
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:
Young Adult:
Gothic & brooding
Boarding school settings
Cults
Unexpected betrayal and twists that serve the plot not just shock factor
The Occult
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 and MG 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
Tigest Girma's debut IMMORTAL DARK, a dark academia fantasy about the 19-year-old heiress to a fallen legacy, who must infiltrate the society of vampires she fled as a child to find her kidnapped sister and share a house with the alluring vampire she suspects killed her family, to Little, Brown Children's, in a major deal, at auction, in a three-book deal, for publication in fall 2024
Kate Cochrane's debut WAKE UP, NAT & DARCY, a sapphic romance in which two former hockey teammates turned rivals with unresolved feelings for one another are paired to host a popular morning show's Olympic coverage and must remain professional amid a nation of fans closely scrutinizing their incredible chemistry, to Harlequin Carina Adores, for publication in 2024.
Peter Cheong's WHERE WE CAN HEAR THE GIANTS SING, in which a young girl is given a magical gift to explore underwater mysteries alongside a new friend with the gentle and loving reminder that home is always a place you can come back to, to Holt Children's, at auction, for publication in fall 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.
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.
THINGS I LOVE:
Martial arts
Queer love
Carnivorous plants
Petrichor
Dog-friendly hikes
Secret passages
Give me swoon-y romance–contemporary, fantasy, mystery/thriller, etc.—make me laugh or take me on an adventure, but above all give me a happily ever after!
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
