A surefire way to determine an agent is the best fit for your manuscript/writing career is by learning everything you can about them. Such information is great when choosing who to query and deciding who you’d love to work long term with. As a site dedicated to guiding writers through the publication journey, we’ve put together awesome agent interviews for you!
Today, we’re introducing Katrina Lemaire of the Corvisiero Literary Agency!
- Path2pub: How did you become an agent?
I’ve always wanted to be part of the publishing ethos in some capacity, and it wasn’t until I started interning at Corvisiero Literary Agency that I really fell in love with agenting. While I was finishing my Publishing Certificate at Toronto Metropolitan University, I got promoted to Literary Agent Apprentice which deepened my dedication to championing authors and their stories.
Books have always provided a space for escape, topical nuances, and nourishment for creativity. Now in 2026 I have started a new chapter in my agenting career as an Associate Literary agent, and I’ve never been more invigorated to keep doing what I love.
- Path2pub: What genres do you represent and why did you decide ‘these are what I want to help bring to the world’?
Right now I am voraciously building my list across various age categories and genres. Primarily I am looking for Fantasy, Horror, Speculative Fiction, Gothic Fiction, and Cozy Mysteries in Adult/YA. In other sectors I am always on the lookout for author/illustrator Picture Books in all genres, as well as Graphic Novels and select Middle Grade Fiction.
Stories that tend to use evocative language or present macabre themes always catch my eye. The more it creeps and crawls, the more likely I will be to stay and see how the plot will show its teeth. I often find beauty in the uncanny, anything that decenters the norm and attempts to reinvent the ways in which we view the world.
- Path2pub: What instantly catches your eye in a query letter/manuscript?
If it has an amalgamation of a strong hook, palpable voice, inventive stakes, and prose with enough of a pulse, consider me intrigued.
- Path2pub: What is that element that makes you know at once that a story is not for you?
For me it comes down to the execution of prose, voice, and premise. If it doesn’t have the elements I’m looking for, and doesn’t align to my MSWL, the story might not be the right fit.
- Path2pub: How hands-on are you editorially?
Very! One of my favourite parts of working with my clients is creatively working through developmental and line edits— that’s where all the magic happens.
- Path2pub: How submissions-ready do you prefer a queried manuscript to be?
This is such a difficult question to condense! No manuscript will be completely perfect or polished. As long as I have a clear editorial vision for the project and it has enough bones in areas of pacing, character interiority, and plot, I’m willing to work with the author.
- Path2pub: Do you have goals for how many clients you want to acquire in a year?
Not necessarily. Right now I am actively building my list, which means I get to have more freedom to select the kinds of authors and works to have on deck. On the other hand, I also have to be selective to make sure every project gets the attention it deserves.
- Path2pub: What is your favorite trope?
I have too many to account for, but I am a sucker for a good love triangle, the ‘who did this to you?’ villain moment, enemies to lovers, slow burn, and a good wholesome found family.
- Path2pub: What are some books you think everyone should read?
There are so many stories to love, but if I had to list a few, it would be the following: Beloved by Toni Morrison, This Place: 150 Years Retold, Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, The Knight and The Moth by Rachel Gillig, Vicious by V.E. Schwab, Twilight, and the Goosebumps series by R.L. Stine.
- Path2pub: If a writer could write a book specifically for you, what would you want it to be about?
Right now I’d be interested to see an exploration of beauty, nature, and horror—anything that can comp The Substance, The Apothecary Diaries, Starling House, and Interview with The Vampire by Anne Rice.
- Path2pub: What is your favorite part of being an agent or an agenting experience you’ve had that you’ll always cherish?
Definitely championing my authors and advocating for their stories. I’ll always be grateful to the writers who share their work with me, whether it is a project that wasn’t for me, a close call, or an amazing match, I’m constantly blown away by the talent that goes into every page of every story.
- Path2pub: What advice do you have for querying writers?
Don’t give up, keep going, and never stop writing. Querying is infamously subjective and unpredictable, but trust in your creative intuition. Write the stories that call to you, the ones that possess you. Learn as much as you can, and find the right communities for support. As they say, ‘If you believe, you can achieve’.
- Path2pub: What are your non-publishing related hobbies?
Hobbies outside of reading and writing? Unimaginable! I live and breathe for them. However, I do occasionally play my favourite games on the Nintendo switch, namely Pokemon and Animal Crossing. You can also find me outside among the beech trees for walks or indulging in the local arts among fellow theatre goers.
Thank you for handing out with us, Katrina!
Katrina Lemaire is an Associate Literary Agent at Corvisiero Literary Agency who has a Publishing Certificate from Toronto Metropolitan University and a Bachelors (Honours) in English and Creative Writing. Her list actively consists of Fantasy, Gothic Fiction, Horror, Speculative Fiction, and genre blends of literary fiction among other categories.
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