Tag: debut author

Interviews

Question & Agent: Amanda Orozco of Transatlantic Agency

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Question & Agent: Amanda Orozco of Transatlantic Agency

Welcome to Debutiful’s Agent Week! We gathered some of our favorite literary agents representing the most exciting debut books and asked them questions about what makes them love a submission, their agenting style, and the books they’re working on.

Amanda Orozco has been a literary agent at Transatlantic Agency since 2020, where she is drawn to stories from Asian and Latinx writers. Her clients include Shoshana von Blanckensee, m. mick powell, and Nick Medina. She seeks work where protagonists have a distinct voice and personality, where the plot is clever, quirky, gritty, or twisty.

We dug into why writers should know everything in publishing takes more time than they’d expect, representing both fiction and nonfiction, and her opinion on genre with a capital G.

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Interviews

Question & Agent: Stephanie Delman of Trellis Literary Management

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Question & Agent: Stephanie Delman of Trellis Literary Management

Welcome to Debutiful’s Agent Week! We gathered up some of our favorite literary agents representing the most exciting debut books and asked them some questions about what makes them love a submission, their agenting style, and what books they’re working on.

Stephanie Delman spent 10 years at Sanford J. Greenburger Associates before starting Trellis Literary Management with Michelle Brower and Allison Hunter in 2021. Her client list includes countless Debutiful favorites, including Vanessa Chan, Eshani Surya, Jenny Tinghui Zhang, and Gina María Balibrera.

We dug into what makes her a “hands-on” agent, why starting Trellis was the best decision in her life, and what makes her excited for a submission.

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Interviews, my reading life

Corey Ann Haydu deeply thought about motherhood and friendship while writing Mothers and Other Strangers

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Corey Ann Haydu deeply thought about motherhood and friendship while writing Mothers and Other Strangers

In her adult fiction debut, Mothers and Other Strangers, Corey Anne Haydu delivers an unforgettable story about two estranged childhood best friends who reunite as expectant mothers, after a mysterious falling-out between their own mothers keeps them apart for years​. The writer, no stranger to writing compelling stories for all ages, brings readers into a complicated relationship with warmth and rich prose.

We asked her to answer our recurring My Reading Life Q&A so readers could get to know the books that shaped her life and influenced her writing.

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News

See the cover for Road Show by Nikki Ervice

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See the cover for Road Show by Nikki Ervice

Nikki Ervice is the winner of the VQR Emily Clark Balch Prize for fiction, whose work has also appeared in The VQR, The Iowa Review, Colorado Review, Washington Square Review, and Passages North. Her debut novel, Roadshow, is set to be released on November 10, 2026, by Astra House.

Roadshow follows Annie, a burned-out New York performer who leaves behind her life of bartending and burlesque to drive cross-country to Alaska after receiving a letter from her mother, who abandoned her at birth. As her journey grows increasingly desperate and dangerous, Annie confronts questions of identity, inheritance, and survival while being pulled toward a final reckoning with her past. Blending grit and intimacy, the novel explores the cost of passion and the fragile ties between family, class, and selfhood.

Roadshow is available for pre-order now.

Debutiful is excited to reveal the cover, designed by Eli Mock, along with a Q&A with Ervice about how it was created.

Continue reading “See the cover for Road Show by Nikki Ervice” →
Interviews, my reading life

Catching Up with Coleman Hill author Kim Coleman Foote and the books that shaped her life

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Catching Up with Coleman Hill author Kim Coleman Foote and the books that shaped her life

In 2023, Kim Coleman Foote debuted with Coleman Hill, a story that follows two American families whose fates become intertwined in the wake of the Great Migration. Since it debuted, it has taken the world by storm, being shortlisted for the Crook’s Corner Book Prize, the Carol Shields Prize for Fiction, and the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Debut Author.

Debutiful caught up with the author recently and asked her to answer our recurring My Reading Life Q&A so readers could get to know the books that shaped her life and influenced her writing.

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Interviews, my reading life

The Boyhood of Cain author Michael Amherst is always inspired by JM Coetzee and Damon Galgut

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Michael Amherst‘s The Boyhood of Cain originally came out in March 2025. Now, the paperback of the book, which André Aciman called “A powerful, searing tale told by a boy facing the plenitude of life but hemmed in by a world so…ordinary that he can’t wait either to flee it or be drowned in it,” has been released.

We chatted with Amherst a year ago when the hardcover of The Boyhood of Cain came out. Now, we’ve asked him to answer our reucrring My Reading Life Q&A so readers could get to know the books that shaped his life and influenced his writing.

Continue reading “The Boyhood of Cain author Michael Amherst is always inspired by JM Coetzee and Damon Galgut” →
News

See the cover for Bloodroom by Kay. E Bancroft

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See the cover for Bloodroom by Kay. E Bancroft

Kay E. Bancroft‘s debut poetry collection, Bloodroom, was a finalist for the 2025 Alice James Book Award. It is set for publication on June 9, 2026, from Sundress Publications.

Bancroft poet, editor, educator, and artist based in Cincinnati, OH with an MFA in Creative Writing — Poetry from Randolph College.

We’re excited to reveal the Bloodroom‘s cover, designed by Kristen Camille Ton, along with a Q&A from Bancroft below.

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Interviews

Debut Author Tara Menon Explores Friendship and Grief in Under Water, Spanning Tsunami to Hurricane Sandy

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Debut Author Tara Menon Explores Friendship and Grief in Under Water, Spanning Tsunami to Hurricane Sandy

Under Water, the debut novel from Tara Menon, is a compelling exploration of friendship, grief, and the fluidity of both. With two natural disasters – the 2004 tsunami in Thailand that claimed a quarter of a million lives, and Hurricane Sandy in 2012 as it made landfall in New York City – framing the story. 

Throughout the novel, Menon weaves themes of uniqueness and extinction, distillation and expansion, into the language of sea life, flora, and fauna, as well as the beautiful bond between these two young girls. The story also deftly explores the relationship between the consumer and the consumed, and how we live as both, with varying degrees of awareness and complicity. 

I spoke with Menon about her writing background, writing her debut, and how the structure came to be.

Continue reading “Debut Author Tara Menon Explores Friendship and Grief in Under Water, Spanning Tsunami to Hurricane Sandy” →