Leah Pierre

A Texas native, Leah briefly moved to the East Coast to attend Rosemont College and to pursue her dream of working in publishing. Now having graduated from Rosemont with her B.A. in English and History and having accomplished that dream, she has moved back to the South to begin her next adventure. In addition to searching for the next commercial YA or Adult project that will hook her (or make her cry), Leah is currently pursuing her M.A. in Publishing. Leah spends her time enjoying the company of fictional characters more than people. When not in the company of fictional characters, Leah hangs out with friends and family, cooks, and catches up on the movies and tv shows she is always behind on.

MSWL:

Leah is exclusively looking for Black, Latinx, Indigenous, Asian, and Pacific Islander voices with or without LGBTIQA+ intersectionality—basically anyone underrepresented and/or marginalized.  

For Picture Books, she is selectively searching for an author who is writing diverse, heartfelt and emotionally resonant stories about family, heritage, and tough, complex topics (i.e loss, identity, divorce, disabilities, etc). She is also looking for stories that are fun, adventurous, and creative. Some of her favorite PBs include: Julian is a Mermaid, Amazing Grace, Jabari Jumps, I Am Enough, Hello Lighthouse, We are Water Protectors, Rough Patch, The Little House, Sulwe, Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!, Max and the Tag-Along Moon, Your Name is a Song, and My Hair is a Garden.

For Young Adult/Crossover/Adult, she is looking to acquire across the following genres:

• SFF/Speculative
• Contemporary
• Romance
• Mystery/Thriller/Suspense
• Fairytale or classic retellings/reimagining

She is specifically interested in stories that contain elements of and are in the vein of the following:

• The Half of It
• Someone Great
• Behind Her Eyes
• Crimson Peak x Yellow Wallpaper x The Haunting of Bly Manor
• Reality dating rom-com
• Reimagined Macbeth (or even just a take solely on Lady Macbeth)
• MC with Lizzie Borden vibes
• Marching band setting
• Roll Bounce or a skate rink setting
• Anything heist related 
• Black women getting to be angry and/or evil 
• Social horror (something similar to MASTER but better executed or anything with Jordan Peele vibes)
• Reimagined Picture of Dorian Gray
• Edgar Allan Poe

More generally, she loves diverse and unique work that is fast-paced and has a complex cast of diverse characters. She loves a good plot twist and is a huge sucker for camaraderie, banter, and the tight-knit, family-like group of friends trope. She is pretty much a fan of all the tropes.

She loves a good romantic meet-cute, coming of age, and/or self-discovery story, especially in or post-college. Specifically, how one’s expectations drastically differ from reality or how a recent college grad is blindsided after entering the adult world, the working force, and how they slowly manage to navigate it and get on their feet.

She is also really interested in plots that deal with the struggles of today’s online dating culture, about how couples deal with growth and life pulling them in two different directions, or how society’s views can impact interracial relationships. This can also apply to platonic friendships (especially F/F friendships) as she thinks they are affected in the same ways. She’d also love something realistic, raw, introspective, and family-centered. Think To All the Boys I’ve Loved, Just One Day, Darius the Great Is Not Okay, Someone Great with Gina Rodriguez, Pose, Midnight Library, and The Vanishing Half.

For mystery, thrillers, and suspense, she is here for unreliable narrators and dark academia! She’d also love something along the lines of The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer, Behind Her Eyes, And Then There Were None, When No One is Watching, One of Us is Lying, Sadie, and anything Tiffany D. Jackson. She’d also really love a heist in the veins of Leverage, Now You See Me, or Six of Crows.

For fantasy, she loves it with elements of myth and legends; preferably lesser-known myths/legends i.e. Middle Eastern, Indigenous, African, and South American. I would love a fairytale retelling or re-imagining. For sci-fi, something in the vein of Red Rising, Black Mirror, The Fifth Wave, and Orphan Black. She’s also searching for gothic and atmospheric horror—think Mexican Gothic, Year of the Witching, The Addams Family, The Yellow Wallpaper, White Smoke, Edgar Allan Poe, The Haunting of Hill House and of Bly Manor, The Bloody Chamber, and Crimson Peak.

No’s for her would be MG, dystopian, legal or spy thrillers, and non-fiction. Please no cliche romances where the plot is centered around cheating, parental disapproval, or high school drama. Give me something out of the ordinary, and conflict that’s hard-hitting and really makes me wonder if anyone is right.

Note: While Leah is open to SFF, she is being extremely selective in the works she takes on due to her wish to expand in the romance, mystery/suspense, and gothic spaces.

Submission Guidelines

I only accept submissions via QueryManager: https://querymanager.com/query/leahpierre

Guidelines & Details