Mora Couch

Hi! I’m an editor at Holiday House.

My books include FAT CHANCE, CHARLIE VEGA (a New England Book Award Winner) and NO FILTER AND OTHER LIES (a Seventeen Best Young Adult Book) by Crystal Maldonado; BROTHER’S KEEPER by Julie Lee (a Freeman Book Award Winner); THE STAR THAT ALWAYS STAYS by Anna Rose Johnson (an NPR Best Book of the Year); and THE LIAR’S DAUGHTER by Megan Cooley Peterson (a YALSA Quick Pick), among others. I graduated from the Columbia Publishing Course.

I consider children’s fiction from MG to YA, as well as any-age graphic novels. I’m primarily interested in romcom, contemporary, high fantasy, historical, horror, speculative, and thriller submissions. I like both literary and commercial writing, as well as projects that walk that line. (Please send me your SCARIEST ghost stories. Like really, REALLY scary ones.) It’s important to me to raise up underrepresented voices and build a diverse list.

I’m not the best fit for superhero, slapstick, or sports stories. I also don’t usually connect with goofier comedy.

An intro to the house: Holiday House has published children’s books exclusively since 1935. We have a reputation for excellence, with dozens of award winners and a sterling creator list that includes luminaries such as Lesa Cline-Ransome, James Ransome, Jason Chin, Andrea Wang, Yuyi Morales, Crystal Maldonado, Kate Albus, Sydney Smith, Tomie dePaola, Jerry Pinkney, Russell Freeman, Patricia Reilly Giff, and many, many more. Our imprints include Neal Porter Books and Margaret Ferguson Books.