Featured Agents
The 2026 A&E Conference will include literary agents from a notable list of reputable literary agencies. Please keep in mind that even if you don’t have a formal consultation scheduled, you will, in all likelihood, have the opportunity to meet your favorite agent or editor at some point during the weekend.
Please note: All agents are now closed to consultation appointments. (Updated 6/17/26)
Our featured agents include:
Amy Bishop-Wycisk, Literary Agent, Trellis Literary Management
Amy Bishop-Wycisk is an agent with Trellis Literary Management. With almost a decade of experience, she’s cultivating a wide-ranging list in upmarket and book club fiction, grounded sci-fi and fantasy, speculative fiction, expert-driven narrative nonfiction, and select YA, with a special interest in underrepresented voices. Her authors’ books have been NYT, USA Today, and indie bestsellers, a Reese’s Book Club selection, James Beard Award and Edgar Award winners, Indie Next picks, and Book of the Month and B&N Monthly selections. Before diving into the world of publishing, she graduated from SUNY Geneseo with a degree in Creative Writing. You can find her on Instagram at @abw.books.
Amy is currently seeking:
ADULT FICTION: High Concept Commercial, Mystery/Thriller/Suspense, Speculative fiction (grounded SFF; no secondary worlds)
ADULT NONFICTION: Narrative, History, Pop Culture
YOUNG ADULT FICTION: General, Mystery/Thriller/Suspense, Historical, Science Fiction/Fantasy
Read an interview with Amy here.
Jem Chambers-Black, Founder + Agent, Starling Literary + Media
Jemiscoe Chambers-Black is a co-founder of Starling Literary + Media and a literary agent who loves championing storytellers across age categories. Her love of reading started in a very on-brand way: with pizza. At seven, her school handed out personal pan pizza coupons for every book read, and Jem was instantly hooked. Pretty soon, she wanted the stories more than the slices.
Before becoming an agent, Jem spent over a decade as an Assistant Director in film and television, where she learned how character, tension, and timing make a story work, skills she brings to her work with creators every day. She later shifted her focus to publishing, joining the Andrea Brown Literary Agency and ultimately co-founding Starling Literary + Media in 2025 with her colleagues and friends, Paige Terlip and Jennifer March Soloway. She also serves on the board of the Association of American Literary Agents. A true generalist, she represents authors and illustrators creating picture books, chapter books, middle grade, YA, adult fiction, and graphic novels.
Jem is currently seeking:
ADULT FICTION: High Concept Commercial, Women’s, Mystery/Thriller/Suspense, Romance, Science Fiction/Fantasy, Graphic Novels, Romantasy, Horromance
ADULT NONFICTION: Current Events, History, Pop Culture, Family/Parenting, Self-Help, Accessible science, cookbooks, nature/environment, high-stakes ideas
YOUNG ADULT & MIDDLE GRADE FICTION: General, Mystery/Thriller/Suspense, Science Fiction/Fantasy, Graphic Novels, Romance, Romantasy
PICTURE BOOK FICTION & EARLY READER
Christopher Combemale, Associate Agent, Sterling Lord Literistic, Inc.
Christopher Combemale is an associate agent at Sterling Lord Literistic, Inc. He is looking for a broad range of literary fiction, voice driven upmarket fiction with a clear hook, and select fantasy with unique or multi-cultural worldbuilding. In non-fiction he is interested in nature, history, journalism, and expert-driven projects. He does not represent memoir. As a Singaporean-French-American born and raised in London, Christopher is drawn to international voices and writers in translation. Forthcoming books include work by Thomas Dai (Norton), Stuart Pennebaker (Little, Brown), Daniel Cox (Harmony), Alex Wright (Basic Books), Joe Ogilvy (Bloomsbury), Michelle Miller (Norton), and Agnieszka Szpila (Pantheon). Among his clients are Carnegie Medal winner Manon Steffan Ros, James Beard winner Shane Mitchell, Baillie Gifford winner Wade Davis, naturalist Scott Weidensaul, and the Estate of Barry Lopez. He graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill as a Morehead-Cain Scholar and now lives in Brooklyn.
Christopher is currently seeking:
ADULT FICTION: High Concept Commercial, Literary, Mystery/Thriller/Suspense, Science Fiction/Fantasy
ADULT NONFICTION: Narrative, History, Biography, Pop Culture
YOUNG ADULT FICTION: General, Science Fiction/Fantasy
Read an interview with Christopher here.
Elizabeth Copps, Co-Founding Agent, Confluence Literary Agency
An internship at a boutique literary agency sparked everything for this starry-eyed book lover. In 2010, Elizabeth Copps drained her savings, left Florida, and moved to New York City to break into publishing. After a decade with Maria Carvainis Agency, she founded Copps Literary Services in 2021 in her current hometown of Englewood, CO. She brings 16 years of publishing experience and an award-winning client list to this new adventure.
