UK literary agent Kristina Pérez seeks new authors

Sing if You Can't Dance by Alexia Casale
represented by Perez Literary

Pérez Literary & Entertainment

49 Greet Street
London, W1D 4EG
UK

https://www.perezliterary.com/

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Pérez Literary & Entertainment is a full-service agency dedicated to storytelling in all of its forms. PLE is looking to nurture long-term relationships with their clients, working in both traditional and non-traditional media. Founded by Kristina Pérez, a New Yorker in London, Pérez Literary is a transatlantic agency working throughout the English-speaking world. 

Kristina has been a bookworm for as long as she can remember and has a decade of experience in publishing as both an author and an agent.

She has held positions at the National University of Singapore and the University of Hong Kong. Her academic work is rooted in feminist, queer and postcolonial theory and she remains keenly interested in those fields. Her monograph, The Myth of Morgan la Fey was published by Palgrave Macmillan, using feminist psychoanalysis to recenter the famed sorceress at the heart of the Arthurian tradition.

Kristina Pérez

Kristina has also written several novels for young adults. The Sweet Black Waves trilogy (Imprint /Macmillan) draws on Kristina’s expertise in medieval literature to retell the legend of Tristan and Isolde, while The Tesla Legacy (Tor Teen) reimagines the classic superhero origin story with a precocious female scientist at its helm. Kristina’s first novel for adults, The Many Lies of Veronica Hawkins is forthcoming from Little, Brown UK.

Being both an agent and an author allows Kristina to fully guide her clients through every step of the publishing process. She loves launching debut authors’ careers as well as working with mid-career authors looking for new challenges. She is eager to work with writers from around the globe.

Kristina is looking for:

Commercial & Book Club Fiction – “I’d love to see a manuscript that plays with form and narrative structure like Daisy Jones & the Six or The Paper Palace. Sweeping multigenerational dramas in the vein of Pachinko or books that take on timely issues such as Emily Edwards’ The Herd will catch my eye. Keenly researched historical fiction like Lynne Kutsukake’s The Translation of Love or anything by Yangsze Choo will hit the mark.”

Upmarket Fiction – “Give me The White Lotus but make it a book. Even something quirky like Avenue 5. Any kind of razor-sharp and laugh-out-loud social satire is my cup of tea. The characters don’t have to be likeable so long as they’re compelling. Books with the lyrical prose of Jane Healey’s The Ophelia Girls won’t go amiss. I also love a high concept twist like The Other Black Girl and books set in non-Western locations like Crazy Rich Asians or My Sister the Serial Killer. I’d also flip for a retelling with the incisive perspective of Pat Barker’s The Silence of the Girls.”

Crime and Thriller – “Sunday nights at my house as a kid were all about Murder, She Wrote, so if you have a clever murder mystery, cozy or darker, on your hard drive, then send it my way. I would also love to see Knives Out with a little romance thrown in. 

“On the more psychological thriller side of things, lately I’ve been inhaling Shari LePena, Gillian McAllister, Louise Candlish and Catherine Steadman. And if you have the taut characterisation of Patricia Highsmith, then please knock on my door (but not literally!).”

Crossover YA Romance and Fantasy – “Dark or light academia, I don’t mind, just give me some Bridgerton with magic. I love brooding (but not obnoxious) heroes and heroines. I would love to find a queer romance set in an alternate timeline or a well-considered secondary world. I want to escape into an epic romance, especially enemies to lovers, where the protagonists learn and grow through their relationship (even if they’re fighting like cats and dogs!). Show me interdependence, not codependence, and maybe throw in some corsets.” 

Nonfiction – “I am primarily looking for current affairs, cultural history, and popular science. If you’re an academic who can write like a journalist, I want to hear from you. Think Latinx by Ed Morales. Or this decade’s version of China Pop by Jianying Zha. I love nonfiction that tells stories and cover big topics in unusual ways such as Lara Maiklem’s Mudlarking or Deirdre Mask’s The Address Book. Oral histories like Live from New York by James Andrew Miller are high on my wish list.

“I am also always looking for feminist criticism like Susan J. Douglas’s Where the Girls Are. A biography on a lesser-known female historical figure such as Widow Clicquot by Tilar J. Mazzeo will pop my cork! Recent popular science I’ve enjoyed include: Invisible Women by Caroline Criado Perez, Inferior by Angela Saini, and Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker.

Query Kristina through her query manager here.

Full submission guidelines here.

Literary agent Stephanie Winter
is the guest speaker for our May 27
"How to Get Published" workshop 

If you’re interested in getting published and in meeting a literary agent, don’t miss our upcoming How to Get Published workshop. Details here.

Beyond that we have two writing retreats coming up:

Algonquin in June Writing Retreat at Arowhon Pines Resort, Friday, June 9 – Monday, June 12. Details here. One or two spots still open!

New: Late summer Writing Retreat in Algonquin Park at Arowhon Pines Resort. Tuesday, Sept 5 – Friday, Sept 8. Details here. 

See all current offerings of upcoming weekly classes, one-day workshops, and writing retreats here.

To reserve a spot or for more details about any course, workshop or retreat, email brianhenry@sympatico.ca

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