Larissa Melo Pienkowski

Larissa gravitates most to character-driven books, genre subversion, and what some editors have called “literary plus,” meaning fiction that pays particular attention to line-level craft but is driven by genre elements. Across the board, she’s compelled by an original, well-developed voice; nuanced characters whose propulsive, clearly defined desires and motivations bring them to life; and most importantly, books that make her feel.

In adult fiction, she’s looking for stories of chosen families that trace the evolution of relationship dynamics over the course of decades (Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin, The Ensemble by Aja Gabel); fresh, compelling twists on heists, cons, and scams (Portrait of a Thief by Grace D. Li); cozy murder mysteries, capers, and thrillers about spies, assassins, and other clandestine characters (Killers of a Certain Age by Deanna Raybourn, Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers by Jesse Q. Sutanto); BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ protagonists reckoning with entry into primarily white, cis, heterosexual spaces, especially art spaces (Your Love Is Not Good by Johanna Hedva, Disorientation by Elaine Hsieh Chou); non-Western, anticolonial, grounded fantasy (Babel, or the Necessity of Violence by R.F. Kuang); feminist pursuits of revenge and justice (You Dreamed of Empires by Álvaro Enrique); high-heat contemporary and historical romance and rom-coms with underrepresented characters and premises (Honey & Spice by Bolu Babalola); historical fiction with genre elements (A Botanist’s Guide to Parties and Poisons by Kate Khavari); and books about books (The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin, The Cautious Traveller’s Guide to the Wastelands by Sarah Brooks).

While she’s taking on middle-grade and YA very selectively at the moment, she loves middle-grade mystery adventures with a ragtag group of friends at its core (The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart) and stories that handle heavier topics in a moving way (The Line Tender by Kate Allen, The Girl from Earth’s End by Tara Dairman).

In YA, she’s interested in similar elements, characters, and themes as above, but her tastes can also skew a little darker; she’s always on the lookout for queer, feminist, and anticolonial revenge/coming of rage/”good for her/them” books; original twists on dark academia; “unlikeable” protagonists; high-stakes heists, cons, and scams; and LGBTQIA+ protagonists in historical YA.

In adult nonfiction, she’s seeking voicey, engaging narrative nonfiction that blends memoir with beautifully crafted investigative journalism (How Far the Light Reaches by Sabrina Imbler, The Undocumented Americans by Karla Cornejo Villavicencio); microhistories that can be described as “a love letter to __” or be comped to an Ologies podcast episode (Why We Swim by Bonnie Tsui, Consider the Fork by Bee Wilson); and 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.