Samantha Haywood, President of Transatlantic Agency is delighted to announce that LA based Amanda Orozco has started as Literary Agent and is actively building a client list of YA and adult literary and genre writers, with a specialty for Asian and Latinx writers.
Before joining the Transatlantic Agency, Amanda gained a breadth of experience in publishing, publicity, subsidiary rights, and agenting in New York. She graduated from the NYU Masters of Science in Publishing: Digital and Print Media in 2019, during which she worked at the National Book Foundation, Shreve Williams Public Relations, and The Gernert Company. Upon graduating, she worked at Little, Brown in Subsidiary Rights where she helped sell rights for authors such as Michael Connelly, Elin Hilderbrand, and Sarah Knight, until discovering agenting was her true calling. Amanda worked at Park & Fine Literary and Media before moving back to Los Angeles, where she grew up. Amanda has been a member of PoCinPub since 2018 and has recently worked for Dryland, the literary journal born in South Central, where she aimed to amplify marginalized voices from the literary underground.
Says Haywood: “We are very excited to be welcoming Amanda, she comes with a strong academic and working background in publishing and subsidiary rights and she has a distinct vision for the client list she wants to build at our company. Amanda joins a team of other American literary agents at the Transatlantic building client lists of primarily adult fiction and nonfiction writers including Devon Halliday, Sandra Bishop and Brenna English-Loeb.”
Submission mandates for Amanda Orozco:
She is partial to narratives with a distinct voice told from fresh perspectives, but she is particularly interested in YA contemporary and fantasy fiction, as well as adult literary and upmarket fiction in the speculative, horror, or romance genres. On the nonfiction side, she’s interested in narratives that offer original cultural or political critiques on art, pop culture, tech, and forgotten history, and in select poetry, memoirs, and illustrated books.
Amanda is particularly drawn to stories from Asian and Latinx writers, though she is always looking for stories with compelling writing featuring protagonists with a distinct voice and personality; clever, quirky, gritty, and/or twisty stories that surprise her and keep her reading through the night.
For fiction, she’s looking for YA contemporary romance and fantasy, as well as adult fiction in the speculative, horror, literary, and upmarket genres. She has a soft spot for coming-of-age stories, short story collections, and the occasional urban fantasy. Recent favorites include Mary H.K. Choi, Elizabeth Acevedo, Weike Wang, Kiley Reid, Ling Ma, Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, and Leigh Bardugo.
For nonfiction, she’s interested in stories that offer fresh cultural, political, and/or social critiques along with personal narratives on art, pop culture, tech, and forgotten history. She is looking for perspectives from the margins or from emerging artists and academics with original ideas and sharp commentary. She is open to select poetry, memoirs, and illustrated gift/humor books. Recent favorites include Carmen Maria Machado, Cathy Park Hong, Roxane Gay, Ayad Akhtar, and Jenny Odell.