Publishers Marketplace: Larissa Melo Pienkowski

Author of CHEF'S KISS TJ Alexander's SECOND CHANCES IN NEW PORT STEPHEN, in which a down-on-his-luck, early-forties trans comedian begrudgingly returns to his outlandish Floridian hometown for the first time in decades, only to run into his high school ex-boyfriend, who's inexplicably gotten hotter with time and soon throws into question where nostalgia ends and where moving on begins, to Lara Jones at Emily Bestler Books, in an exclusive submission, in a two-book deal, for publication in December 2023, by Larissa Melo Pienkowski at Jill Grinberg Literary Management (world).

Joan Reardon's debut THE GRIMSBANE FAMILY WITCH HUNTERS, about a girl's cryptid-riddled quest to save her accident-prone and extremely cursed brother from The Watcher, along the way uncovering a dark family legacy that makes her question what she believes to be true, to Anna Parsons at Aladdin, in a nice deal, for publication in summer 2024, by Larissa Melo Pienkowski at Jill Grinberg Literary Management (NA).

Sustainability and climate resilience strategist, educator, and foundation director Kylie Flanagan's CLIMATE RESILIENCE: BLUEPRINTS FOR COMMUNITY CARE, a collection of interview-style essays that centers the ancestral knowledge and ecological experience of BIPOC, queer, disabled, and fat women, youth, and gender-expansive communities, with community-centered solutions to the climate crisis that that go beyond fossil fuels and systems of extraction and exploitation, to Keith Donnell at North Atlantic Books, in a nice deal, for publication in summer 2023, by Larissa Melo Pienkowski at Jill Grinberg Literary Management (NA).

Angela Montoya's debut SINNER'S ISLE, a dual-POV Latinx fantasy romance, pitched as Pirates of the Caribbean meets SERPENT & DOVE, in which a powerful witch being held captive on a remote island will do anything to escape it before a week-long fiesta for the wealthy to consort with majestics like her, including blackmailing an infamous, charming pirate who washes up on shore, to Bria Ragin, Nicola Yoon, and David Yoon at Joy Revolution, at auction, in a two-book deal, by Larissa Melo Pienkowski at Jill Grinberg Literary Management.

Katalina Gamarra's BEN & BEATRIZ, pitched as an #OwnVoices, Latinx retelling of MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING, set in the early days of the Trump presidency, in which a queer, biracial young woman must untangle her complicated relationship with the scion of a wealthy, white dynasty; a rumination on race, colorism, passing, class, wealth, sexuality, and privilege, to Brittany Lavery at Graydon House, at auction, for publication in summer 2022, by Larissa Melo Pienkowski at Jill Grinberg Literary Management (world).

TJ Alexander's CHEF'S KISS, an #OwnVoices LGBTQ+ rom-com starring a type-A pastry chef whose professional goals are interrupted by not only a career transition, but the introduction of her wildly attractive nonbinary kitchen manager, who happens to be undergoing a transition of their own, to Lara Jones at Emily Bestler Books, in a good deal, in a pre-empt, in a two-book deal, for publication in summer 2022, by Larissa Melo Pienkowski at Jill Grinberg Literary Management (world).

Poet, Undocupoet fellow, and contributor to THE BREAKBEAT POETS VOL.4: LATINEXT anthology Aline Mello's MORE SALT THAN DIAMOND, an #OwnVoices debut poetry collection meditating on the visible and invisible fractures between the self, family, and memory as experienced by a Brazilian immigrant living in diaspora, determined to be authentically seen in a country that would either silence her or shape her into something politically palatable, to Patty Rice at Andrews McMeel, in a nice deal, for publication in spring 2022, by Larissa Melo Pienkowski at Jill Grinberg Literary Management (world).

Cave Canem fellow, poet, and essayist Remica Bingham-Risher's SOUL CULTURE: BLACK POETS, BOOKS, AND QUESTIONS THAT GREW ME UP, a part-memoir, part-cultural artifact that intertwines personal essays and interviews with distinguished Black poets, such as Lucille Clifton, Sonia Sanchez, Patricia Smith, Natasha Trethewey, and others to explore the impact of identity, joy, love, and sociohistorical context on Black poetic craft and artistic process in the latter half of the twenty-first century, to Haley Lynch at Beacon Press, in a nice deal, for publication in summer 2022, by Larissa Melo Pienkowski at Jill Grinberg Literary Management (world English).

Activist and founder of the Ella Mae Foundation Beverly Gooden's SURVIVING: WHY WE STAY AND HOW WE LEAVE ABUSIVE RELATIONSHIPS, in which the author chronicles with unflinching vulnerability the steps she took to free herself from an abusive marriage and offers survivors guidance on overcoming barriers and rebuilding oneself after leaving abusive relationships, to Suzanne Staszak-Silva at Rowman & Littlefield, in a nice deal, for publication in spring 2022, by Larissa Melo Pienkowski at Jill Grinberg Literary Management (NA).

2019 Lambda Fellow J K Chukwu's THE UNFORTUNATES, pitched in the vein of Luster, Queenie, and My Year of Rest and Relaxation, about a queer, half-Nigerian college student enraged and exhausted by the racism, tokenism, and indifference to the Black experience at her elite college, who pens a no-holds barred thesis ("to my advisors: Mr. White Supremacy, Mr. Capitalism, Ms. Racism") documenting her search for the truth about the Unfortunates, an unlucky subset of her Black classmates who keep dying at the hands of white supremacy, to Millicent Bennett at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, in a pre-empt, for publication in spring 2022, by Larissa Melo Pienkowski at Jill Grinberg Literary Management (world).

Science fiction and fantasy writer and media critic K. Tempest Bradford's RUBY VS. THE ROBO-BUG, in which an 11-year-old Black girl passionate about entomology finds an alien bug in her backyard and has to rely on her friends, the scientific method, and her instincts to help the alien get home safely, to Grace Kendall at Farrar, Straus Children's, in a very nice deal, at auction, in a two-book deal, for publication in fall 2022, by Larissa Melo Pienkowski at Jill Grinberg Literary Management (world English).