel by R.F. Kuang
She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan
Beach Read by Emily Henry
Really Good, Actually by Monica Heisey
You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty by Akwaeke Emezi
Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner
Chop Suey Nation by Ann Hui
Sucker Punch by Scaachi Koul
Know My Name by Chanel Miller

 

Paige Broadbent [SOLD OUT OF PITCH APPOINTMENTS] is a literary agent with The Purcell Agency.

At the Toronto event, Paige is taking pitches on behalf of herself and her agency. She is seeking pitches for the following genres and categories:

• Middle grade fiction (contemporary, coming of age, dystopian, romantic, #ownvoices, BIPOC, and LGBTQ​)
• Young adult fiction (contemporary, coming of age, dystopian, romantic, #ownvoices, BIPOC, and LGBTQ​)
• New adult fiction (contemporary, coming of age, dystopian, romantic, #ownvoices, BIPOC, and LGBTQ​)
• Adult fiction — contemporary, upmarket, women’s, book club, mainstream, romance, dystopian, #ownvoices, BIPOC, and LGBTQ
• Some memoir
• Children’s picture books
• Any fairy-tale retelling or re-imagining, especially if pulled into a contemporary setting

Paige is a storyteller and artist from southwestern Ontario, Canada, where she spent her childhood climbing trees and playing make-believe. As a nature enthusiast, Paige advocates for sustainable practices and the preservation and conservation of nature. As a creative, she champions the narrative merit of both traditional and unconventional and/or experimental storytelling techniques and is particularly interested in the narrative capabilities of environmental and non-linear storytelling in video games.

Described as a ‘professional student,’ Paige is a curious individual with an insatiable thirst for knowledge. She is currently working towards an Honours BA (and yes, she spells ‘honours’ with a U) in Creative Writing & Publishing from Sheridan College in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada.

Kate Moody [SOLD OUT OF PITCH APPOINTMENTS] is a literary agent with Transatlantic Agency.

Kate represents authors in both adult fiction and no-fiction. She is seeking authors with strong platforms in nonfiction, including true crime, narrative, journalism, memoir, sports, current affairs and pop culture.

In fiction, she is particularly interested in thrillers, psychological thrillers, family sagas, and stories that are dark, twisty, and complex. Kate is also drawn to authors whose exceptional writing can stand above a platform, as well as those who skillfully bend genres and execute multi-POV narratives with precision.

Kate believes everyone has a story to tell and is always looking for fresh, compelling voices. If you think you’d be a good fit, she’d love to hear from you!

Fun facts about her:

Driven by her passion for books, literacy, and education, Kate founded the Moody Family Foundation in 2023, which provides charitable grants to support education and literacy programs in Ontario’s York Region.

Jennifer Irons is an agent with Meta Talent Agency.

Jennifer’s agency is specifically seeking to adapt short stories from BIPOC writers to film and TV.

She is also open to having 10-minute consultations with all attendees and writers to answers questions about the process of how print (stories, books) gets adapted to the screen (TV/film). She is happy to just have Q&A sessions with any attendees.

Manasseh & Ephraim Talent Agency (META) is the first Black-owned film & TV literary talent agency in Canada. Founded by Jennifer Irons in 2021, META’s mission is to help remedy inequitable access to agent representation for Black, Indigenous, and People of Colour (BIPOC). META is devoted to discovering, nurturing, promoting, and advancing BIPOC creator’s careers for long-term success in the film, TV, and digital entertainment industries.

Marina Green [SOLD OUT OF PITCH APPOINTMENTS] is an associate literary agent at PS Literary Agency representing fiction and nonfiction.

After completing a BA and post-grad in publishing and spending half a decade as a bookseller, Marina began her career as an editor at a small indie publisher in Montréal before moving to Harlequin’s Trade division as an acquiring editor. Marina has always had an eclectic taste in books and is always looking for atmospheric, diverse, and inclusive stories rooted in cultural identity and belonging—and magic when she can get it. When Marina isn’t immersing herself in books and words and magical worlds, you can find her with a cup of tea in hand, trying a new yoga asana—never at the same time—or practicing Armenian, the language of her ancestors.

Marina is actively acquiring fiction (adult and YA) and nonfiction (adult).

