We are so excited to welcome Kiya to Paper!
From Kiya:
Hi everyone! I’m Kiya, and I’m so excited to be joining Paper Literary as an Associate Agent. I’m going to be building my own roster of clients whilst also supporting Catherine and Katie on the agency’s brilliant list.
I worked at Mushens Entertainment for nearly five years, working with a range of Sunday Times and New York Times bestsellers, and started to sign my own authors in 2023. My journey in publishing began, however, during the pandemic, responding to full manuscript submissions from the slush pile. Aside from finding this completely fascinating (I would weigh in on a thriller in the morning and read a weepy love story that afternoon – as my job!) it was also the best training ground I could’ve asked for as an agent, and I think that the sheer possibility of that process is what got me hooked on this career.
Having worked at a ‘younger’ agency, there’s an awareness that you’re more transparently reliant on the submissions box to build your list, rather than inheriting clients from more senior agents as their workload grows, or relying on backlist or estates. So you’re in that inbox, and you’re hungry for debuts – anything that comes in could be your next big book, a brand author or a bestseller or a prize winner in the making. I find it so exciting, and can’t wait to see what submissions I get at Paper.
I read very widely, and often in different genres concurrently; my brain enjoys switching between editing a romance novel to reading a fantasy submission, to finishing off a YA book or some narrative non-fiction in my spare time. I am keen to represent books across the spectrum of the literary to the commercial, but am forever drawn to sharply observed interpersonal dynamics, a strong hook (for me that might be plot, but can also include voice – I’m a big Otessa Moshfegh fan!) and authentic representation of untold perspectives. Above all, I enjoy books that feel singular – like you are the only person who could’ve written it. I have a particular soft spot for LBGTQI+ narratives and stories which grapple with sticky questions of girlhood and growing up.
I was a teenager in the golden age of YA – the dystopian boom – so I was very much raised on a diet of accessible genre fiction. My taste was definitely shaped by my childhood obsession with A Series of Unfortunate Events and The Hunger Games, so as an adult, anything that harkens back to that mix of darkness and escapism is usually a winner for me. I’m hoping to see sweeping novels with a genre edge – be it romance, magic, horror, or the speculative – and ambitious, fun, hooky fantasy/romantasy with strong world-building and centrality of character, for both adult and young adult readers.
I would love to find conversation-starting books with an irresistible voice – bonus points if they’re funny, or tapping into the zeitgeist. I am also fervently on the hunt for an upmarket character-focused historical novel which doesn’t just teach us something new, but shakes our understanding of the world, in the vein of Colson Whitehead, THE SAFEKEEP, or THE ARTIST. I have always loved theatre, film, and tv, and find that my favourite books often chime with an element of the theatrical or cinematic, displaying an incisiveness of dialogue, setting, or character.
As an Associate Agent, what I offer authors is enthusiasm, strategy, and time – I’m very lucky to have been continuously surrounded by very generous mentors and colleagues in my career, and enjoy being very hands-on editorially. I want to build strategic, long-lasting careers, pushing for international and film/tv deals as well as finding you the perfect publishing home in the UK/US.
I can’t wait to get started, so please do send your books my way!