I loved this novel.

This book is actually a horror memoir

Text that reads “What I’m looking for (across YA and adult literary/upmarket fiction) - subversive, daring, irreverent and ambitious genre bending fiction - voice! Voice! Voice! - novels that tackle the in betweenness - dark, weird, unsettling speculative fiction - fresh, surprising, layered Keywords: destiny, fate, immigrant, diaspora, belonging, love/loss, resistance, ghosts, complex family dynamics, growth, friendship, bighearted, reckoning, colonialism

Adult MSWL in the vein of Natural Beauty, Crossings, Goodbye Vitamin, Migrations, Everything I Never Told You, Edge Case, Exit West, How High We Go in the Dark, The Invisible Life of Addie Larue

Young adult MSWL in the vein of If You Could See the Sun, The Golden Compass, Caraval, Inkheart, Firekeeper’s Daughter, All My Rage, And The River Drags Her Down, Anatomy, The Female of the Species

Romance MSWL in the vein of How to End a Love Story, The Flatshare, Well Met, How to Kill a Guy in Ten Dates, A Deal with the Bossy Devil, Better than the Movies, Love & Gelato, Anna and the French Kiss

(2/2) #mswl #literaryagent #amquerying #amwriting

Picture of an Asian woman looking down with the text MSWL behind her

And here’s a designed MSWL to help better visualize what I’m looking for! Follow me on Instagram @marintakikawa for more updates! 🌟💜💖 (1/2)

I look forward to reading your manuscripts!!! 🌟🌟🌟🌟

manuscriptwishlist.com/mswl-post/ma...

In adult fiction, I'm looking for sweeping and ambitious novels that are emotionally resonant and layered. I love seeing the effects of a singular event rippled across time and family (or any relationship) dynamics (3/4)

In YA, I love novels with some kind of mystery threaded within, bonus if it's with a speculative twist! I'm on the lookout for anything irresistible, transporting, and propulsive! (2/4)

a cartoon of snoopy reading a book while woodstock looks on ALT: a cartoon of snoopy reading a book while woodstock looks on

I'm late for #MSWL day but better late than never? 👀 I represent YA and adult across literary, upmarket, and speculative spaces, and am hungry to find my next obsession that I just can't put down! (1/4)

Poster of an Asian woman smiling, with text marketing an event about "comparison titles" on Sat, 5/31/25 at 10am CDT.

I'll be talking about comp titles with Writers' League Texas this Saturday--hope to see you there!

writersleague.org/calendar/202...

Bookshop: Buy books online. Support local bookstores. An online bookstore that financially supports local independent bookstores and gives back to the book community.

PLEASE don’t buy into Amazon’s booksale this week.

They are intentionally trying to eat into profits from Indie Bookstore Day this weekend, a really important annual event for our important community institutions.

Check out your local fave or bookshop.org.

me to the united states: this could be us but you playin’

Colorful flyer for AWP panel entitled, "I'll Tell You What I Want, What I Really, Really Want: Agents Explain MSWLs" with headshots of five panelists: Natalie Edwards, Roma Panganiban, Michaela Whatnall, Marin Takikawa, Mina Hamedi; Location: Concourse Hall 152, Level One, Los Angeles Convention Center

If you, like me and everyone else I know, haven't planned out your #AWP schedule yet, can I interest you in this Saturday morning panel where five agents yap about what a #MSWL is and why it matters? @minahamedi.bsky.social @nedlovesbooks.bsky.social @marintakikawa.bsky.social @mwhatnall.bsky.social

A poster for the economic blackout on February 28. It is a big red Jack rabbit on an aqua blue back ground. It says economic blackout in hand done black type. There are two black speech bubbles. One says “don’t buy stuff Friday February 28th. The other says we have power. Below it says No Amazon, Walmart, target, gas food, gas. Below that it says OK small business, use cash. Designed by Martha Rich.

I made this the other night while procrastinating, mainly because I thought all the posts about the blackout were boring. It feels like there is momentum bringing people together!

I see so many posts that are like “wouldn’t it be cool if we had a space for —“ or “someone should really set up—“ and then proceed to describe the role of a public library.

Reach out to your library with these suggestions.

Hi! So I just finished going through all my queries sent via email (although I still have a few requests I need to get back to) so if you haven't heard from me, that unfortunately means I've decided to step aside. Thank you for querying me though!

Only to memoirs written by BIPOC!

Happy #MSWL day!

some specific shoutouts:
- voice! voice! voice! anything voice-driven with some kind of social lens (YA/adult)
- a literary love story a la PAST LIVES (A24) and FIRST LOVE (Netflix)

my general wishlist remains the same so please do check it out!

kendrick 🙌🏼🙌🏼

The NEA has released their updated literature grant guidelines. They are appalling. Tupelo Press will not be altering our 25-year mission to promote contemporary poetry and literary prose by emerging and established writers of diverse ethnic and cultural backgrounds, including, especially, women and writers of color, as well as the LGBTQ+, immigrant, and Native American communities. We aim to develop wider audiences for, and deeper understanding of, innovative, multi-cultural writing by essential participants in this conversation. At the same time, we undertake to enhance the reading experience itself by publishing and distributing gorgeously designed and produced books. If adherence to our principles means that we will be ineligible for NEA grants going forward, so be it. Compliance with the new regulations would be immoral.

This is how you do it. Thank you, @tupelopress.bsky.social!!!

The #Resistance Lives. It Just Looks Different This Time. Defying mainstream media narratives about the exhausted opposition, protests are picking up in D.C. and across the country, led by protesters who never hung up their placards to begin with.

A quick hit from me after the protests over the last week, despite all the claims that people were too exhausted to protest and were sitting Trump II out. It's true, much of the Trump "resistance" appeared to have gone home when Biden was elected. But plenty of people never left the fight:

Why Simon & Schuster’s Flagship Imprint Won’t Require Blurbs Anymore In a decision some might call “stunning” or a “tour-de-force,” new S&S publisher Sean Manning has decided to no longer require authors to obtain blurbs for their books. Here’s why.

i will cry (in a good way) if this actually ripples throughout the industry!

New York Mag Union

So 97% of @NYMagUnion members--including me!-- just signed a pledge to walk out of work if we don’t get a fair contract from @VoxMedia. If you love @NYMag, sign our solidarity pledge to support us in the event of a walkout:
nymagunion.org/reader-pledge

Feel like my new thing will be to collect all these acts of resistance from ordinary people and send them to my Dem reps with the note, “More like this please.”

Hello Writing Community! We are delighted to announce our First Official Bluesky *** #MSWL Day *** February 12, 2025. 🎉🎉🎉

Agents + editors can post what they ✨wish✨ they had in their inboxes; writers can find their next best fit for querying.

Learn more here: manuscriptwishlist.com/the-next-off...

We’d especially appreciate bulk donations *already in the LA area* — the ones you left in storage since 2022, that warehouse you’ve been meaning to deal with, that kinda thing. We have mask orders being mailed, but we need masks on faces NOW, faster than next week delivery

Starting January 15, 2025, I will no longer be accepting email queries. Please send your queries via my Query Manager form. Any query sent via email before January 15 will still be considered. (2/2)

I'm finally making the switch to Query Manager! I've hated not being able to respond due to the sheer volume... so my hope is that by switching, I'll be able to be more responsive to people with all of QM's great features! (1/2)

Reading makes you live longer.

this is such a great list, thank you! you've sold me!