Literary Agents | 2025
WriteAngles Conference 2025
Cherise Fisher
Cherise Fisher began her career in publishing more than twenty-five years ago, spending many years editing and publishing several national bestselling and award winning authors at Simon & Schuster and Plume (an imprint of Penguin Random House), where she was Editor-in-Chief.
An active member of the American Association of Literary Agents, and a very popular workshop leader for several writer’s conferences including the Grub Street Writing Center, Cherise also teaches the “Introduction to Publishing” class as a part of the Publishing Certificate Program at the City College of New York.
WHAT I’M LOOKING FOR
Cherise represents novelists who have multiple, compulsively readable, impeccably crafted yarns in their head (both historical and contemporary), memoirists who showcase the diversity of human experience, and non-fiction writers who seek to provoke, inspire, and educate regarding multiple topics such as personal development, health and sexuality, racial identity, African American history, humor and pop culture.
Her intention is that all the books she helps bring into the world are relevant, enduring, and help readers maximize their lives.
Cole Hildebrand
Cole Hildebrand began his publishing career in 2016 at YesYes Books, where he started as an intern and went on to become Managing Editor, working with manuscript acquisitions, event planning, website design and publicity for YesYes Books’ list of authors including Justin Phillip Reed, Danez Smith, and Shelley Wong, among many others. He joined JVNLA in 2021, assisting Agency President Jennifer Weltz and working with authors such as Carl Safina, Emily Ruth Verona, and Antonia Murphy while building a list in adult literary and upmarket fiction, narrative non-fiction, essays, and poetry.
He approaches agenting with a love for language and voice, and a sensitive editorial eye, and he likes to dive deep into an author’s work, offering comprehensive editorial guidance that centers the author’s unique, personal vision, ushering that vision into the world with close support through submission, publication, and beyond. Originally from Austin, TX, he got his B.A. in English at Lewis & Clark College in Portland, OR, and received an M.A. from New York University in English and American Literature.
WHAT I’M LOOKING FOR
IN FICTION: Cole represents both fiction and non-fiction for his list. For fiction, He looks for character and voice driven literary or upmarket work that offers new perspectives on contemporary issues, while telling rich, original stories. He loves a deep character study, a messy social novel, or a book incorporating grounded genre elements such as surrealism, horror, some sci-fi, and queer erotica/romance.
Emotionally charged novels are absolutely welcome, as are novels exploring subversive territories through unreliable, off-kilter, or abject narrators. Cole is also very fond of books told from multiple narrators and perspectives, and is a big fan of experimentation that draws the reader into the novel’s unique world. Of course, fiction is such an expansive form, and he’s always open to being surprised.
IN NON-FICTION: On the non-fiction side, Cole is looking for outward-focused memoirs, essay collections, history, journalism, cultural criticism, and left-wing political writing. He looks for books that engage with radical thought, anti-capitalist and anti-imperial movements, understudied queer history, art and pop culture, music criticism, environmental studies, science and technology, and mental health, among other topics. With memoirs, Cole prefers projects that move beyond immediate personal experience and look towards broader social and political concerns, blending personal narrative with cultural criticism and deep research.
Carrie Howland
Carrie Howland is a twenty-year veteran in the publishing industry. She worked for fourteen years as a literary agent at two New York City based agencies before founding her eponymous agency, Howland Literary, LLC in 2018.
Carrie holds a B.A. in English and Creative Writing from Albion College, where she was the Poetry Editor of The Albion Review. Her poetry has appeared in various literary journals and magazines.
Her passions include social justice, parenting, maternal mental health, counseling and psychology, music, pop culture, animals, health and fitness, and the Midwest. She has been featured in several publications discussing her work as an agent including Poets & Writers, SCBWI insight, Akashic Books, and Slice Magazine.
In addition to her work as an agent, Carrie is a longtime animal rescue volunteer, having fostered and found permanent homes for over one hundred fifty dogs to date. She is also a member of the Junior League and an alumna of Delta Gamma Sorority. When not spending time with her husband and son, Carrie teaches group fitness classes at Pure Barre. All of which inform what she reads and represents.
WHAT I’M LOOKING FOR
Carrie is accepting submissions for: adult literary and upmarket fiction, contemporary romance, short story collections, prescriptive nonfiction, narrative nonfiction, essay collections, and cookbooks.