Ezra Kupor
Ezra Kupor (he/they) acquires for Harper and Harper Perennial. His interests include upmarket commercial fiction and genre-bending literary works, particularly ones that include speculative elements and play with folklore and tradition. For nonfiction, they are most attuned to narrative nonfiction and essay collections about culture and consumption by smart writers willing to question the status quo and seek out answers fueled by their own unique POV. Across genres, he is dedicated to publishing books by queer authors about queer lives.
DANCING ON MY OWN
by Simon Wu (Harper; June 25, 2024)
Agent: Clare Mao, Sanford J. Greenburger Assoc.
An expansive and deeply personal essay collection which explores the aesthetics of class aspiration, the complications of creating art and fashion, and the limits of identity politics.
“This exhilarating debut essay collection from art curator Wu uses cultural artifacts as springboards to reflect on connection, sexuality, and the immigrant experience. . . . This dynamic first outing heralds the arrival of a promising new talent.” –Publishers Weekly, starred review
"A beautifully ecstatic history of our present, and what it means to seek freedom in the things, institutions, and, most importantly, people around us." –Hua Hsu, Pulitzer Prize-winning and New York Times bestselling author of Stay True
“Simon Wu manages to be both a shrewd critic and enthused aspirant of what passes for today’s cultural capital. . . . with a disarming lack of cynicism that is both keen and refreshing.” –Cathy Park Hong, New York Times bestselling author of Minor Feelings
"A genius melding of art criticism, autobiography, personal essay, and travel writing. . . . Wu—an artist, curator, and writer—layers experiences like translucent curtains through which we see the landscape of a past in the present making its future." –Claudia Rankine, award-winning author of Just Us and Citizen
“A neon-bright picture of gay nightlife, leftist class strivers, the seductions of the art world, and what Wu critically—but fondly—calls the ‘empty orchestra’ of Asian America. In fact, there he is now in his mesh coattails, striking the empty air.” –Andrea Long Chu, Pulitzer Prize–winning critic at New York magazine
"In this striking and inspiring collection of essays, Simon Wu shows how art defines us. . .His perceptive voice, observant of every detail, guides us into a different kind of vision in which objects glow with significance. . . .Like a great mixtape (or a digital playlist), Dancing On My Own is a thoughtful and intimate act of curation." –Kyle Chayka, author of Filterworld
02
WOMEN
by Chloe Caldwell (Harper Perennial; June 4, 2024)
Agents: Rebecca Gradinger & Laurie-Maude Chenard, UTA
One of Cosmopolitan UK's Best Erotic Novels of All Time
The cult-classic novella that intimately explores one young writer’s whirlwind and whiplash affair as she falls deeply in love with a woman for the first time.
"Brief, sharp, and utterly consuming, Women is a sublime depiction of a battle between the head and hormones. Like your first love, it lingers long after the final chapter." –Tegan Quin, New York Times bestselling co-author of High School
"Her prose has a reckless beauty that feels to me like magic.” –Cheryl Strayed, New York Times bestselling author of Tiny Beautiful Things and Wild
“Raw, honest, and captivating. Caldwell writes with such precision, such naked honesty, I found myself holding my breath.” –Ashley Herring Blake, bestselling author of Iris Kelly Doesn’t Date
"With Women, Chloe Caldwell proves great literature doesn't require the voices of men." –Ashley Ford, author of the New York Times bestselling memoir Somebody’s Daughter
"It's such a special, sacred book." –T Kira Madden, author of Long Live the Tribe of Fatherless Girls
“Caldwell falls under the spell of a seductive yet withdrawn older woman in this sparks-flying, gorgeously composed queer novel that’s about so much more than romantic love.” –Vogue
“Chloe Caldwell’s Women is a deceptively teensy book. This is the tragicomic tale of the author’s doomed relationship with an older woman and it perfectly captures the way good sex can make us throw anything under the bus – even our identities.” –Lena Dunham
“Whenever anybody is coming out, I give them a book called Women.” –Marja Lewis-Ryan, writer and director of The L Word: Generation Q
"A contemporary classic of queer women's writing." –Michelle Tea, author of Knocking Myself Up
“Beautiful, touching, and brave.” –Emily Ratajkowski, writer and model
"With precision, wit and tenderness, Women charts the frenzy and the fall out of love." –Cosmopolitan
KEEP IT ZESTY
by Edy Massih (Harper; May 21, 2024)
Agents: Nicole Tourtelot & Nora Gonzalez, The Gernert Company
From the beloved chef and owner of Edy’s Grocer, a deeply personal celebration of Lebanese flavors adopted for the modern home cook.
