ABOUT THE AGENT:
Aiden Siobhan (they/them) graduated from UNC School of the Arts in 2023 with a Filmmaking BFA specializing in Screenwriting and Animation. Before becoming an agent, they interned at LDLA and were an Author Mentor Match mentee in 2022. When they’re not binge reading an LGBTQ+ YA novel, they work as the Art Director for two alternative newspapers, attend film festivals for their documentary projects, and go on road trips with their fiancé and dog.

AIDEN IS SEEKING:

ABOUT THE AGENT:

Shelly Romero began her publishing career in 2017 at Scholastic where she rose up the ranks from editorial assistant to associate editor, where she acquired her own titles and assisted on series publishing for The Bad Guys and Goosebumps. She later joined Cake Creative as Lead Editor and she was most recently a freelance editor. She graduated from Stephens College with a bachelor’s degree in English and attended the 2017 NYU Summer Publishing Institute. Shelly was selected as a 2020 Publishers Weekly Star Watch Honoree and is a member of Latinx in Publishing & People of Color in Publishing. Born and raised in Miami by Honduran parents, she now resides in New York City where she might be found at a movie theatre viewing the latest release from her Letterboxd watchlist.

SHELLY IS SEEKING:

ABOUT THE AGENT:
Donovan Levine is an associate literary agent at Neighborhood Literary and AALA member based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. When not doing agent work, he can probably be found at a local dive bar cheering for Philly sports teams.

Donovan craves voice-driven, fly-off-the-page characters and adventurous stories, with messaging and themes relevant to the times. And he is especially seeking underrepresented voices with powerful, lived experiences.

DONOVAN IS SEEKING:

*** WINNERS: Keely B., Annabel H., Stanisław G.

FREE CONTEST FOR WRITERS!

Welcome to the 2025 First Pages Contest. Contest #3 of this year is for writers of Adult Science Fiction & Fantasy (all types). If you write in this age category, keep reading and submit your work! This free contest ends on Feb. 11, 2025 [UPDATED, EXTENDED DEADLINE]. 

Here’s how it works: We invite awesome literary agents to judge the contest. The agents pick the genre(s) they want to judge. Writers in that genre are invited to send in their first page as part of the competition. Winners get a fabulous critique from your agent judge. It’s free to enter. Sound good? Then let’s get to some details and rules!

(There are two other contests happening right now in January 2025 -- one for writers of young adult fiction and one for writers of romance /women's / historical.)

ABOUT THE AGENT:

Lee O’Brien (he/they) is an associate agent at Looking Glass Literary.
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Lee started his career at Irene Goodman Literary Agency in 2019, where he first worked as an assistant to Victoria Marini and later began building his own list as a junior agent, after completing his MA in English literature at UC Davis and moving back to New York full time in 2020.
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When not working as an agent, Lee writes YA fantasy about trans kids, magic, and monsters of all kinds as Lee Paige O’Brien.

​LEE IS SEEKING:

ABOUT THE AGENT:

Thais Afonso (she/her) is an Associate Agent with Azantian Literary Agency. Thais has eight years of experience in publishing between Brazil, China, and the United States. More recently, she interned at Writers House, where she honed her skills while supporting the desks of Amy Berkower and Johanna Castillo, and she was mentored by Jennifer Azantian before stepping up to the Associate Agent role at ALA. She intends to represent marginalized authors, and she’s especially seeking to uplift BIPOC born and raised in the Global South.
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An Afro-Brazlian lesbian, Thais currently lives and works out of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. She helps care for her grandmother when she’s not editing books and she’s one of those terrible people who calls the gym her hobby (even though she currently doesn’t go).

THAIS IS SEEKING:

ABOUT THE AGENT: 

Roma Panganiban (she/her) is a literary assistant with Janklow & Nesbit Associates.

Roma graduated from Allegheny College with a degree in English and Psychology before taking on graduate studies in Modern and Contemporary Literature & Culture at the University of York (UK), a writing internship in Nicaragua, academic tutoring in the suburbs of New Jersey, and office management for a theatrical costume studio in Manhattan. She began her publishing career at The Gernert Company before joining Janklow & Nesbit in 2019, where she now assists Chris Clemans and Chad Luibl and works with writers across the adult and children’s markets. 

Roma is a member of the American Association of Literary Agents (AALA) and an ambivalent Twitter user (@romapancake). She lives in Brooklyn.

ROMA IS SEEKING:

​Roma’s taste leans literary, but she is open to a broad range of fiction, including novels and collections that embrace genre elements—speculative, historical, mystery, sci-fi, fantasy—as well as those that defy categorization altogether.

ABOUT THE AGENT:
Carey Blankenship-Kramer is a literary agent with Belcastro Agency.

After growing up surrounded by books and people who loved to read them, Carey dreamed of bringing more books to the hands of avid readers like herself. She graduated from Berry College with a dual degree in English and Creative Writing. She later received her master’s in Writing and Digital Communications from Agnes Scott College. She has experience working with both publishing houses and literary agencies and loves her role as Junior Agent at Belcastro Agency. As an editorial agent, she loves working closely with her authors to ensure their stories come to life on the page.

Outside of work and writing, you can usually find Carey spending time with her small zoo and husband, getting way too competitive on the tennis court, gardening, playing video games, or eating candy.

CAREY IS SEEKING:

While her sweet spots are horror and middle grade, Carey’s tastes are wide and varied. From mystery to fantasy to science fiction, she loves anything that can draw her in and have her rooting for the main characters.