Serene Hakim is a literary agent at Ayesha Pande Literary. She represents authors in a variety of genres, from MG fantasy to adult literary fiction to contemporary YA. Serene is particularly interested in both YA and adult fiction that has international themes, highlights a variety of cultures, and focuses on underrepresented and/or marginalized voices. Specifically, she's looking for writing that explores different meanings of identity, home, family, and parenthood/motherhood. She loves books that are joy-filled and full of heart, as well as stories that delve deep into grief. Her educational background is in French and women's studies. She holds an MA in French-English translation from NYU.

Annie Hwang is a literary agent at Ayesha Pande Literary where she represents what she likes to think of as "literary fiction with teeth". She also takes on nonfiction and poetry on occasion. Her authors include John Paul Brammer, Franny Choi, Lilly Dancyger, Carson Faust, Sequoia Nagamatsu, and Jihyun Yun. Annie is honored to have worked on books that have received recognition from The National Book Award, The Whiting Award, the National Book Critics Circle, the Kingsley Tufts Award, the Lambda Literary Award, and The Ursula K. LeGuin Prize, among others. The daughter of Taiwanese immigrants, she is originally from Los Angeles and now lives in New York.

Kayla Lightner is a literary agent at Ayesha Pande Literary. She represents authors across authors across adult literary + upmarket fiction and non-fiction. She's particularly a fan of authors––including journalists, essayists, historians, and industry experts–-that can masterfully straddle the line between storytelling and teaching readers something new (about themselves or the world we live in). She loves books that can take her inside a previously inaccessible community, a niche sub-culture, a forgotten historical moment, or a unique way of life. A Georgia native, Kayla earned her BA in English from Vassar College.

Sophie Brett-Chin is a literary associate at Folio Literary Management, who is actively building her list. Prior to joining Folio, she received her MFA in nonfiction from Columbia University. In fiction, she’s drawn to propulsive plots that are beautiful on a technical and craft level, including big-hearted novels about family and/or coming of age; upmarket and literary thrillers; and upmarket horror that uses and subverts the genre’s tropes to probe larger societal issues. In nonfiction, she’s looking for narrative nonfiction across a variety of categories, including niche/overlooked histories; pop culture; memoir; and cultural criticism. In all genres, Sophie has a continuous soft-spot for works that interrogate adolescence — specifically teenage girlhood, treating this liminal and weird time with respect and levity — as well as anything that explores religion and ritual, and books about the ocean.

Jamie Chambliss is an agent with Folio Literary Management. Her clients include Rowan Beaird, Lauren Hough, Rachel Rodgers, Daniel Wallace and Dr. Rae Wynn-Grant. Prior to joining Folio, she was at Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, working on both fiction and nonfiction and in editorial and marketing. She’s drawn to literary and book club fiction and narrative nonfiction, especially dealing with food, pop culture, the quirks of human nature, the stories within the worlds of science and sports, and the forgotten corners of history. Prior to book publishing, she was a magazine journalist, covering, among other things, books, the arts, and sports narratives. She is a graduate of Wake Forest University and has a master’s degree in journalism from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Sonali Chanchani (she/her) is an agent at Folio Literary Management, where she represents literary and upmarket fiction and narrative nonfiction. In fiction, she’s looking for smart, funny novels about identity and coming of age; braided narratives of friendship and family; and novels with a speculative twist. In nonfiction, she’s drawn to narratives and collections that speak to larger social and cultural concerns. Across the board, she’s particularly interested in character-driven stories that center historically underrepresented voices. Sonali earned her degree in English and narrative studies from the University of Southern California and began her career in publishing at Kaya Press. She is a member of the Association of American Literary Agents, where she serves on the board of directors and the diversity, equity, and inclusion committee. She also serves on the board of directors of the nonprofit organization Literary Agents of Change.

Erin Harris has worked in publishing for over a decade and serves as a Senior Vice President and literary agent at Folio Literary Management, where she represents literary and upmarket fiction and select narrative non-fiction. She is excited to add new talent to her list! Her clients include New York Times Bestsellers, National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize finalists, winners of the Lambda Literary and Stonewall Book Awards, Indie Next Pick authors and authors selected for the national book clubs Reese Witherspoon’s “Hello Sunshine,” Good Morning America, The Today Show’s Read with Jenna, Barnes & Noble, and Target. Erin is a member of the AALA (Association of American Literary Agents) and received her MFA in Creative Writing from the New School. She lives in Brooklyn and is a co-curator of the literary event series HIP Lit. To learn more about her authors and agenting practice, please visit her Publisher’s Marketplace page.

Margaret Sutherland Brown is an agent at Folio Literary Management eagerly seeking literary and upmarket fiction as well as select narrative nonfiction. She came to Folio from Emma Sweeney Agency, LLC, and before she became an agent, she worked on the editorial side of book publishing, primarily at St. Martin’s Press. Among her award-winning clients are bestselling authors Lauren Belfer, Janet Burroway, Edgar Cantero, Lynn Cullen, Lucy Ferriss, Vanessa Hua, Alka Joshi, Vaddey Ratner, and Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche.

Lucy Carson is a senior agent at The Friedrich Agency, where since 2008, she has represented an intimate list of bestselling and award-winning writers, primarily in the adult fiction space. She also manages the film & television rights for all of the agency's titles.

Heather Carr is an agent at The Friedrich Agency where she represents award-winning and bestselling fiction and nonfiction for adults. She’s seeking literary fiction and high-concept commercial fiction including that which dabbles in the surreal and suspenseful. She particularly enjoys when genre elements are used to explore the places where language fails us. In nonfiction she’s looking for intersectional, voice-driven narrative projects and her areas of interest include science, nature, social justice, and culture.

