#aida lilly

This might sound crazy coming from a person who works with words all day, but I cannot describe how excited I am to share this news!

Welcome Katy L. Wood, our newest client! Katy is a prolific creator. She’s a writer and illustrator—and once you see what she crafts, you’ll know that she’s an amazing, evocative artist whose talents seem unlimited.

Katy’s Young Adult novel will FLOOR you! Gripping, enthralling, and addictive, it’s the definition of a page-turner. I don’t want to give too much away, but let’s just say it’s I Am Still Alive meets Hatchet with a touch of The Lovely and the Lost… at a summer camp. It stars a badass asexual camp counselor and an all-female cast, and you won’t be able to put it down. Also: it made me ugly-cry.

Here’s a bio from Katy so you can get to know her better!

Katy L. Wood is a queer author and illustrator living in Colorado with her two cats, Rumble–a fluffy gray monster, and Rebel–a tiny black void. During the day she makes replica fossils for museum display, at night she writes and draws things that generally involve forests and/or sibling drama, and on the weekends she runs off into the woods where the internet can’t get her.

  Follow Katy on social media to stay up to date on what she’s up to (and maybe even grab some sweet merch from her webstore!)

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Massive welcome to the wonderful and lovely Michaela Woelk, my newest client!

Michaela’s writing is evocative and poetic, and she creates beautiful characters that feel alive and real. I can’t wait to read more by her and share her work with the world!

Here’s a bio from Michaela so you can get to know her better!:

Michaela Woelk is a mixed-race woman born in Namibia and raised in Harare, Zimbabwe. She is a firm believer that a little bit of magic makes every story better. As a teenager, she loved writing stories and always thought she’d write a book someday–when she had the perfect job, the perfect home, and the perfect spouse. Oh, the follies of youth. After completing her undergraduate in Sociology and Environmental and Geographical Science she went on to get her MPhil in Environment, Society, and Sustainability. Back home in Harare, she decided to finally write that book she always thought she could. And then she wrote another, and another, and the rest is history. When she’s not crouched over her laptop, she can be found in the kitchen trying out a new recipe or on the couch becoming way too invested in fictional characters on the TV.

You can say hi to Michaela on Twitter, and check out her website!

  Hurrah, hooray, yahoo!!!

Excited to announce that I’ll be repping amazing comic artist Josephine Josephs!

Such cool and cute art! Such a wonderful human!

Jo has created a wonderful and joyful graphic novel about two trans kids that love to skate—ALSO: one of them is the most adorable vampire you’ll ever meet!

  Here’s a bio from Jo so you can get to know them better!:

Josephine is a southside Chicago-based, born and raised, comic artist. They eat art for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, respectively. They enjoy speculative fiction, especially fantasy and sci-fi related stories. Anything with sparkles and magic with realism tied in just catches their eye. They also can’t resist cute and wholesome stories, tending to draw in that direction. When they are not doodling, they bide their time by playing too much DnD, and staring at their yarn pile longingly.

You can say hi to Jo on Twitter, and check out their website!

Today, we talk about 2020. Yes, we voluntarily went back there! Though much was lost this year, and many things felt by turns unfamiliar and maddeningly repetitive, we had a good year. With 3 new members on our team, many new books released, and new contracts signed! Together we clung to the successes and joy.

  Kate Testerman, Sara Megibow, Kelly Van Sant, Jas Perry, Aida Lilly, and Renee Nyen talk about 2020 and look ahead to what 2021 has in store for kt literary. Find us on almost all your favorite podcast platforms including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Stitchr, PodBean and more.

    Here are some of our favorite reads of 2020!

  Kate loved: Enjoy the View by Sarah Morganthaler

Stamped by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi

  Sara loved: The Mermaid, the Witch, and the Sea by Maggie Tokuda-Hall

Rent a Boyfriend by Gloria Chao

Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse

  Aida loved: Consider This by Chuck Palahniuk

The Invisible Life of Addie Larue by V.E. Schwab

  Kelly loved: The Unravelling of Cassidy Holmes by Elissa R. Sloan

A Song of Wraiths and Ruin by Rosanne A. Brown

Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse

  Jas loved: Twins by Varian Johnson, illustrated by Shannon Wright

Long Way Down: The Graphic Novel by Jason Reynolds written by Danica Novgorodoff

  Renee loved: Maureen Johnson’s Truly Devious series

You Should See Me in a Crown by Leah Johnson

  You can find us at ktliterary.com and on Twitter and Instagram.

Welcome Ethan Alexander, our newest client!

THE NEW UNION is one of those rare YAs that is both beautifully written and wickedly smart… and has a slow-burn romance that you can’t help but root for!

Ethan and I found each other through #SFFpit (making him my second client I’ve signed because of SFFpit).

