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Paige Terlip represents all categories of children’s books from picture books to young adult, as well as select adult fiction, including thrillers/psychological suspense, fantasy/sci-fi, horror, upmarket fiction, romance, and mysteries. Regardless of genre, she is seeking inclusive, intersectional voices and gorgeous line-level writing with emotionally compelling narratives.


Some of Paige’s specific wish list items include:


Middle Grade:

  • A snarky girl detective

  • Kids who love (or are learning to love) nature 

  • Anything queer, especially stories that don't center trauma or coming out

  • Magic in our world


Young Adult:

  • Gothic & brooding

  • Teens questioning organized religion (especially Queers questioning Catholicism)

  • Boarding school settings

  • Cults

  • Unexpected betrayal and twists that serve the plot not just shock factor

  • The Occult

  • Twins & dopplegängers


Adult:

  • Horror that dismantles the gender binary (and societal norms)

  • Stories that examine contemporary issues using horror/speculative elements as the vehicle (think Jordan Peele or Stephen Graham Jones)

  • Sentient forests or natural settings with a sinister undertone (a la Annihilation)

  • Cozy mysteries that center BIPOC and/or queer characters

  • Queer and/or BIPOC romance (with conflict that CAN'T be solved with one conversation)

  • Romantic fantasy

  • Exploring a magical matrilineal inheritance through a trans POV

  • Real burgeoning science taken to the next level


Please note: Paige is closed to picture book queries except for referrals or conference attendees. 


For additional wish list details please visit: paigeterlip.com.


Paige has worked at ABLA since 2017. She comes to agenting with a background in marketing, design, and freelance editorial. She’s worked at Charlesbridge Publishing, The National Renewable Energy Laboratory, and a ranch in the Rockies. She has an MA in Children's Literature and an MFA in Writing for Children from Simmons University. If she’s not reading, you'll find her practicing Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, re-watching the Great British Baking Show, or hiking with her Husky-Shepherd mix.

RECENT DEALS
Sarah Mughal Rana's LETTERS FOR MY BROWN SELF, a YA novel in prose and verse pitched as THE HATE U GIVE meets THE POET X, exploring Islamophobia post-9/11; when a Muslim spoken word artist's letters about a politician go viral, she must decide whether to stay silent or use her voice, to Wednesday Books, for publication in Winter 2024.

Rosalyn Ransaw's SMOKE & MIRRORS, pitched as FROM THE DESK OF ZOE WASHINGTON meets THE PARKER INHERITANCE, in which a Black boy is forced to spend his summer refurbishing an old mansion and in the process is pulled into the unsolved mystery of the previous owner, a famous magician who disappeared without a trace, to Amulet, for publication in fall 2024.

Emily Varga's YA fantasy, FOR SHE IS WRATH, pitched as a Pakistani Count of Monte Cristo fantasy, following a girl determined to exact her revenge after being accused of a crime she didn't commit, but when the person standing in her way is the ex-lover who condemned her, retribution becomes a complicated game of cat and mouse; and an untitled YA fantasy, pitched as an anti-colonial Indiana Jones meets A COURT OF THORNS AND ROSES, to Wednesday Books, in a two-book deal, for publication in Winter 2024 and Winter 2025.

Gigi Griffis's WE ARE THE BEASTS, when a series of mysterious deaths start to plague the countryside and whispers of a beast reach the little French hamlet of Mende, most people think it's a curse—but a sixteen-year-old girl and her best friend see it as their chance to escape their brutal lives; pitched as based on the unsolved mystery of the Beast of Gevaudan, to Delacorte for publication in fall 2024.

Ally Russell's MG debut IT CAME FROM THE TREES, in which no one believes a girl after her best friend is taken by a terrifying creature on a scouting retreat; determined to save her friend, she joins a new local scout troop and ventures back into the woods, but when the unthinkable happens, the scouts—armed with only their wits and toiletries—must band together to survive the night, to Delacorte, for publication in summer 2024.

Jamilah Thompkins-Bigelow's WHEN YOU SEE ME, in which a girl who feels invisible in her all-white class finds friendship and community with a new Muslim student, illustrated by Shahrzad Maydani, to Abrams Children's, in a pre-empt, for publication in spring 2024.

Bex Glendining's INDIGO PORT, a YA graphic novel in which a young woman struggling with the grief of losing her estranged grandmother discovers there was more to her grandmother than meets the eye, taking her down a magical rabbit hole of love and forgiveness, to Abrams Amulet, for publication in spring 2025.

Jesse White's BRAVE LIKE FIREWEED, which takes readers on an affirmational journey exploring how the characteristics of plants mirror their own changing emotions, to Union Square Kids, for publication in Fall 2023.

Evie Zhu's illustration debut TAKE ME TO LAOLAO, in which a little girl with a big heart and an even bigger imagination goes on a Chinese mythology-inspired adventure to visit her laolao during the spring lantern festival, text by Kelly Zhang, to Karen Chaplin at Quill Tree for publication in Winter 2024.
THINGS I LOVE:

Martial arts

Queer love

Carnivorous plants

Petrichor

Dog-friendly hikes

Secret passages

Give me a YA or adult novel with Wednesday vibes: fencing, murder, grumpy/sunshine relationships, and dark wit
REPRESENTATIVE TITLES
I love well-plotted twists, being a little bit scared, and stories that explore the fluidity of gender and bring the queer experience
to light.
AWARD WINNERS
& BESTSELLERS
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