More than 75 literary agents, including three Torontonians, have joined an open submission call for Muslim writers.

The call, organized by Clelia Gore from the Seattle-based agency Martin Literary Management, states, “We all agree that the current political climate demands a need for a greater presence of authors of Muslim heritage in the book marketplace. We are taking action to help make that happen.”

Andrea Cascardi of the Transatlantic Agency – who is looking for fiction and non-fiction picture books, middle grade, and YA manuscripts – was immediately interested because she says it can be challenging to find authors and illustrators with diverse backgrounds “unless they know you’re looking.” She says she’s already received many queries as a result, “some of which I feel certain I’d never have received without this open call.”

Eric Smith of P.S. Literary Agency says he is always looking to work with marginalized and under-represented writers of YA fiction as well as adult sci-fi and fantasy. “One of my authors, Samira Ahmed, is a Muslim writer,” he says. “Her debut, Love, Hate & Other Filters, comes out with Soho Teen next year. It’s a hard-hitting story about Islamophobia, and I desperately want to read more stories like hers.”

Lydia Moëd of the Rights Factory was already only accepting submissions from marginalized/underrepresented groups (as defined by Beth Phelan for the Diverse Voices Pitch Party), and was “very keen to receive submissions from Muslim writers, among others.” She is looking for middle-grade and YA fantasy, science fiction, historical fiction, and narrative non-fiction.