Meet Najla
Najla is an avid reader and loves great first chapters, immersive world building, deep character profiles, and well-rounded dialogue. She teaches workshops at several writing conferences, including Common Mistakes In First Chapters, Writing Rules That Can Be Broken, Self-Editing Before the Query, Getting The History And Voice Right, and many other topics. She is an active member of the American Association of Literary Agents Programming Committee and a part of the planning committee for the AALA’s annual meeting of literary agents, editors, and publishing professionals.
In nonfiction, Najla gravitates towards narrative nonfiction, true crime, memoir, biography, and stories inspired by lesser known people, professions and crafts (builders, designers, architects), musicians/artists/creators, daredevils, athletes, etc.
In fiction, Najla is drawn to voice-driven, emotionally immersive historical fiction, suspense (with series potential), horror with surprise endings (especially psychological), speculative (such as alternative history), and magical realism (light fantasy or romantasy). In young adult, she seeks all genres except epic fantasy. She does not represent children’s books.
Tropes she’d like to see more of:
Complex societal themes and questions, including privilege and wealth, or lack of.
Themes of rediscovering identity.
Complex mother daughter relationships, where both are good but deceptive, cruel, etc. in different ways.
Misunderstandings or misperceptions of marriage, pregnancy, parenting, death, and/or grief.
In all genres, she hopes to see more immigrant, expat, and/or BIPOC/ underrepresented stories. Last, because real life is messy, stories need strong secondary characters, multiple layers, and complications. She considers full manuscripts between 65,000 and 85,000 words.
Her most recent projects include:
In narrative nonfiction, THE FASTEST WOMAN IN THE WORLD: THE STORY OF DAREDEVIL JOAN LACOSTA by Tony St. Clair, which narrates the epic life behind the wheel of one of the most famous risk-taking female racers of all time in the 1920s, will be published by Lyons Press in the spring 2025.
In crime/suspense fiction, CRADLE by Cobie LeJeanne, book 1 of the Haplin River Series pitched as Mare of Easttown meets SHARP OBJECTS, exploring mental health and trauma, about a judicious detective with synesthesia who must investigate the renowned angel-worshipping church where her overzealous half-sister is engaged to the reverend's son, and, despite their differences, come together to catch a cunning killer, will be published by Tule in July 2025. Books 2 and 3 of the Haplin River Series will be published in December 2025 and August 2026, respectively.
In romance, THE LONGEST BLOOM by Rashah Solun, a coming-of-age crossover fiction centered around Juliet, a seventy-five-year-old woman who embarks on a journey of rediscovering and unearthing the joys and pleasures of life as an older Black woman, pitched as the voice of a Black SEVEN HUSBANDS OF EVELYN HUGO has been acquired by Jodi Zeramby at Launch Point Press for publication in summer 2025.