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:

Lauren Albury is an Associate Agent with Holloway Literary.

​After graduating Magna Cum Laude with a bachelor’s in English from The College at Southeastern, Lauren interned with FinePrint Literary Agency in New York City. Prior to becoming a literary agent, Lauren was with Holloway Literary for two years as an intern and literary assistant.

"I enjoy all kinds of literary and upmarket fiction. Show me how beautiful and lyrical the English language can be. Give me compelling characters with unexpected story arcs. Immerse me in another culture so I feel like I grew up there. Make me laugh with sharp wit and cry at poignant subtleties. Teach me something new about the human experience and what it means to be alive. I love when art parallels life, so I’m a sucker for gritty, raw, and realistic writing with an achingly bittersweet/unhappy ending. My favorite kinds of stories happen when romance exists as a compliment to a killer plot."

LAUREN IS SEEKING:

ABOUT THE AGENT:

Lucy Cleland is a Principal Literary Agent with Calligraph, representing idea-driven and narrative nonfiction of all stripes, upmarket fiction, and select children’s projects. Her clients have been Pulitzer finalists, winners of the NBCC Award and PEN America Awards, recipients of MacArthur “Genius” grants, and elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences; their books have been featured in the New Yorker’s Briefly Noted, New York Times Editors’ Choice, and best books of the year lists, as well as ranked as USA Today Bestsellers and selected for Book of the Month Club.
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A southern transplant to Boston from Atlanta, Lucy graduated from Wellesley College and cut her teeth as an agent working closely with Jill Kneerim at Kneerim & Williams. She lives with her wife and a lot of books in Jamaica Plain.

LUCY IS SEEKING:

WINNERS ANNOUNCED: Olivia S, Linda W-T, and Sheena H

***DEADLINE EXTENDED TO FEB. 11, 2025!

​FREE CONTEST FOR WRITERS!

Welcome to the 2025 First Pages Contest. Contest #2 of this year is for writers of Adult Romance, Adult Historical Fiction, and Adult Women's Fiction. If you write in any of these genres (or a combo!), keep reading and submit your work! This free contest ends on Feb. 11, 2025 [UPDATED, EXTENDED DEADLINE]. Winners will be announced the week of March 3. We will reach out to the winners by email and post their names here.

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 additional contests happening now in January 2025 -- one for writers of young adult fiction, and one for writers of adult science fiction & fantasy. 

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:

Sobi-Dee Burbano is an Assistant Literary Agent at The LCS Literary Agency. She earned her Associate’s Degree in Arts, but her true passion has always been reading. She discovered a love for books as a child and that has carried on through adulthood. When she is not caring for her young children, as a mother of two, her Kindle is her best friend.

She loves reading romance of all genres including fantasy and paranormal. Sobi is excited to work with aspiring authors and is now actively building her list. She is looking for unputdownable stories with bold, courageous characters who take you down an emotional journey of perseverance. She enjoys getting lost in a great drama-filled fantasy and also hopes to escape into a romance that makes her fall in love with love again.

SOBI-DEE IS SEEKING...