Alisha West is a Corvisiero Literary Agency agent and award-winning writer with an academic grounding in gender studies, hunting for character-driven adult fiction and socially conscious nonfiction from voices that have historically been pushed to the margins.
In brief
Her agency page states she is currently CLOSED to unsolicited queries — verify this before sending anything, as it is the highest-authority signal available.
Her academic background (BA in English Literature, MA in Women's and Gender Studies) is not merely biographical: it directly shapes what she wants — books that interrogate power, identity, and social structures rather than simply entertain.
Her favorite-books list skews toward propulsive, plot-driven commercial fiction with strong female or queer protagonists (thrillers, sapphic romance, older-women protagonists), signaling she wants books with both literary weight and genuine page-turn energy.
She has explicitly stepped back from MG, YA, and high fantasy she once accepted — writers who found her through older listings should update their research accordingly.
LGBTQIA+ voices receive explicit priority: she calls it 'a special place in her queer little heart,' making this one of the clearest declared preferences in her wishlist.
Lately
You have 15 more days to send me very best work before I close shop to catch up! *My inbox always remains open to conference submissions and writers from traditionally underrepresented communities such as BIPOC and LGBTQ+. See corvisieroagency.com/alisha-west for these links.
Her current agency page announces she is closed to unsolicited queries, a notable change for writers who may have encountered older listings showing her as open. The page lists specific conference and program pipelines (a Las Vegas writers' conference, a Pacific Northwest writers' organization, a writing retreat, and dedicated BIPOC/LGBTQ query channels) as separate submission avenues — suggesting targeted opportunities may still exist outside the general queue.
What Alisha is looking for
This is clearly her center of gravity. She gravitates toward domestic thrillers, psychological suspense, and crime fiction, with special enthusiasm for genre-bending hooks — a witch who investigates murders, for instance, is exactly the kind of mashup she flags as irresistible. She wants morally complex protagonists and plots that feel architecturally tight. Her cited touchstones skew toward female-led, propulsive reads with a literary finish.
She wants historically grounded narratives that surface marginalized perspectives and untold or underexplored corners of the past. Books with strong women, queer characters, and BIPOC protagonists sit at the top of her wish list. Layered plotting and emotional authenticity matter as much as period detail.
She is drawn to contemporary fiction that holds a mirror to modern life — particularly stories exploring identity, bodily autonomy, and social constraint. She wants complex, flawed, resilient characters, including older characters and fat characters, who are rarely centered in mainstream commercial fiction.
Romance is welcome when it is anti-misogynistic, features strong female or queer characters, and avoids regressive dynamics. Sapphic romance in particular is flagged as a distinct priority. The bar is genuine: she is not seeking romance generically, but stories where the love story and the characters' identities are inseparable.
Multi-generational narratives with emotional depth and social context. Works best when tied to larger themes of identity, history, or systemic forces acting on families across time.
Her nonfiction focus is tightly defined: racial and social justice, environmental justice, women and gender studies, addiction (including food and sex), health and wellness, and untold histories of people or movements. Biographies and memoirs are welcome, but memoir writers must have a demonstrable platform. She is not looking for nonfiction broadly — the social-stakes dimension is non-negotiable.
Speculative elements — magic, the uncanny, near-future — are welcome as flavoring within another primary genre (e.g., a mystery with a witch protagonist, or historical fiction with magical realism), but she is not seeking high fantasy or space opera as standalone genres. The speculative layer should deepen character and theme rather than drive world-building for its own sake.
Not the right fit
On Alisha's list
Taste fingerprint
How to query Alisha
Her agency page currently shows her CLOSED to unsolicited queries — check the live submission form before doing anything else, and look for any open windows tied to specific conferences or diversity programs she participates in.
If and when she reopens, fiction queries must include: a query letter with a clear articulation of what makes the book distinctive, an author bio, a 1–2 page synopsis that specifies genre and word count, and the first 50 pages. Do not send a full manuscript unless she asks.
Nonfiction queries require a different package entirely: a short synopsis (1–2 paragraphs), credentials-focused bio, a full table of contents with page and word counts, two sample chapters (not chapters one or two), a target-audience description, a unique-advantage paragraph, and a comp-titles list with differentiation.
Lead your query letter with what makes your book distinctive — she says this explicitly. Generic 'I wrote a thriller' openings will not stand out.
If you are LGBTQIA+ or from a historically underrepresented group, say so clearly and early. She prioritizes these voices and has set up dedicated query channels for BIPOC and LGBTQ writers.
For thriller/mystery queries, lean into any genre-bending elements upfront (e.g., speculative or folkloric threads woven into a crime plot). This is something she singles out as exciting, not a liability.
Memoir writers must have a platform — address yours directly in the bio section rather than waiting to be asked.
Do not email queries to her address; her guidelines state that submissions not sent through the proper channel will be disregarded.
Watch for conference-linked query windows: she is affiliated with at least three writers' organizations and a retreat that grant access to her list even when general queries are closed.