In fiction, she is particularly drawn to speculative, atmospheric, and voice-driven narratives for both adult and young adult audiences. She has a soft spot for hybrid genres, such as horror-romance or speculative thrillers, and books with big hooks. In literary fiction, she is looking for stories that push the boundaries of genre and form. She’d love horror in the vein of an A24 film. When it comes to mysteries and thrillers, she looks for atmospheric stories with unreliable narrators that skew psychological or slowly get under your skin. For romance, she seeks stories with heart and something big to say, or unconventional takes on the genre. In fantasy, she is looking for unique magic systems, strong characters, and stories inspired by myth or folklore, particularly outside the Western canon. While she’s open to romantasy, these submissions need to stand out against the saturated market.

On the nonfiction side, she is interested in self-help, spiritual (Marina loves the woo woo!), and the occult. She’s also very keen to find poignant nature memoirs and other nature-based non-fiction. As a child of diaspora herself, across all categories, she is looking for diverse and inclusive stories rooted in the diasporic experience, cultural identity, and belonging.

Katrina Lemaire is a literary agent with Corvisiero Literary.

Katrina holds a Bachelor’s (Honours) in English and Creative Writing and a Publishing Certificate from Toronto Metropolitan University. With a history of sales, marketing, and an insatiable desire for literature, she inevitably found herself pursuing a path in publishing. As a writer, Katrina has engaged in the social and theoretical aspects of creative writing, and is currently a member of the Canadian Authors Association. Known for her poetry and short fiction, her works have appeared in Plenitude Magazine, Soft Star Magazine, Crow & Crosskeys Magazine, and other places.

When it comes to her taste in books, Katrina is often found devouring the pages of decadent fantasies set in worlds with high or low stakes, dark academia with cult/occult aspects, speculative fiction, horror of all kinds, graphic novels, gothic literature, noir fiction, paranormal, romance, urban fantasy, mystery, and anything that leans towards the uncanny. Within these genres, specifically in crossover YA and Adult, Katrina is always looking for more queer and BIPOC representation that feature tenacious and palpable characters.

MSWL

In Crossover NA/Adult Fiction:

Horror, particularly drawing on body horror, femgore (similar toThe Substance), horror romance, monster horror (think The Wolf Man, Dracula, Creature from the Black Lagoon, Frankenstein; using the literary devices of these stories to tell a fresh narrative), folk horror, environmental/ecological horror, Eldritch horror, deep-sea horror (as seen in Our Wives Under the Sea and the game Subnautica), horror that leans on A4 movie titles, and art horror with LGBTQ+ and BIPOC characters at the forefront.
In the realm of the Gothic, Katrina would like to see genre blends of romance, speculative, supernatural lore/crawly creatures, and richly descriptive historical settings with haunted castles, immersive atmospheres, and animals that are watchful familiars to brooding counts/countesses. In the gothic vein, Katrina is specifically focusing on LGBTQ+ and BIPOC characters that have themes/elements relating to works by T. Kingfisher, the book Carmilla, Mexican Gothic, and Starling House, The Bayou, and The Spirit Bares Its Teeth.
Magical Realism with lyrical prose, experimental narrative construction, and unique speculative twists.
All sectors of Indigenous/ First Nations works that feature magical realism, horror, romance, upmarket literary, urban fantasy, contemporary, supernatural, science, climate, and more.
Cozy fantasies like Legends & Lattes, with creepy/crawly themes of The Butterfly Garden, soft and mystique elements with pinches of lore with Studio Ghibli vibes, slow burn royal/court romances that have elements of potions, magic, fantastical (non-western) monsters, apothecary shops (as seen from The Apothecary Diaries).
Fantasy that intersects with gothic, speculative, dark academia, new sciences, romance, mystery, horror, and non-western folklore. Katrina is particularly picky when it comes to fantasy, and is specifically looking for high stakes, palpable tension, ensemble casts with unique dynamics, big, lush worlds with intricate political and magic systems, main characters who aren’t afraid to burn the world down, alchemy, complex villains who can be more than love interests, fresh takes on dragons and non-western mythology, and immersive world construction.
In Supernatural/Paranormal fiction, Katrina is interested in discovering LGBTQ+ and BIPOC characters in this space that feature elements of witches, vampires, werewolves, ghosts, devils/demons, dark magic, occult, and other dark themes that have propulsive hooks, human nuances, and fresh takes.
With historical fiction, Katrina is very particular, seeking genre blends of gothic romances, speculative surprises, intricate mysteries with unexpected twists, sciences and magic, and love interests that sizzle.

