Esty Loveing-Downes

Esty Loveing-Downes holds a BFA in creative writing from Ringling College of Art + Design and an MFA in fiction from Queens University of Charlotte. Aside from serving as a daily editor for the Southern Review of Books, she was first mentored by the teams at Jean V. Naggar Literary Agency, Inc. and Tobias Literary Agency before joining the ArtHouse Literary Agency team as an intern and becoming an Associate Literary Agent. Esty represents book club or upmarket fiction, romance, genre-blending SFF, children’s picture books, MG, and YA, literary fiction, and select nonfiction. She’s seeking manuscripts which center the adoptee experience, LGBTQIA+ narratives, anti-colonialist and anti-Church topics, and stories by and/or about BIPOC people. She favors stories which either celebrate with noisy joy, or burn everything down and salt the earth. Before working in publishing, Esty worked as a pediatric LPN. At home, she has five children, three dogs, one husband, and a partridge in a pear tree. Storyteller • Bookwork • Tenacious Believer in beautiful, disruptive stories and the artists who tell them. Esty is looking for book club or upmarket fiction, romance, genre-blending SFF, children’s picture books and MG, YA, literary fiction, and select nonfiction. She’s seeking manuscripts which center the adoptee experience, LGBTQIA+ narratives, anti-colonialist and anti-Church topics, and stories by and/or about BIPOC authors. She favors stories which either celebrate with noisy joy, or burn everything down and salt the earth. MSWL: In book club/upmarket, Esty is looking for titles with women in STEM like LESSONS IN CHEMISTRY, updated classics like Ann Napolitano’s Little Women retelling, HELLO, BEAUTIFUL, and wlw knockouts with queer representation like THE SEVEN HUSBANDS OF EVELYN HUGO. In sci-fi, fantasy, or speculative fiction send work like THE NIGHT CIRCUS, magical realism like Carmen Maria Machado’s HER BODY AND OTHER PARTIES, or nonlinear, poetic work like THIS IS HOW YOU LOSE THE TIME WAR. She’d also love to see cozy genre-blenders like LEGENDS & LATTES, romantasy with strong leads like A COURT OF THORNS AND ROSES and CHILDREN OF BLOOD AND BONE, fae stories with romance tropes like THE CRUEL PRINCE or EMILY WILDE’S ENCYCLOPEDIA OF FAIRIES, character-driven journeys like THE INVISIBLE LIFE OF ADDIE LARUE, or the fairy tale vibes of SPINNING SILVER. In romance and YA, Esty is looking for tropes like enemies-to-lovers, fake dating, and grumpy-sunshine like THE FLATSHARE or BEACH READ, or marriage-of-convenience stories like THE UNHONEYMOONERS. She’d love to see a fresh take on PRIDE & PREJUDICE, EMMA, or ANNE OF GREEN GABLES. If you’ve got contemporary stories with dual POVs and impossible love like THE SUN IS ALSO A STAR, or classic retellings like THESE VIOLENT DELIGHTS that include high stakes, plot tension, and compelling soulmate vibes, send those her way, too. Or accessible page-turners like THE LOVE HYPOTHESIS or ACT YOUR AGE, EVE BROWN, especially if they spotlight BIPOC main characters. In middle grade, send lush prose like THE MIRACULOUS JOURNEY OF EDWARD TULANE, underrepresented main character stories like OUT OF MY MIND by Sharon M. Draper, or the friend group vibes and captivating plot of HOLES. In picture books, send heartwarming titles with a BIPOC focus like EYES THAT KISS IN THE CORNERS and creative, imagination-friendly projects like DRAGONS LOVE TACOS. Authors or author-illustrators only, please. In literary fiction, send artful realism like THE RABBIT HUTCH, A THOUSAND SPLENDID SUNS, or LUSTER, the heart wrenching yearning of NORMAL PEOPLE or ARCADIA, characters challenging society like OUR MISSING HEARTS, A CHILDREN’S BIBLE, OUTLAWED, or EXIT WEST, or books like THE INCENDIARIES, ALL MY PUNY SORROWS, and SEVERANCE that examine marginalized characters, injustice, or religion. Characters examining systems of oppression through twisty plots in books like THE NICKEL BOYS, SALVAGE THE BONES, and INTERIOR CHINATOWN are welcome, and mythological retellings like Madeline Miller’s CIRCE, especially those set outside of Europe. This is a home for fresh retellings, fairy tales, and artful, rebellious prose. For a better look at the kind of titles Esty gravitates towards, scroll her Pinterest board: https://www.pinterest.com/estywrites/titles-i-wish-were-mine/ Anti-MSWL: Dead dogs, WWII material, horror, thrillers, erotica, police/military/legal procedurals, mysteries, anything ageist/ableist/racist/misogynistic, Christian fiction, or anything where queer people die in the end.