Shalini Abeysekara

Shalini Abeysekara is the #1 Sunday Times bestselling author of This Monster of Mine. As a former corporate lawyer, she enjoys using fantasy to interrogate reality, exploring monstrosity—perceived and real—and centering neurodivergent women of color reckoning with themselves and their place in a world that tells them they’re too much and not enough. She is passionate about demystifying traditional publishing for all writers. When not writing, she games her life away and tries to make the perfect entremet. Most days though, she can’t believe she's an adult, and hope you don’t either.

Ann Aguirre

New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Ann Aguirre (Ah-GEAR-ay) has been a clown, a clerk, a savior of stray kittens, and a voice actress, not necessarily in that order. She loves video games, Korean dramas, music, dogs and cats, and staring at the sea. Though she writes all kinds of genre fiction, she has a major soft spot for a happily ever after.

Kait Ballenger

Kait Ballenger is an award-winning author of dark romantasy and paranormal romance. She is obsessed with tales of morally gray, sometimes villainous heroes and can’t resist a spicy redemption arc. When Kait’s not busy writing kinky paranormal fantasy, she can usually be found with her nose buried in someone else’s naughty books. She lives in Florida’s Bible Belt with her husband and two adorable sons—and will gladly use that belt to whip you.

Erik Patterson

Erik Patterson is an award-winning screenwriter, writing teacher, playwright, and creator of Your Daily Writing Prompt on TikTok. Patterson’s TikTok prompts have millions of likes, helping writers across all genres including romantasy, romance, and sci-fi/fantasy. His writing has been recognized with the Humanitas Prize, the Writers Guild Award, and the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award, as well as two Emmy nominations, and a GLAAD Media Award nomination. Erik is perhaps most known for writing the iconic Radio Rebel (“I am Radio Rebel”) for the Disney Channel and Another Cinderella Story, for ABC Family as well as numerous romantic films for the Hallmark Channel, including the Sister Swap films, Love Under the Stars, Love on a Limb, and Love at First Bark. His books include Write a Romantasy: 99 Writing Prompts to Craft a Tale of Heart and Heroism, Write a Dystopian Novel: 99 Writing Prompts to Craft a Tale of Ruin and Rebellion, and Write a Horror Novel: 99 Writing Prompts to Craft a Tale of Terror and Darkness, all from Simon & Schuster.

Samantha Wekstein

Thompson Literary

Samantha Wekstein has been an agent at Thompson Literary since 2019. She was previously at Writers House. She represents a range of genres including picture books by author/illustrators, middle grade, YA, romance, women's fiction, historical fiction, sci-fi, fantasy, and very select nonfiction. She is particularly drawn to feminist narratives and commercial voices.