New Literary Agent Spotlight: Aashna Avachat of Neighborhood Literary

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ABOUT THE AGENT:

​Aashna Avachat joined Neighborhood Literary as an agent after five years of experience at literary agencies.

She is an author of YA books and has interned and assisted at various agencies. Previously, she was an assistant at Andrea Brown Literary Agency for over three years.

She is currently building a list focused on authors of color and is looking for kidlit, commercial adult fiction, select non-fiction, and illustrators.

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AASHNA IS SEEKING:

Picture Books:

• Laugh out-loud funny books with clever illustration potential (think: Meet the Dullards, The Paper Bag Princess)
• Family, culture, SEL, nature/environment themes
• NOT currently looking for food-based books or rhyming books!
• NOT currently looking for PB non-fiction or biographies. Fiction only, please!

Illustrators:

• Artists interested in picture books, chapter books, or covers, whether children’s books or adult

Graphic Novel:

• Author-illustrated graphic novels for children, teens, or adults
• I am open to GNs in the genres listed below
• Also open to GN memoirs and historical GN

Middle Grade:

• Primarily contemporary MG with a strong hook
• MG featuring queer characters, characters with disabilities
• Spooky MG
• Some MG favorites: Almost Flying, Clues to the Universe, From the Desk of Zoe Washington
• NOT looking for anthropomorphic books

Young Adult:

• Romantic comedies where both leads are POC
• Mysteries/thrillers
• Contemporary spy/heist novels in the vein of I’d Tell You I Love You, But Then I’d Have to Kill You or a YA Portrait of a Thief
• Palace intrigue: NON-magical, NON-dystopian, royalty-based stories in the vein of The False Prince or Liar’s Kingdom (but without faeries!)
• Mythology/fantasy retellings with twists, and so long as the fantasy elements are very light (think YA Kaikeyi or YA Song of Achilles)
• Plot-driven horror
• Modern retellings of classics
• Pre-modern historical novels in the vein of June Hur
• Speculative fiction with very light sci-fi/fantasy elements (think These Violent Delights)
• cross-over into New Adult under the same genres
• Dark academia with political critique of academia
• Cozy fantasy (light fantasy)
• Witches in a light fantasy setting

Adult:

• Romantic comedies where both leads are POC
• Mysteries (not looking for police/organized crime focused mysteries)
• Epic mysteries in the vein of God of the Woods; All the Colors of the Dark
• Domestic thrillers in the vein of Stacy Willingham, Lisa Jewell, Emiko Jean
• Funny contemporary in the vein of Anxious People and The Wedding People
• Literary-ish books like Everything I Never Told You, Such a Fun Age, Tomorrow & Tomorrow & Tomorrow
• Plot-forward horror
• Cozy fantasy (A Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches)
• Mythology/fantasy retellings with twists, and so long as the fantasy elements are very light (think Kaikeyi or Song of Achilles)

Non-Fiction:

• Pop culture criticism
• Gender/feminist criticism & journalism (The Right to Sex, Girls & Sex, How to Date Men When You Hate Men)
• Accessible pop science (Everything is Tuberculosis)
• A deep dive into a niche area through narrative journalism style
• Unique cookbooks
• Some of my non-fiction favorites: Nabokov’s Favorite Word is Mauve; The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks; Perfect Victims; Just Mercy

Ultra-specific MSWL:

• The Clique but about girls of color
• OCD representation where OCD is not the only primary plot (Think: Turtles All the Way Down)
• YA wilderness camp horror/mystery
• Something like Yellowjackets 

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HOW TO QUERY: 

Aashna only accepts queries through QueryManager. 

You can see Aashna's full MSWL here. 

Please note: When we post a New Agent Spotlight, we try to make sure the agent is open to submissions at the time of posting. But as time goes by, an agent can close and open to submissions at any time. If some time has passed since this spotlight was posted, you will want to check their agency website and/or QueryManager before submitting, to be sure.

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Read More: 
Check out our New Literary Agent Spotlight to find your dream agent. ​​