“This book is a must-have, filled with recipes and stories of pure zest, love, and joy." –Suzy Karadsheh, New York Times bestselling author of The Mediterranean Dish Cookbook
“A brilliant ode to the spirit of Lebanese hospitality—vibrant, lavish, and playful—packed with abundant meals and celebration. Edy beautifully pays tribute to the matriarchs in his life who’ve helped him find the truest expression of self through his nationally acclaimed corner store, a place for gathering and celebrating Arab foodways.” –Reem Assil, IACP award-winning author of Arabiyya
“Edy Massih's deeply personal debut cookbook immerses you in his charming and delicious world, making you wish his beloved Brooklyn shop was right around the corner from you. Fortunately, the book’s collection of bright, vegetable-forward recipes will inspire and allow you to bring those flavors to your own home.” –Andy Baraghani, New York Times bestselling author of The Cook You Want to Be
“In his debut cookbook, Edy’s bright smile and ambitious personality shine through on every page. . . . By sharing his food, Edy shares every beautiful part of himself, and it just may change your life, too.” –Dan Pelosi, New York Times bestselling author of Let’s Eat
“Keep it Zesty is beautiful—it’s bright, colorful, and brings light and joy into my kitchen. Edy is an amazing teacher, and you can feel his love and passion for Lebanese cuisine on every page.” –Rick Martínez, New York Times bestselling author of Mi Cocina
"A pure celebration of the happy, zesty life we all deserve. . . . After flipping through this book, you will feel like you’ve gained a new BFF who will inspire you to live your best life through delicious foods." –James Park, author of Chili Crisp
“These recipes are as vibrant as Edy himself. Simple, dynamic, and with just a hint of humor, these recipes transported me from the Greenpoint Grocer all the way to his family’s lunch table in Lebanon.” –Justine Doiron, @justine_snacks
IN UNIVERSES
by Emet North (Harper; April 30, 2024)
Agents: PJ Mark & Hafizah Geter, Janklow & Nesbit
A Most Anticipated Book of 2024 by Bustle, Literary Hub, Autostraddle, and Lilith Magazine
For fans of Emily St. John Mandel and Kelly Link, a profoundly imaginative debut novel set in numerous universes, which follows a queer physicist’s search for belonging across time and space.
"In Universes is an explosion of creative beauty and heart. Emet North is a massively talented writer arriving ready to awe." –Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, New York Times bestselling author of Chain-Gang All-Stars
“A soul-stirring debut…This crackling chronicle of queer love is a must read.” –Publishers Weekly, starred review
“In Universes is a magical, bighearted, genre-jumping ode to queerness and the breaking and re-making of reality.” –Bustle, This Spring’s Most Anticipated Books
“Bafflingly good. In Universes is an exhilarating, disorienting fabulist extravaganza to which we can only, and happily, submit. But it is also, secretly—and brilliantly—kind of a meta-novel about the melancholia of science fiction itself.” –Jordy Rosenberg, author of Confessions of the Fox
“Daring, brilliant, and revelatory. . . . It’s a miracle of physics and art, filled with wonder and grief, hope and regret, survival and romance and loss. By its end, we know: the best of all possible worlds is this one where we get to read Emet North’s writing.” –Julia Phillips, bestselling author of Disappearing Earth
"Emet North beautifully fractures the veil between genres, weaving a kaleidoscopic journey of identity, love, and the choices that make us. . . . An assured and wildly imaginative debut that never loses its heart in any of its realities." –Sequoia Nagamatsu, bestselling author of How High We Go in the Dark
"In Universes is a dazzling and inventive exploration of the many people we might become, the possibilities we might discover, and the heartbreak we can't run from. This novel is a breathtaking introduction to a brilliant new voice." –Danielle Evans, award-winning author of The Office of Historical Corrections
“Beautiful and surreal, In Universes is a tenderly-crafted maze that brims with emotion.” –Fonda Lee, author of The Green Bone Saga and winner of the World Fantasy Award
"In Universes has a wonderous way of taking the full expanse of the heart (vast! unending!) and collapsing it into a jeweled beauty you can hold in your hands. This novel is brainy and surprising and—in a cartwheeling, star-spinning way—completely real." –Ramona Ausubel, author of The Last Animal
"In a feat of narrative structure both dazzling and convincing, North gives us deep and emotionally complex access to one human being’s journey across the multiverse, makes us think deeply about our own unchosen doorways, redefines realism as they kick its ass. In Universes is a wonder of a novel." –Pam Houston, author of Deep Creek
HOMEBODIES
by Tembe Denton-Hurst (Harper; May 2, 2023)
Agent: Danielle Bukowski, Sterling Lord Literistic
A Most Anticipated Book of 2023 by Elle, USA Today, Bustle, Ebony, Harper’s Bazaar, PopSugar, New York Post, The Skimm, and The Millions.
A Best Book of 2023 by Marie Claire, Esquire, Vogue, them, Autostraddle, Betches, Gay Times, and Cosmopolitan.
An insightful, propulsive, and deeply sexy debut novel about a young Black writer whose world is turned upside down when she loses her coveted job in media and pens a searing manifesto about racism in the industry.
