Carrie Howland, President
Carrie Howland founded Howland Literary, LLC in 2018, after thirteen years as an agent, most recently at Empire Literary.
Carrie holds a B.A. in English and Creative Writing from Albion College, where she was the Poetry Editor of The Albion Review. Her poetry has appeared in various literary journals and magazines.
She attends several conferences, both nationally and internationally, throughout the year. Her craft talk from the Adirondack Writers Conference, "Beyond the Query Letter," is available on the Howland Literary website.
In her spare time, Carrie volunteers as a foster for a local dog rescue and is an active member of the Junior League. Her passions include music, pop culture, and the Midwest.
She has been featured in several publications discussing her work as an agent including Poets & Writers, SCWBI insight, Akashic Books, and Slice Magazine.
Carrie is accepting submissions for: adult literary, upmarket, and commercial fiction as well as memoir, narrative and prescriptive non-fiction. Please send your query letter and first 20 pages to submissions@howlandliterary.com.
For non-submission inquiries, she can also be reached at carrie@howlandliterary.com
Cassie Mannes Murray, Assistant Literary Agent
Before pivoting into publishing, Cassie Mannes Murray was a high school teacher for six years and ran an infamous book blog known as Books & Bowel Movements where she worked with many brands, including several publishing houses and indie presses.
She holds a B.A. in English and Creative Writing from North Carolina State University, and is working on her MFA at UNCW in creative nonfiction. She currently does design for Ecotone and Lookout Books, and her writing has been supported by the Shannon Morton Fellowship and Kenyon Writers Workshop. At Raleigh Review, she is the Book Review Editor, Social Media Coordinator, and Accountant. She is working on a lyric essay collection about the strange and odd particularities of the south, pertaining to women, and her work can be found in Passages North, The Rumpus, and HobartPulp. Her website with her work and portfolio can be found here.
Cassie is accepting submissions for adult fiction and nonfiction that fit the following categories: literary, speculative, slipstream, or hybrid. She is interested in memoir, essay collections, travel writing, literary and commercial fiction, as well as short stories.
Because genre categories are for marketing purposes, Cassie would like to work with authors who are difficult to categorize, but are passionate about writing at the sentence level. She would like to work with writers who elevate and innovate structure, point-of-view, and language especially. Please send your query and first 20 pages to submissions@howlandliterary.com
For non-submission inquiries, she can be reached at cassie@howlandliterary.com
Mariah Nichols, Intern
Growing up, Mariah Nichols immersed herself in the arts by painting and drawing. She quickly gained recognition in both the kid and preteen division in art shows, along with winning contests, being featured in the local newspaper, and having her artwork displayed in the community museum. On the side, she was always writing and reading, constantly having a book in hand as a way to escape into a new world. It wasn't until her short romance story Love is in the air got selected and published in Woman's World magazine that her simple hobby blossomed into a passion that ultimately pointed her towards a new career in the literary/publishing industry.
Mariah is a student at Florida Southern College earning a Bachelors of Science in Business Administration. She has worked closely on the campus newspaper as both a features writer and an editor.
Charitable work is near and dear to Mariah's heart including knitting hats and blankets for cancer and NICU patients for KNOTS OF LOVE. Besides her academic and volunteer work, she has an interest in learning new languages and reading about different cultures.