Young Adult:

Horror with elements of the occult, forest horror (similar to The Forest Demands Its Due by Kosoko Jackson and Don’t Let The Forest In by C. G. Drews), dark academia with themes of alchemy, competition and murder mysteries, inventive curses/magic systems, slasher/camp horror as seen in The Honeys by Ryan La Sala and You’re Not Supposed to Die Tonight by Kalynn Bayron, witches, werewolves, vampires, sirens, fae, and other folkloric monsters created or known spun in terrifying new ways.
Fantasy that blends with horror, gothic, dark academia, speculative flare, bloodthirsty protagonists who are witty/clever/and unafraid to do whatever it takes to achieve their goals, historical fantasies are also welcome, and cozy fantasy setting with layered characters and world construction.
Fairytale Retellings with Grimdark aspects.​​

Picture Books:

High-concept picture books that incorporate themes of climate change and environmental STEAM.
Topics that relate to nature, ecology, bugs, ocean life, and ecosystems.
Spooky/Halloween books with tender undertones and heartwarming characters.
Characters that have big personalities, voices, and passion.
Stories with the potential for lush, beautiful illustrations, or for fun art that interacts with the text of the story in unexpected ways.
Stories that deliver humorous and clever lines.
Stories incorporating the perspective of children from underrepresented or marginalized groups.
Katrina is not looking for rhyming books.
At this time, Katrina is only open to reviewing picture book submissions created by an individual writer/illustrator or collaborative teams. All artwork/dummy art should be attached to the query by using a Dropbox link or a pasted link to an illustration portfolio.

Graphic Novels:

Across all genres, Katrina is open to traditional graphic novels, graphic memoirs, and graphic nonfiction for all age categories. Please note she is currently only open to reviewing graphic novel submissions created by author/illustrators (a sole creator writing and illustrating the book). She is interested to see graphic novels with pages and panels that make use of the visual format to tell an authentic story.
Specific Genres that Katrina is looking for at the moment are: Fantasy, Horror, Speculative, blends of contemporary and cultural YA/Adult LGBTQ+ and #OwnVoices narratives.
Some of Katrina’s favourite graphic works include: the Heartstopper series by Alice Oseman, Squad by Maggie Takuda-Hall, The Sheets series by Brenna Thummler, any and all works by the talented Aminder Dhaliwal, The Monstress series by Marjorie Liu, Nimona by ND Stevenson, Through the Woods by Emily Carroll, The Tea Dragon Society and The Moth Keeper by Kay O’Neill, Garlic and The Vampire by Bree Paulsen, The Girl From The Sea by Molly Knox Ostertag, This Place: 150 Years Retold collection, and more.
For graphic novels submissions, please do NOT send sexual/explicit materials (on the lines of erotica), hardcore violence, gore, or superheroes.
Guidelines on how to Submit Graphic Novel Materials: Please upload the first 20 pages of your completed graphic novel project with art/illustration samples by pasting a direct link in the sample pages section of the query form (Dropbox links are preferred).

Katrina is NOT looking to acquire: Non-fiction, Middle Grade, Memoir, Science Fiction, Military/Espionage, True Crime, Screenplays, Religious Fiction, Erotica, Contemporary Fiction, Rom-Coms, Family Sagas, or Westerns.

Elements Katrina is NOT a fit for include: Dystopia, Post-Apocalyptic, Zombies (unless it is on par with The Last of Us; she might make an exception), Global Disaster, Superheroes, COVID or disease themed/inspired stories or YA stories about terminal illnesses, Fanfiction angles, Historical fiction in the WWI or WWII eras, Historical Regency Romance, War stories in which humanity fights technology, Novels in Verse, stories that heavily focus on Trauma such as Sexual assault, Domestic abuse, Child abuse or Suicide as a primary storyline, and Animal Brutality,

Please note Corvisiero Literary Agency currently does not represent poetry, short story collections, or novella-length fiction at this time.

Katrina’s Favorite Books:
​

Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo
Never Whistle At Night Anthology
Vicious by V.E. Schwab
So Let Them Burn by Kamilah Cole
The Jasmine Throne by Tasha Turi
You’re Not Supposed to Die Tonight by Kalynn Bayron
The Final Girl Support Group by Grady Hendrix
What Moves The Dead by T. Kingfisher
Camilla by Francis Burney

 

Léonicka Valcius is a literary agent with Transatlantic Agency.

“I am eager to work with writers of color, including (but not limited to) trans people of color, disabled people of color, religious minorities of color, and queer people of color.”

She is seeking:

Adult and Young Adult fiction: I like books I can read on a beach vacation: fun commercial fiction, romance that ranges from sweet to steamy, otherworldly fantasy, and sweeping historical fiction. I do not represent mysteries or thrillers.

Middle Grade and younger: I love humour, adventure, and make believe. I also enjoy stories about children navigating their changing relationships with family and friends. I strongly prefer books with at least one human character. I do not represent picture books.