Elizabeth’s philosophy is simple: build relationships across the industry that are equitable, transparent, and built to last.
She represents thought-provoking upmarket and commercial fiction for adult, YA, and middle grade audiences and is particularly drawn to stories with lush prose, complex characters, and creative genre blends. She gravitates toward boundary-pushing horror + speculative fiction and is interested in the exploration of psychological terror, gothic atmospheres, macabre humor, or horror reflecting our socio-political anxieties. She has a particular soft spot for dark mythology and folklore retellings and unexpected love stories.
Elizabeth is currently seeking:
ADULT FICTION: High Concept Commercial, Literary, Mystery/Thriller/Suspense, Romance, Horror
YOUNG ADULT & MIDDLE GRADE FICTION: General, Mystery/Thriller/Suspense
Read an interview with Elizabeth here.
Emma Dries, Literary Agent, Triangle House Literary
Emma Dries is a writer and editor, and an agent at Triangle House Literary. She began her career in editorial and worked on bestselling and award-winning books at Alfred A. Knopf, Doubleday Books, Ecco, and Flatiron Books. She has a B.A. in History from the University of Chicago and an MFA in Fiction from Johns Hopkins University. Her authors include Xenobe Purvis, Jo Livingstone, Edith Zimmerman, Afsheen Farhadi, K Chiucarello and more.
Emma is interested in literary fiction that grapples with climate change; ambitious multigenerational novels or family sagas; speculative fiction; literary thrillers; and dark or darkly comic domestic fiction. She is also seeking narrative nonfiction, longform journalism, essays and academic crossover. She is interested in climate, environment, institutional corruption, big idea books and object histories. She likes to work with academic writers with great narrative sensibilities, such as historians who can target an understudied era and spin an incredible yarn. She looking for personal narrative and memoir only insofar as it has a strong analytic or journalistic angle.
Emma is currently seeking:
ADULT FICTION: High Concept Commercial, Literary, Upmarket, Book Club, Grounded Speculative
ADULT NONFICTION: Narrative, Current Events, History, Pop Culture
Read an interview with Emma here.
Mina Hamedi, Literary Agent, Janklow & Nesbit & Associates
Mina Hamedi grew up in Istanbul, Turkey before moving to New York in 2010. She received her BA in Nonfiction and Global Identity from NYU’s Gallatin School and an MFA in Creative Nonfiction from Columbia University. Mina began her career in publishing at David Black Literary Agency and Writers House. She joined Janklow & Nesbit in 2018 where she supported co-founder Lynn Nesbit.
Mina represents adult literary fiction and nonfiction. She is interested in stories from around the world—particularly her native Turkey and Iran. She loves fiction with Gothic-inspired atmospheres, intergenerational tales, family secrets, and deep excavations into relationships, motivations, and obsessions. She is also looking for horror and fiction with genre elements such as magical realism and speculative. She is drawn to nonfiction with a strong voice and big stakes, and writers who are working not only to uncover the undercurrents of our world but also to change them. She seeks voices in translation and writers from underrepresented backgrounds.
Mina lives in New York with her husband and their two Turkish street cats, Saffron and Lemon. She is a member of the American Association of Literary Agents (AALA).
Mina is currently seeking:
ADULT FICTION: High Concept Commercial, Literary, Women’s, Mystery/Thriller/Suspense
ADULT NONFICTION: Narrative, History, Pop Culture, Essays
Tia Ikemoto, Literary Agent, CAA
Tia Ikemoto is a Literary Agent at Creative Artists Agency, based in New York City. She began her career at ICM Partners in 2019 assisting the co-head of the Publishing department and joined CAA in 2022 following the agency’s acquisition of ICM. She graduated from the University of California, San Diego with a degree in Communication and a minor in Business.
Tia represents a diverse range of nonfiction and fiction across the commercial to literary spectrum. She is currently seeking commercial, upmarket, book club and genre fiction, particularly stories that feel transportive, grapple with social themes, or make us feel big emotions (or all of the above).