Marin Takikawa is an associate agent at The Friedrich Agency. Born in Tokyo and raised in Singapore and New York City, she joined TFA in early 2021 after getting her start as an assistant to three agents at Foundry Literary + Media. She's looking for character-driven and genre-bending literary fiction, radical and community-driven narrative nonfiction, and voice-driven YA. Her clients have been supported by fellowships and awards from the National Endowment for the Arts, Tin House, Asian American Writers' Workshop, We Need Diverse Books, and Center for Fiction, among others.

Regina Brooks is the founder and president of Serendipity Literary Agency LLC, based in Brooklyn, New York. Serendipity is the largest African American-owned agency in the US, and Brooks is the author of Never Finished, Never Done, Writing Great Books for Young Adults (now in its second edition), and You Should Really Write A Book: How to Write, Sell, and Market Your Memoir. Brooks is the agent behind many notable authors and illustrators whose awards include the National Book Award, the Newbery Medal, the Caldecott Award, the Michael Printz Award, and PEN Literary Award honors, as well as winners of the NAACP Image Award, the Edgar Award, and the Kirkus Prize.

Amy Bishop-Wycisk (why-zick) joined Trellis Literary Management in 2023 after eight years with Dystel, Goderich & Bourret. She's cultivating a wide-ranging list in upmarket and book club fiction, light sci-fi and fantasy, speculative fiction, expert-driven narrative nonfiction, cultural criticism, history, and select YA, with a special interest in underrepresented voices, especially from the AAPI community. Her list includes titles such as The Last Story of Mina Lee by Nancy Jooyoun Kim (a Reese's Book Club selection and NYT bestseller), The Red Palace by Edgar Award-winning author June Hur, and Girly Drinks by Mallory O’Meara (a James Beard Award winner). Before diving into the world of publishing, she graduated from SUNY Geneseo with a degree in creative writing. Though she grew up upstate, she currently resides in Woodside, Queens with her husband and cat. You can find her on Twitter at @abwycisk.

Michelle Brower has spent over fifteen years as an agent, first at Wendy Sherman Associates and most recently as a partner at Aevitas Creative Management. She cofounded Trellis Literary Management in 2021. Her list spans the spectrum of literary and commercial fiction, and she is primarily interested in work that focuses on storytelling and emotional connection. She is looking for book club novels (a commercial idea with a literary execution), literary fiction, literary suspense, genre fiction for a nongenre audience, and upmarket women’s fiction.

Stephanie Delman spent ten years building her list at Sanford J. Greenburger Associates before cofounding Trellis Literary Management in the fall of 2021. She is focused on adult fiction: literary/upmarket, maximalist storytelling, as-yet-untold historical fiction from underrepresented perspectives, and novels that play with genre and dip a toe into the fantastical. Stephanie studied writing seminars at Johns Hopkins University and considers herself a “hands-on” agent, both editorially and as an advocate. She was raised in northern California and now lives in Brooklyn.

Natalie Edwards joined Trellis Literary in November 2021. Prior to that, she was at Janklow & Nesbit and Curtis Brown, Ltd. In terms of fiction, she is looking for commercial, upmarket, and literary titles: stories of queerness and diaspora, hidden histories, workplace satires/sendups of #girlbosses, and anything that offers biting social commentary. In the nonfiction space, she is seeking hybrid memoirs that combine personal stories with research/reportage; narrative nonfiction; and cultural histories about music, film, art, and sports. Natalie holds a BA in English from Bowdoin College.

Danya Kukafka is the author of the novels Notes on an Execution and Girl in Snow. She began her publishing career at Riverhead Books as an acquiring assistant editor, where she worked with authors like Meg Wolitzer, Paula Hawkins, Lauren Groff, Brit Bennett, Emma Straub, Gabriel Tallent, Helen Oyeyemi, Maile Meloy, Sigrid Nunez, and many more. As she builds her client list at Trellis Literary Management, Danya is interested in literary fiction with particularly propulsive storylines. She is seeking literary suspense, sophisticated thrillers, speculative fiction, and experimental fiction—she also loves true crime that feels attuned to today’s cultural conversations, as well as upmarket literary fiction you can read in one gulp.

Allison Malecha joined Trellis Literary Management as director of foreign rights after several years at Bettina Schrewe Literary Scouting where she worked with major publishing clients in over twenty markets across Europe, Asia, and Latin America, as well as with an independent film client. Prior to working as a literary scout, she spent five years in editorial at independent publishing house Grove Atlantic, where she began building her own list under the publisher and was the in-house manager for Freeman's and The Mysterious Press.

Dana Murphy joined Trellis Literary Management in 2022, after a decade building her list at The Book Group. She represents literary and upmarket fiction for both adult and teen readers, as well as narrative nonfiction and essay collections. Across genre, Dana falls in love at the story and line-level simultaneously, and is always searching for language and plot that move in equal measure. In fiction, Dana looks for books (and authors!) with a soft heart, a sense of humor, and a deep earnest affection for their characters and story. And in non-fiction, she is drawn to deep dives about pop culture, class, gender, race, science, food, chronic illness, and art.

Mariah Stovall joined Trellis Literary Management after agenting at Howland Literary and Writers House. She is actively seeking writers with strong voices and intersectional and interdisciplinary perspectives. She works on adult literary and upmarket fiction, narrative nonfiction, essay collections, and memoir. She is most passionate about music, mental health/illness, Black America, linguistics, histories of objects and ideas, pop science, and deep dives into subcultures and social movements, but great writing can get her interested in any topic.