Marin Takikawa

For adult fiction, I’m always seeking innovative—both in idea and structure—literary/upmarket fiction that’s lush, evocative, and full of heart(break). I’m also looking for family sagas, novels that subvert forms of power, specifically relating to colonialism/imperialism, and engages with social and environmental issues. I’m also particularly enamored by genre-bending works: speculative concepts, ghost stories, magical realism, and anything that plays with myth and folklore will always catch my eye!

For YA, I’m looking for voice-driven and literary-leaning novels with the emotional breadth and depth in the tradition of authors like Emily X. R. Pan and Kelly Loy Gilbert—although I won’t say no to sweeter contemporary YA (my comfort reads are Anna & the French Kiss, Love & Gelato, and Better Than the Movies)! I’m also excited by speculative concepts and am not afraid of going dark. Give me all your gothic, atmospheric, haunting books (especially with a sense of mystery and adventure)! Some of my recent favorite YA books are If You Could See the Sun by Ann Liang, All My Rage by Sabaa Tahir, and Firekeeper’s Daughter by Angeline Boulley.

In adult nonfiction, I gravitate toward community-oriented narrative nonfiction with engaging and insightful research or reportage, as well as social/cultural histories and criticisms. I’m also looking for narrative nonfiction that is intersectional, resistant, and radical in nature, that questions why we have the institutions, ideas, and systems we have in place. I often think about the legacies of colonialism, how it haunts and perpetuates in various forms in the modern age (such as the environment and in capitalism), but also about collective action/liberation and its sense of possibilities and what an equitable future could look like. I’d love to hear from you if your work is in this space. Please note that I’m not looking for memoir at this time, although I’ll be open to considering memoirs written by BIPOC.