Tia is currently seeking:
ADULT FICTION: High Concept Commercial, Literary, Women’s, Mystery/Thriller/Suspense, Romance, Science Fiction/Fantasy, Speculative
Barbara Jones, Literary Agent, DeFiore & Company
Barbara Jones worked as an editor for more than thirty years, first in magazines (Harper’s Magazine, Vogue, More Magazine) then in books (as editorial director at Hyperion Books and executive editor at Henry Holt). As a magazine editor, she worked with such writers as Jennifer Egan, Elizabeth Gilbert, Christopher Hitchens, Ann Hood, Jean Korelitz, Lorrie Moore, ZZ Packer, Ann Patchett and many others. As a book editor, she edited and published national and New York Times bestsellers as well as national and international prizewinning titles by authors such as Luvvie Ajayi, Paul Auster, Dan Chaon, Susan Choi, Kelly Corrigan, Chitra Divakaruni, Lauren Groff, Janice Hadlow, Lillian Li, Julie Lythcott-Haims, and many others. She is now a literary agent at DeFiore & Company (which recently merged with Stuart Krichevsky Literary Agency), representing writers of literary and upmarket commercial fiction as well as an idiosyncratic list of nonfiction authors. Her clients include Kate Axelrod, Charles Bock, J.J. Duncan, Elizabeth Ferris, Rafael Frumkin, Tali Gumbiner, Tiffany Hanssen, Isaac Oliver, The Swans of Harlem. She’s led writing workshops at New York University, Yale University and elsewhere, and lives with her family in Harlem, New York.
Barbara is currently seeking:
ADULT FICTION: Literary, Women’s, Historical, Short Fiction
ADULT NONFICTION: Narrative, History, Biography
Read an interview with Barbara here.
Taylor Martindale Kean, Literary Agent, Full Circle Literary
Taylor Martindale Kean is a literary agent with Full Circle Literary, actively acquiring children’s fiction projects and illustration. She is a graduate of The College of William and Mary, where she studied English and Hispanic Studies.
Taylor is looking for middle grade fiction, young adult fiction, and illustrators. She is interested in finding unique and unforgettable voices in contemporary, fantasy, historical and magical realism novels. More than anything, Taylor is looking for diverse, character-driven stories that bring their worlds vividly to life, and voices that are honest, original and interesting. Clients include: Gloria Amescua, David Bowles, Tirzah Price, Anoosha Syed, Olivia Sua, and more. When not working, Taylor can be found traveling, cooking, spending time with loved ones, or (surprise!) lost in a good book.
Taylor is currently seeking:
YOUNG ADULT & MIDDLE GRADE FICTION: General, Mystery/Thriller/Suspense, Historical, Science Fiction/Fantasy
Read an interview with Taylor here.
Ashley Lopez, Literary Agent, Massie McQuilkin & Altman Literary Agents
Ashley Lopez is an agent at Massie McQuilkin & Altman Literary Agents with over a decade of publishing experience. Formerly the Director of Foreign Rights and an agent at WLA Books, she has worked on international and New York Times bestsellers, bringing a global perspective to her authors. Ashley received her MFA in Fiction from Sarah Lawrence College. She is drawn to writing that creates its own sense of movement on the page, and stories that center unforgettable characters and singular experiences that speaks to something universal. She loves writers who aren’t afraid to raise the stakes, and smart people sharing their obsessions. A member of the Association of American Literary Agents, Ashley represents literary and book club fiction, grounded speculative, horror, thrillers, narrative and practical nonfiction, as well as select poetry and YA.
Ashley is currently seeking:
ADULT FICTION: Literary, Women’s, Mystery/Thriller/Suspense, Grounded Speculative, Book Club
ADULT NONFICTION: Narrative, Current Events, Pop Culture, Lifestyle, Self-Help
YOUNG ADULT FICTION: General, Mystery/Thriller/Suspense, Grounded Speculative
YOUNG ADULT NONFICTION
Read an interview with Ashley here.
Maeve MacLysaght, Literary Agent, Aevitas Creative Management
Maeve MacLysaght is a literary agent at Aevitas Creative Management representing commercial genre fiction and graphic novels for all ages. She is drawn most to stories with big, campy stakes but surprising emotional cores, lovably immoral characters, queer coded villains, and people kissing while things explode. The goal of her list is to increase the amount of queer and BIPOC joy in the world, and to make space for marginalized authors to rework the tropes that historically oppressed them.
Maeve is currently seeking:
ADULT FICTION: Mystery/Thriller/Suspense, Romance, Science Fiction/Fantasy, Graphic Novels
ADULT NONFICTION: Pop Culture
YOUNG ADULT FICTION: General, Mystery/Thriller/Suspense, Science Fiction/Fantasy, Graphic Novels
Clare Mao, Literary Agent, Sanford J. Greenburger Associates
Clare Mao is an agent at Sanford J. Greenburger Associates, where she represents adult fiction and nonfiction. Clare grew up in Queens, New York, attended Grinnell College in Iowa, and worked at Janklow & Nesbit and Europa Content before joining SJGA in 2024.
