LARISSA MELO PIENKOWSKI
LITERARY AGENT
Larissa Melo Pienkowski joined Azantian Literary Agency in 2025 after five years with Jill Grinberg Literary Management. Across age groups, her list spans the spectrum of literary and commercial in both fiction and nonfiction. She is proud to represent brilliant, creative, conversation-sparking clients who have gone on to become USA Today bestsellers, Indie Next picks, Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selections, and winners of the Nebula Award, GLAAD Award, Nautilus Book Award, and National Indie Excellence Award, among others. She believes books are a critical tool in the ongoing fight for liberation, and she has a passion for bringing books into the world that challenge the status quo and make people feel seen.
Larissa earned a degree in social work and sociology at Simmons College, followed by a master's in publishing and writing at Emerson College. She is the proud daughter of Brazilian and Polish immigrants and speaks Portuguese and Spanish. Originally from Massachusetts, Larissa now lives in Philadelphia with her wife and their Siberian husky, Olaf.
Fun Facts About Me
When I don't have my nose in a book, I’m usually playing volleyball, cooking, baking, or doing Pilates.
I have a third-degree black belt in Taekwondo.
I am a certified birth doula.
stories centered around identity written by authors who don’t share that identity
dystopian novels (though she could be open to postapocalyptic fiction in the vein of All the Water in the World by Eiren Caffall)
short stories/novellas, chapter books, or novels-in-verse
Christian or closed-door romance
Tolkien-esque high fantasy
books with a 110K+ word count
stories that include animal cruelty or gratuitous, visceral descriptions of hate crimes, sexual assault, or domestic violence
true crime or books featuring military, police, or professional detectives (amateur sleuths and spies are great, though!)
anything having to do with Nazis or Zionists
WWII or Civil War historical fiction, unless written from a marginalized perspective we haven’t heard from before
fatphobia
nonfiction centered on business, economics, or capital-P politics
Adult Fiction:
literary family sagas with a strong commercial hook that span decades of evolving relationships (The Ensemble by Aja Gabel, Cantoras by Caro de Robertis)
genre-blending fiction (e.g., historical speculative, horror + romance) with sentences I want to write down and remember
twisty, high-stakes heists, cons, and scams that critique power and the systems that create and perpetuate it (Portrait of a Thief by Grace D. Li)
Knives Out-esque murder mysteries and thrillers about spies, assassins, and other clandestine characters, with a warm tone and lots of humor (Killers of a Certain Age by Deanna Raybourn, Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers by Jesse Q. Sutanto)
literary/book club fiction about BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ protagonists reckoning with entry into glamorized, predominantly white/cishet spaces like museums and the fine arts, academia, the beauty industry, etc. (Your Love Is Not Good by Johanna Hedva, Disorientation by Elaine Hsieh Chou)
feminist pursuits of revenge, justice, and power, especially in response to patriarchy, racism, capitalism, and other systems of oppression
fantasy that leans more whimsical than cozy, with grounded characters and relationships that feel profoundly human. Themes I appreciate include books about books, language, and writing; cultural and archival memory; diaspora and displacement; and resistance to oppression, patriarchy, and colonialism (Babel by R.F. Kuang)
I would love to see more South American-inspired SFF
high-heat romance with punchy banter, sophisticated writing, and irresistible chemistry (Honey & Spice by Bolu Babalola, Honey Girl by Morgan Rogers)
historical fiction featuring unexpected settings, events, and protagonists
Middle-Grade:
high-stakes adventures with a ragtag group of friends at the core (The School for Thieves by Peter Burns)
literary slice-of-life that grapples with heavier topics in a moving, age-authentic way (The Line Tender by Kate Allen)
complex, headstrong characters exploring big, messy feelings and learning about themselves along the way (Too Bright to See by Kyle Lukoff)
YA, as above, plus:
queer, feminist, and anticolonial revenge/coming of rage stories
original twists on dark academia in non-Eurocentric settings
Adult Nonfiction:
voicey, engaging narrative nonfiction that draws insightful connections between investigative journalism to the author’s personal experiences to humanity at large (How Far the Light Reaches by Sabrina Imbler)
niche, deep-dive microhistories that can be described as “a love letter to X” or be comped to an Ologies podcast episode (Why We Swim by Bonnie Tsui, Consider the Fork by Bee Wilson)
essay collections that chronicle contemporary life through the lens of pop culture, justice, decolonization, and liberation, in the vein of Hanif Abdurraqib and Rebecca Solnit
Please do not send Me:
Please Send Me:
WISHLIST
Across genres and age groups, I gravitate to books where the personal stakes are high, the writing is sophisticated and confident, and characters’ desires and motivations are both unique and propulsive enough to drive the plot. A well-developed voice is paramount. And while my wish list may err on the side of specificity, I’m always excited to fall in love with something new and unexpected.
