TODAY: literary agent Kayla Lightner
Today I’m talking to Kayla Lightner, an agent at Ayesha Pande Literary, about representing both fiction and nonfiction.
Her clients include Annabelle Tometich, Mary Kay McBrayer, Minda Honey, and Mikala Jamison. An adventurous reader who values fearless curiosity, Kayla is primarily looking for adult nonfiction that can masterfully straddle the line between storytelling and teaching readers something new (about the world or themselves) in the form of memoir, journalism/reportage, hidden histories, and prescriptive. More selectively, she’s looking for smart, propulsive literary and upmarket fiction with a speculative or historical lens and graphic novels for all ages. After managing APL’s subrights department for two years, she’s particularly excited by projects with legs in multiple formats (film, television, translation, etc). You can find her complete manuscript wishlist here.
Join me today at 1pm EST, when I’ll be asking Kayla:
What she loves about speculative fiction and how she sees genre elements showing up in literary fiction, especially at a time when readers are looking to escape
What nonfiction editors are currently looking to acquire
Where she looks for new clients on the internet (including on Substack)
How she works with clients to develop book proposals and what advice she has for writers currently writing a book proposal
What makes a memoir submission stand out in her inbox
I will interview Kayla for about 30 minutes and then open it up to your questions!
If you can’t attend live, there will be a recording available to watch for 7 days.
As a reminder, this is a private, off-the-record conversation, exclusively available to my diamond medallion members. You may not post quotes from the conversation anywhere on the internet, or create content out of my events. Keeping the Chat Room series private allows both me and my guests to speak candidly.