Manuscript Wish List

Please note that I cannot accept unagented queries.

As a senior editor at Disney-Hyperion, I primarily acquire novels for young adults and middle graders (8+), along with the occasional graphic novel.

As a company Disney is very franchise-minded, and that quality is shared by every book on our list. Thus, I’m always looking for big bets with high-concept commercial hooks, expert plotting and pacing, and the potential to become lead titles that spin off into other forms of media.

My personal taste leans toward upmarket prose paired with a strong sales hook that can be summed up in an intriguing line or two. And as an outspoken advocate for greater diversity, equity, and inclusion in media, I am particularly keen to invest in the work of writers and illustrators who have historically been excluded in American media.

In all formats and for all age groups, I am particularly drawn toward:

Original, unforgettable characters with the potential to become beloved household names
Books that slide adeptly between humor and poignancy—if a book can make me laugh on one page and cry on the next, it wins my whole heart
Expansive, unique, and cinematic worlds—whether fantastical or a segment of the real world that’s underrepresented in fiction and/or feels fresh through the creator’s eyes
Nuanced stories about rebellion against unjust systems, building solidarity and mutual support, questioning or challenging power, and imagining a world better than our own
Authentic, own-voices representations of characters with marginalized and intersectional identities in stories of adventure, romance, friendship, joy, and personal growth. Especially but not exclusively:
- Protagonists with disabilities and/or neurodivergences
- Queer/LGBTQ+ protagonists—especially the less-represented members of the acronym, like trans, non-binary, asexual, aromantic, intersex, queer, and bisexual characters
- All BIPOC protagonists, but especially Black American and Indigenous (from all over the world)
- Unique family structures—found/friend families, guardians other than parents, multigenerational households, and loving/supportive separated families

My interests in middle grade include:

Contemporary stories that approach marginalized experiences, solidarity, and social change through the lens of everyday middle school experiences:
- Think: Front Desk, From the Desk of Zoe Washington, Not Quite a Ghost, You Are Here, What Happened to Rachel Riley?
Kid-friendly humor with substance, particularly subversive/dark humor and humor used as a tool for navigating trauma or affecting change
- Think: Simon Sort of Says, Dog Man
Beautifully written, timely stories that contextualize the present within the past, or ripped-from-the-headlines fiction exploring extraordinary real events
- Think: The Night Diary, Refugee, Simon Sort of Says
Stories about (non-anthropomorphic, non-talking) animals, human-animal bonds, nature, and survival
- Think: A Wolf Called Wander, My Side of the Mountain, Into the Land of the Unicorns
Original, voicey fantasy and contemporary fantasy, especially set in or inspired by non-European settings and mythologies
- Think: The Last Mapmaker, Nevermoor, Aru Shah and the End of Time, When You Trap a Tiger
Scary contemporary stories—especially genuinely spine-tingling
- Think: Small Spaces, Doll Bones, Not Quite a Ghost
Voicey, upmarket middle grade that feels like a classic the moment it's released
- Think: Where the Mountain Meets the Moon,
  Rooftoppers, The Swifts, Impossible Creatures, Princess Academy

My interests in young adult include:

Thrillers and supernatural/speculative fiction that radically represents and explores queer, female, and BIPOC rage, revenge, and reclamation of power
- Think: Elatsoe, Iron Widow, Sadie, Nimona, Here Lies a Vengeful Bitch, a YA Manhunt
High-concept fantasy and romantasy, especially that which uses the conventions of its genre to critique, subvert, or illuminate a truth about our world
- Think: Raybearer, Graceling, Dread Nation, The Witch King, a YA Babel
Cozy fantasy with a romantic subplot and mild stakes made riveting by utterly lovable characters and worlds we want to crawl into
- Think: So This Is Ever After, Howl’s Moving Castle, a YA Legends & Lattes (in an original fantasy world), a YA House in the Cerulean Sea
Comedy paired with a sticky concept that can be summed up in a single sentence
- Think: The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue, Me & Earl & The Dying Girl, Dire Days of Willowweep Manor
Fantasy and contemporary fantasy set in non-European-inspired settings
- Think: These Violent Delights, Raybearer, Iron Widow
Epic romance embedded within a larger story
- Think: Raybearer, the King of Scars duology, All My Rage
Upmarket contemporary romance with substance, centering characters of traditionally marginalized identities
- Think: All My Rage, Furia, Felix Ever After

I am not the right editor (or Disney-Hyperion
is not the right house) for:

Nonfiction
Picture books (the rare exceptions on my list tend to be IP)
Chapter books (early reader graphic novels are okay)
Novels in verse
Adaptations or reimaginings (unless the take is extremely novel and the inspiration is non-Disney)
Stories in which the resolution rests in policing, arrest, or imprisonment (whether serious or comedic)
Gratuitous or extended scenes of sexual violence, abuse, or hate-based violence
Currently Disney-Hyperion is not looking for science-fiction or horror

Recent acquisitions include:

Rachel Stark at Disney Hyperion has signed a three-book, mid-six-figure deal with Erin Bow, Newbery Honor-winning author of Simon Sort of Says. Book one launches a new series aimed at fans of The One and Only Ivan, The Tale of Despereaux, and Studo Ghibli; it follows two squabbling witch's familiars—a cat named Butter and a raven named Owl—who strike out on a quest to find their missing witch, only to encounter a world of Odyssey-flavored obstacles. The books will feature interior illustrations and publication will start in fall 2026; Jane Putch at eyebait management sold world rights excluding Canada and the British Commonwealth.