I was immediately intrigued by his story of a domed society that  restricts and denies history–not to mention the writing itself. To quote Ethan, “Vance Battle is a fifteen-year-old Afro-Cuban kid—only he doesn’t know that he is.” What follows is a journey of navigating identity, a blossoming best friendship (and more), and a dangerous discovery that proves The New Union is not at all the utopia it purports to be.

THE NEW UNION is a well-crafted tale by a thoughtful and talented writer, and I cannot wait to see what Ethan writes next!

Here’s a bio from Ethan so you can get to know him better:

Ethan Alexander is a Black American author born in Houston, Texas, and raised in the forgotten streets of Delaware. He received his Liberal Arts degree at Wilmington University with a focus on literature (his favorites being African American Literature and Graphic Novel Writing). His love of stories came from his imaginative childhood where he’d read tales of unsuspecting heroes facing insurmountable odds that came out the other end forever changed. He went on to become a visual merchandiser, a scriptwriter for commercials, and a freelance writer, but his passion always remained on bringing stories about the Black experience and LGBTQAI+ representation to life in fantastical worlds. He currently lives in Houston, and when he’s not glued to his keyboard or reading, he’s probably binging an addictive TV show or making needlessly heartfelt music on his acoustic guitar.

You can also check out his website and Twitter to stay up-to-date.

Please help us celebrate with Kobby Ben Ben on the sale of his debut novel to Europa Editions!

From Publishers Marketplace: Fiction: Debut Kobby Ben Ben’s NO ONE DIES YET, set in Accra in 2019, the “Year of Return” that memorialized the many who died during the slave trade in Ghana, following three African-American friends as they join in the festivities to explore Ghana’s colonial past as black diasporas around the world make a pilgrimage to West Africa and its underground queer scene; soon, these friends are thrust into the hands of two guides who they have no choice but to trust and what unfolds is an unsettling tale of murder in a country whose dead slaves are shackled with stories that must be heard, to Christopher Potter at Europa Editions, with Eva Ferri editing, in a nice deal, for publication in spring/summer 2022, by Aida Lilly at kt literary (world English).

Kobby was the second client I signed, and he is such a fun person to work with! He is a voracious and discerning reader, and his writing is poetic and stunning. I’m so excited to share this amazing and special book with the world, and I cannot wait to read what he writes next!

Learn more about Kobby Ben Ben and what he’s reading on Instagram.

You can say hi and congratulations on Twitter.

Welcome L. Jo King, our newest client!

It isn’t often that I read a book that keeps me smiling nonstop—THE ADVENTURES OF RED ELECTRON did that and had me laughing out loud!

I love Supers. So when I saw Jo’s #SFFpit tweet, I HAD to read the manuscript! Here’s that fateful tweet:

College student Arin Adams accidentally zooms to the top of the world of professional heroism. The only thing stopping her from being #1 is her hero-hating girlfriend…and the fact that her ‘super’power is completely useless. Oops.

On our first Zoom call, Jo and I nerded out over Raimi’s Spider-Man vs. the MCU, all the different iterations of Batman, and comics as source material, and I quickly learned something I had already guessed: Jo, like all my clients, is way cooler than me.

Here’s a bio from Jo (who was also a #RevPit 2020 winner) so you can get to know them better!

Jo decided they wanted to be an author after receiving a Creative Writing Award in 4th grade for an essay on flower pressing. Starting out writing what would more closely be defined as Legend of Zelda fanfiction than original works, Jo became obsessed with creating unique and vivid worlds in SFF. They received a Bachelor of Science in Film and Video Production from Drexel University in 2015, but after 4 years in L.A. working in the television industry, Jo and their two cats moved to Maryland to focus on writing. When not tormenting characters, Jo can be found hugging puppies as a Veterinary Technician and making terrible puns on Twitter.

Welcome James E. Graham, our newest client!

Jamie is my third client, and his manuscript charmed me for so many reasons. I felt like he reached into my head to craft this story just for me—and now we’re at work to be able to share it with everyone else! I’ve been saying I needed something to fill the Magicians-shaped hole in my life. POOF! Enter Jamie with a manuscript that drew me in and didn’t let go.

Jamie is a dedicated writer, and you can see his love of fantasy and NYC scrawled across the pages of SORCERY INC. It’s an urban fantasy about a normal guy who is recruited to work for a magical company… and I mean literally Magical–as in spells, potions, and even a dragon or four.

Here’s a bio from Jamie so you can get to know him better!

Jamie is a born-and-bred Brooklynite who worked in finance and startup, only to then realize (not unlike his main character, albeit years later) he had followed the wrong path for the wrong reasons.  Reorganizing his life to focus on writing, he transitioned to a series of consulting gigs to pay the rent and moved to the Hudson Valley, where he and his Australian Shepherd, Barlow, continue to reside today.  While he would be a first-time author, he was trained as an English major at Princeton University, where he studied under Russell Banks, Joyce Carol Oates, and Stuart Dybek.

Follow Jamie on Twitter @JamesEGraham