Lisa Gouldy is an attorney-turned-associate agent at Corvisiero Literary Agency who hunts for lyrical, imaginative fiction—adult upmarket and speculative titles, middle grade and YA fantasy, and high-concept picture books—with a strong preference for stories that use speculative elements to illuminate real-world issues.
In brief
Her legal background is not just biographical color — she describes her agenting role explicitly through the lens of guiding clients through a complex system, suggesting she prizes clarity, advocacy, and process-orientation in author relationships.
Her adult wishlist is unusually coherent: nearly everything she wants sits at the intersection of literary craft and speculative premise — pure genre fantasy, pure literary realism, and pure romance are all out of scope.
She explicitly excludes second-world sci-fi and fantasy for adult fiction, meaning world-building must be anchored to our reality or a close analogue — a meaningful gate that eliminates a large swath of SFF queries.
Picture books are in scope, but rhyming texts and author-only submissions without illustrator credentials are a harder sell; she wants high-concept, voicey, emotionally resonant stories with strong visual potential.
No deal record is available to analyze at this time, so her stated wishlist is the primary signal — query status is unconfirmed and should be verified against the live submission form before sending.
Lately
Gouldy described a quiet weekend morning spent editing a manuscript over coffee as exactly the kind of reset she needed — a small but telling signal that she maintains an active editorial workload and is engaged with client manuscripts.
What Lisa is looking for
Gouldy is drawn to character-driven novels with lyrical prose, complex protagonists, and momentum — especially stories centering friendships, parent-child dynamics, or characters navigating gender-based hardship. She uses the 'book club novel' as shorthand: emotionally resonant, thematically weighty, but still propulsive. Think the register of Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow or Olive Kitteridge.
Her clearest passion in adult fiction: speculative premises — fantasy elements, sci-fi conceits, or dystopian scaffolding — deployed in service of sharp social commentary. The world must feel grounded in or adjacent to our own; pure second-world building is not her fit. She wants the speculative element to do real thematic work, not just decorate the plot. Dystopias should be energizing or moving, not relentlessly bleak.
She has flagged cozy fantasy as a specific appetite, citing the warm, witty, community-centered tone of A Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches as the benchmark. The implication is charm and whimsy over darkness — but still grounded enough to feel real.
SFF with a foot in our world — or one recognizably like it — with strong worldbuilding, fast plots, and upmarket prose. She is explicit that second-world sci-fi or fantasy (fully invented settings with no real-world tether) is not her fit. Genre-blending projects that resist easy categorization are welcome.
Her children's fiction appetite mirrors her adult taste: fantasy, sci-fi, dystopian, and magical realism titles that are partly or meaningfully set in our world, with fast pacing, innovative concepts, and complex characters. She is particularly interested in LGBTQIA+ voices and non-western or underrepresented perspectives. Contemporary MG/YA (without speculative elements) is out of scope.
High-concept picture books with genuine surprise — an angle or approach she hasn't encountered before. She prizes voicey or lyrical writing, characters with big personalities who don't fit a mold, and stories with strong visual potential (either lush illustration or art that actively interacts with the text). Emotional impact — big laughs or big tears — is essential. Stories centering children from underrepresented communities are especially welcome. Rhyming picture books are explicitly out of scope.
Not the right fit
Taste fingerprint
How to query Lisa
Submit only through the Corvisiero online submission form — emailed queries are not accepted unless Gouldy has specifically requested them.
Query only one Corvisiero agent at a time; a rejection from any agent at the agency is considered a rejection from the entire agency, so choose your target carefully before submitting.
Submit one project at a time; if rejected, you may then query with a different project.
Lead your query letter with the speculative element and how it functions thematically — Gouldy responds to premise-with-purpose, not genre label alone.
Ground your comps in upmarket or literary-leaning titles, not genre bestsellers; she thinks of herself as a literary agent who welcomes speculative fiction, not a genre-first agent.
If your story is set in a fully invented world with no real-world touchstone, do not query Gouldy — she is explicit that second-world SFF is not her fit.
For picture books, avoid rhyme and lead with the concept's originality and the emotional payoff — she wants to feel surprised by what the story does or how it does it.
Mentioning LGBTQIA+ characters or non-western/underrepresented perspectives is a genuine plus, not a box-tick — these are recurring emphases across every category she covers.
Verify the live form's open/closed status directly with Corvisiero before submitting, as her current query status could not be confirmed from available sources.