In fiction, she is looking for novels with a strong sense of place and insightful character work. She represents fiction across the spectrum of literary to upmarket/book club to commercial with strong writing, with a soft spot for a good, elevated love story. In nonfiction, she is seeking cultural criticism, narrative, and essay collections, and is actively looking for writing about solidarity, food, pop culture, and new modes of creating community. She also represents illustrated projects like cookbooks and photo books, and her list includes a Chinese mythology-inspired tarot deck, a photographic archive of emo music, and a narrative cookbook about baking through a year of self-discovery. Across genres, she is drawn to writers who are curious, thoughtful, and critical, who have expansive interests and concerns including and outside of writing, and who have a knack for blending genres and forms. Most importantly, she wants to represent writers who are having fun.
Clare’s clients include: Ifrah F. Ahmed, Tanya Bush, Johanna Hedva, Sally Wen Mao, Emily Mester, Rioghnach Robinson, and more.
Clare is currently seeking:
ADULT FICTION: Literary, Women’s, Romance, Graphic Novels
ADULT NONFICTION: Narrative, Pop Culture, Essays, Lifestyle, Cookbooks
Read an interview with Clare here.
Alex Reubert, Literary Agent & International Rights Manager, HG Literary
Alex is pursuing books that, either by style or story, demand he keep reading. He loves literature in translation, novels set outside the U.S., and stories that offer the reader a new or unconventional way of seeing. Novels that skew upmarket and literary are welcome, as are any narrators looking back and trying to make sense of their life.
For nonfiction, he’s interested in memoir, psychology, narrative, literary studies, art history, popular science, philosophy, and cultural studies. He’s also seeking artists in other disciplines that have ventured into prose. Writers that instill a sense of curiosity and wonder in others, no matter the subject, should get in touch and tell him about their work.
Alex began his publishing life as a bookseller at WORD Bookstores and an intern with New Directions and W.W. Norton & Company. He then spent five years as an international book scout, then literary agent, at Greenburger Associates before joining HG Literary in 2024.
Alex is currently seeking:
ADULT FICTION: High Concept Commercial, Literary, Women’s, Romance, Historical, Science Fiction/Fantasy, Short Fiction
ADULT NONFICTION: Narrative, Current Events, History, Biography, Pop Culture, Essays, Lifestyle, Self-Help
YOUNG ADULT FICTION
You can read an interview with Alex here.
Melissa Rodman, Associate Literary Agent, Nancy Yost Literary Agency
Melissa Rodman represents both nonfiction and fiction featuring strong characters and sharp prose. She received her B.A. in History & Literature, magna cum laude, from Harvard University and in college interned at Picador USA. Prior to joining Nancy Yost Literary Agency, she served as research associate in entertainment, media, and sports at Harvard Business School and editorial associate at Harvard University Press, before earning an M.A. at NYU’s Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute where she received the Marlene Sanders Award and interned at The New Republic.
A native New Yorker, when not working she often can be found writing articles or volunteer ushering at off-Broadway shows.
Melissa is currently seeking:
ADULT FICTION: High Concept Commercial, Literary, Women’s
ADULT NONFICTION: Narrative, History, Biography, Memoir, Pop Culture, Practical Nonfiction
Read an interview with Melissa here.
Jade Wong-Baxter, Literary Agent, Frances Goldin Literary Agency
Jade Wong-Baxter joined the Frances Goldin Literary Agency in 2021, after spending three years at Massie & McQuilkin Literary Agents. She received her B.A. in English Literature and Chinese from Vassar College. Jade is looking for adult literary and upmarket/bookclub fiction, as well as narrative nonfiction.
In fiction: Jade is drawn to stories that combine a compelling voice with clear narrative momentum. She particularly enjoys coming-of-age narratives; novels exploring queer identity; stories set within a specific subculture or hidden world; grounded speculative (no high fantasy or science fiction, please); a strong sense of place; AAPI and Asian diaspora stories; and novels about immigrant families. In nonfiction: across genres, Jade enjoys projects that weave together specific personal narrative with a broader sociological curiosity. She is particularly looking for cultural criticism, social justice-oriented journalism, linked essay collections, and AAPI history or culture. Across all genres, Jade is seeking stories by and about people of color, as well as the perspectives of marginalized identities.
Jade’s clients include Chris Belcher (PRETTY BABY, Avid Reader; a 2022 Lambda Literary Award Finalist); Delia Cai (CENTRAL PLACES, Ballantine, 2023); Hannah Matthews (YOU OR SOMEONE YOU LOVE, Atria, 2023); and Courtney Preiss (WELCOME HOME CAROLINE KLINE, 2024, a USA Today Bestseller).
Jade is currently seeking:
ADULT FICTION: High Concept Commercial, Literary, Women’s, Mystery/Thriller/Suspense, Romance
ADULT NONFICTION: Narrative, Current Events, History, Biography, Memoir, Pop Culture
Read an interview with Jade here.