Our Agents
Our Agents
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, and platform-based nonfiction. 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:
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 plants or natural settings with a sinister undertone (a la Annihilation)—bonus if it speaks to our climate crisis without being too heavy handed
Occult conspiracies
Cozy mysteries that center BIPOC and/or queer characters
Exploring a magical matrilineal inheritance through a trans POV
Whip-smart protagonists and playful banter with dialogue that makes me literally LOL
Real burgeoning science taken to the next level
Platform-based non-fiction in the pop culture, lifestyle, and health and wellness arena
Accessible non-fiction about neuroscience, sex, and relationships (especially by Queer or underrepresented voices)
Pop science about the natural world with a narrative approach (like Sy Montgomery's SOUL OF AN OCTOPUS or Juli Berwald's SPINELESS)
Queer takes on subjects other than queer history (along the lines of Sabrina Imbler's HOW FAR THE LIGHT REACHES)
Non-fiction that makes me feel something and teaches me new things (a la Bonnie Tsui's WHY WE SWIM)
Please note: Paige is closed to picture book, chapter book, and MG queries except for referrals or conference attendees.
Paige has worked at ABLA since 2017. She comes to agenting with a background in marketing, design, and freelance editorial. She has an MA in Children's Literature and an MFA in Writing for Children from Simmons University, and is currently serving as co-chair on the Association of American Literary Agents' (AALA) Communications Committee. She is also the founder of COwrite, which offers writing classes and workshops for writers of all levels. If she’s not reading, you'll find her training for long distance open water swims, re-watching the Great British Baking Show, or hiking with her Husky-Shepherd mix.
RECENT DEALS
Madison Tyler Nelson's PORTRAIT OF A HAUNTING, pitched as NINTH HOUSE meets WHITE OLEANDER, in which a young woman plagued by her mother's dark past and an ability to see spirits discovers her best friend is murdered and must rely on the powers she's been stifling, her found family, and the man who's always loved her to help find the killer before she becomes the next victim, to Berkley, in a major deal, in a pre-empt, in a two-book deal, for publication in 2026.
Frank DiLella, Lori Burke, and Russell Miller's BIG BOOK OF BROADWAY, a visual history of Broadway filled with exclusive images, essays, and interviews, featuring contributors such as Gloria Estefan, Ben Platt, Jerry Mitchell, Lea Salonga, and many more, to Running Press, for publication in spring 2027.
Marcie Colleen's A SHEEP TO COUNT ON, book one in the black-and-white humorous Tough Fluff chapter book series, about an ex-acrobat sheep with a mysterious past and a superhero alter ego, and her wannabe squirrel sidekick who must fight against a villainous sleep-deprived duck, illustrated by Chad Thomas, to Random House Graphic, in a four-book deal, for publication in summer 2027.
Author of FOR SHE IS WRATH Emily Varga's THE RIVER ON FIRE, the second book in the River and Salt duology, pitched The Mummy meets THE CRUEL PRINCE, which continues the adventures of a relic hunter as she works to restore magic to her world, but to do so she must trust her powers—and her heart, Wednesday Books, in an exclusive submission, for publication in spring 2027.
Sarah Mughal Rana's DAWN OF THE FIREBIRD, a fantasy debut about the daughter of an overthrown emperor who joins the enemy's army school full of jinns, magic, and martial arts, risking it all to topple her adversaries, avenge her clan, and reclaim their throne, to Vicky Leech Mateos at Bloomsbury UK, Mikaela Roasa and Jennifer Lambert at Harper Canada, and Eden Railsback at Hanover Square Press/Harlequin, in a six-figure deal, at auction, in a three-book deal, for publication in December 2025.
Kate Cochrane's YOURS FOR THE SEASON, a sapphic romance in which a former Olympic hockey player who has reluctantly returned to her home town for Christmas teams up with her childhood crush to win their town's annual holiday contest and a fancy romantic prize, despite telling everyone "we're just friends," to Harlequin Carina Adores, for publication in fall 2025.
Gigi Griffis's AND THE TREES STARE BACK, set on the precipice of Estonia's freedom from the Soviet Union, in which a teenage girl reunites with her missing younger sister but begins to suspect the girl who appeared from the cursed forest surrounding their village isn't her sister after all; to get answers, she'll have to return to the place she fears the most—the forest—unraveling dark secrets in the process to Holiday House, for publication in summer 2025.
Ally Russell's MYSTERY JAMES DIGS HER OWN GRAVE and sequel, that follows a 13-year-old who was abandoned in a cemetery, raised in a funeral home, and can smell ghosts; when a priceless heirloom goes missing and her family's funeral home is in danger of closing, she embarks on an adventure to clear their good name—and is exposed to a world of vampiric ghosts, sleep demons, and grave-robbing conspiracies, to Delacorte, in a two-book deal, for publication in fall 2025.
THINGS I LOVE:
Queer love
Carnivorous plants
Petrichor
Dog-friendly hikes
Secret passages
Martial arts
Take me on an adventure! I'm especially looking for escapist reads—whether that's a magical world, a twisty tale, or psychological scares.
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