"[A] sharp, charming and passionate debut." –New York Times Book Review
“I couldn’t put it down.” –Taylor Jenkins Reid, New York Times bestselling author of Carrie Soto Is Back
"I saw so much of myself in Homebodies, and in Mickey’s utterly delicious and sometimes aching story. Mickey made me look back and love my young Black woman self, and I loved her so much for returning me to that place.” –Honorée Fanonne Jeffers, New York Times bestselling author of The Love Songs of W. E. B. Du Bois
“Homebodies is a modern marvel—Tembe Denton-Hurst’s prose is both intimate and hysterical, inflammatory and elegiac. . . .Denton-Hurst has written a warm, brilliant novel that’s stunning and poignant; Homebodies is wonderfully witty and full of empathy and entirely original.” –Bryan Washington, award-winning author of Memorial and Lot
“Homebodies is a beautiful story on becoming. Denton-Hurst’s prose is perfect with an innate attention to detail and astonishing ability to capture the shapes and colors of emotions as she brilliantly illuminates the growing pains of forging one’s own path. . . . This is a deeply felt, assured literary debut by a writer worth watching.” –Nicole Dennis-Benn, award-winning author of Here Comes the Sun and Patsy
“Homebodies is a sharp and tender exploration of what it takes to make a place for yourself in a world that has not. . . . A captivating and illuminating debut.” –Danielle Evans, award-winning author of The Office of Historical Corrections
"This novel just gets it right. Maybe it’s vivid storytelling or the intersectional approach to queerness, but this novel speaks to queer people of color who often feel isolated, stretched between two communities." –Cosmopolitan
“Denton-Hurst dazzles with her stirring indictment of racism in media and its insidious effects on Mickey. . . . Emotionally and politically resonant, this is not to be missed.” –Publishers Weekly, starred review
“Sharp and heartfelt and keenly observed—I devoured this book.” –Katie Cotugno, New York Times bestselling author of Birds of California
"Tembe Denton-Hurst's debut novel astutely captures what it's like to fight for yourself in a world that's stacked against you." –Harper's Bazaar
"Tembe Denton-Hurst crafts an instantly memorable portrait of a queer, Black twenty-something figuring out how to use her voice in an industry where identity is prized, but only as far as it toes the company line." –them
“Anyone drifting or unsure of themselves, pick up a copy of Homebodies immediately. . . . Part skewering of media, part literary fiction, and part romance, Homebodies has something for everyone.” –Betches
"Excellent . . . we devoured it.” –The Skimm
"Homebodies is crackling with wit and compulsively readable, but it’s also an in-depth examination of the crushing reality that many workers in so-called 'dream jobs' . . . are ultimately expendable to the institutions they devote themselves to." –Vogue
"Tembe Denton-Hurst’s masterful command of the narrative—classical in its shape, contemporary in its textures—makes this sparkling story shine all the more." –Esquire
A MANUAL FOR HOW TO LOVE US
by Erin Slaughter (Harper Perennial; March 14, 2023)
Agent: Natalie Edwards, The Trellis Agency
A debut, interlinked collection of stories exploring the primal nature of women’s grief—offering insight into the profound experience of loss and the absurd ways in which we seek control in an unruly world.
“Slaughter admirably conveys a heightened awareness of how we harbor within our tamed lives an undeniable wildness.”–Library Journal
“[A] gritty debut fiction collection…[readers] will appreciate Slaughter’s storytelling chops.”-Publishers Weekly
"A Manual for How to Love Us is a collection that reads like a wolf howl, every page alive with longing and hunger and desire and rage. . . .This is prose from a poet’s heart." -Allegra Hyde, author of Eleutheria
"This deeply imagined, brilliantly ferocious debut collection sits perfectly among the fiction of Danielle Lazarin and Kelly Link. . . . .It is unequivocally one of the best debut collections I’ve read in years." -Peter Kispert, author of I Know You Know Who I Am
“I couldn’t ask for something stranger or more beautiful. Erin Slaughter is a masterful sentence writer in firm command of her craft, and this book is an inspiration and a gift.” -Julia Fine, author of The Upstairs House and What Should Be Wild
“Erin Slaughter’s debut collection, A Manual for How to Love Us, is an evocative mix of strange realism and Bachelardian obsession. Slaughter is a gifted stylist who can instill the most mundane objects with profound meaning and depth.” -Isle McElroy, author of The Atmospherians and People Collide
“Stunningly fierce … Slaughter intentionally blurs the line between real and unreal and ghosts and people, creating a spellbinding tilt across stories and worlds. This dark but whimsical collection is perfect for fans of magical realism and strong female characters." -Booklist
"With a poet’s lyricism, Erin Slaughter crafts a debut collection that is speculative, dark, and thoroughly feral." -Electric Literature
Other Forthcoming Projects
My CV
HarperCollins Publishers
Associate Editor (July 2023 - present)
Assistant Editor (November 2021 - July 2023)
Editorial Assistant (November 2019 - November 2021)
Agate Publishers
Publishing Coordinator (November 2018 - August 2019)
Publishing Intern (July 2018 - November 2018)
Northwestern University (2014 - 2018)