Esty Loveing-Downes, Agent

Esty holds a BFA in creative writing from Ringling College of Art + Design and an MFA in fiction from Queens University of Charlotte. Aside from serving as creative writing adjunct faculty at her alma mater, she interned at Jean V. Naggar Literary Agency, Tobias Literary Agency, and ArtHouse Literary Agency before becoming an Associate Literary Agent at ArtHouse in 2023 until that agency’s close in 2025, when she joined Howland Literary Agency. Esty is looking for romance in adult, new adult, or YA spaces, upmarket fiction, adult or YA grounded fantasy, and literary fiction. Before working in publishing, Esty worked as a pediatric LPN. At home, she has five children, three dogs, one husband, and a partridge in a pear tree.

In YA and adult romance, Esty is looking for grounded fantasy like DIVINE RIVALS or EMILY WILDE’S ENCYCOLPAEDIA OF FAERIES, strong leads like CHILDREN OF BLOOD AND BONE, fae stories with romance tropes like THE CRUEL PRINCE, cozy magic like THE EX-HEX, compelling, tropey, and readable books like FUNNY STORY, character-driven journeys like THE INVISIBLE LIFE OF ADDIE LARUE, or the fairy tale vibes of SPINNING SILVER.

In upmarket, Esty is looking for titles featuring women like LESSONS IN CHEMISTRY, updated classics like Ann Napolitano’s Little Women retelling, HELLO, BEAUTIFUL, and wlw knockouts with queer representation like THE SEVEN HUSBANDS OF EVELYN HUGO. She’s also looking for speculative fiction like THE NIGHT CIRCUS or magical realism like Carmen Maria Machado’s HER BODY AND OTHER PARTIES. 

In literary fiction, Esty loves artful, rebellious prose that grab her from the first sentence and make her wonder, “Are you allowed to do that in a book?” She’s drawn to artful realism like THE RABBIT HUTCH, ALL MY PUNY SORROWS, and TOMORROW AND TOMORROW AND TOMORROW, the yearning of NORMAL PEOPLE, characters challenging society like OUR MISSING HEARTS, or books like THE INCENDIARIES, LUSTER, OUTLAWED, and SEVERANCE that examine marginalized characters, injustice, or religion. Characters examining systems of oppression through twisty plots in books like THE NICKEL BOYS and INTERIOR CHINATOWN are welcome, and mythological retellings like Madeline Miller’s CIRCE, especially those set outside of Europe. 

For a better look at the kind of titles Esty gravitates towards, scroll her Pinterest board here.

What She Doesn’t Want: high fantasy, strict sci-fi. horror, thrillers, mystery, erotica, police/legal procedurals, mysteries, anything ageist/ableist/racist/misogynistic, or anything where queer people die in the end

Please submit all queries via Esty's Query Manager link. 

For non-submission inquiries, she can be reached at esty@howlandliterary.com.