Happy 2025 everyone. We are officially a quarter-way through the 21st century. Frankly, I am just grateful humanity has made it this far…

But jokes aside, I’m glad it’s a new year. I can’t wait to dive into new projects and see more published works out on the market. This past year had a lot of setbacks for me and this agency, a lot of books which died on submission, clients lost, a podcast that got taken down, and editing projects that flamed out.

2024 came with a lot of upside as well, new clients, new projects, my first year attending the US Book Show, joining an AALA committee, getting to teach young writers about the submission process, and a lot more exciting things. I’m hoping to channel last year’s positive energy into momentum for 2025.

That being said, agents across the US and across are world have been busy bringing new books onto the shelves for new year, and TIME Magazine has a list of what they believe could dominate the book market.

The Most Anticipated Books of 2025 | TIME

I won’t break down all 39 books because, well, TIME already did that, but I will highlight some of the trends and interesting headlines to takeaway and maybe summarize for those of you don’t have time to read 39 book summaries.

BIPOC stories and Underrepresented Voices

Publishing editors and agents have made it a mission in the 2020s to champion more stories from underrepresented voices, and that trend will continue into 2025.

Award winning author, Imani Perry, has written another much-anticipated work, Black in Blues: How a Color Tells the Story of My People, a retelling of the black history and the exploration of why the color blue has been so relevant to black identity. Expected to release on Jan 28.

Great Black Hope by Rob Franklin is a coming-of-age novel that follows a queer, black Stanford grad who is arrested on cocaine possession charges and must navigate his fight for his survival and freedom, even while his race and class paint a target on him. Expected to release on June 10.

Strangers in the land by Michael Luo, an editor for the New Yorker, recounts the arrival of Chinese immigrants to America and their struggle with exclusion and belonging. Expected to release April 29.

Love is on the shelves

Every agent and editor I know has been trying to get their hands on the latest trendsetting romance titles this past year, and for good reason.

Taylor Jenkins Reid, one of the most prominent authors in fiction and famous for Daisy Jones & The Six, The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, Malibu Rising, is back with another release, this time in space. Atmosphere is a love story and thriller following Joan Goodwin, a physics professor who gets into NASA and falls in love with a fellow recruit; but a frightful accident aboard the space station threatens to take away everything. Expected to release June 3.

Also launching is Ada Calhoun’s Crush, a story of a failing marriage entering an open relationship, and unbandaging all kinds of emotional scars with it. Expected to release Feb 25.

Zeal by Morgan Jerkins is a romance story spanning generations – over 150 years! Sparked when two lovers in Harlem discover a love letter from a soldier in 1865 and its deeper meanings. Expected to release April 22.

In translation

Publishers have been gearing towards celebrating more translated works. With the publishing world so centralized in New York and dominated by native English speakers, there’s an ocean of underappreciated or undiscovered gems still to enter the English-speaking sphere of readers via translation.

We Do Not Part by Han Kang, a tale of woe following two friends in Korea during the Jeju uprising, translation from the original Korean. Expected to release Jan 21.

A 2007 serial killer thriller, Death Takes Me by Cristina Rivera Garza, has been translated from Spanish by Robin Myers and Sarah Booker. Following a literary professor who comes across a deceased and finds an encrypted message beside the body, and is later enlisted to help catch the killer as more victims are found with the message. Expected to release Feb 25.

Women in Memoir

Memoirs made their rounds in 2024 with sweeping, evocative, and anecdotal stories centered around women and their resiliency. From the announcement of these releases in 2025, there will be no shortage of them in the new year.

Amanda Nguyen, one of TIME’s Women of the Year, is releasing Saving Fire, a memoir of hope, that tells the story of her life as an activist and as an astronaut, her struggles in childhood and against her sexual abuser. Expected to release on March 4.

Matriarch, a celebrity memoir by Tina Knowles, mother of Beyoncé Knowles, talks about the peaks and valleys and humble beginnings of raising one of the biggest pop and RnB stars of all time. Expected to release April 22.

The Dry Season by Melissa Febos is a cultural criticism memoir about a year she spent in abstinence, exploring how celibacy radicalized her perspective and gain introspection. Expected to release on June 3.

Journalists in Debut

Journalism and publishing always have strange intersections. I was once a journalist myself, now turned literary agent blogger, and a lot of journalists seem to be taking up the pen this 2025.

How to Sleep at Night by Elizabeth Harris is a debut novel about two lovers struggling with political ideals

One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This is a sweeping non-fiction debut by Omar el-Akkad, a journalistic take on the War on Terror, Black Lives Matter movement, and the conflict in Gaza. Expected to release on Feb 25.

Tilt by Emma Pattee follows a pregnant woman finding her way home after an earthquake strikes, and along the way undergoes some unexpected encounters. Expected to release on March 25.

Sarah Harman, a former broadcast journalist, is launching a debut thriller novel, All the Other Mothers Hate Me, when a rich boy goes missing, and his former bully has to make amends with the other moms. Expected to release on March 11 and will be adapted as a TV show.

Renowned Fantasy writers make a comeback

Fantasy and all its colorful subgenres have been making headlines in publishing in 2020s, and that trend looks to continue in 2025.

Rebecca Yarros, one of the most prominent authors of the century with over twenty bestsellers, is coming back with yet another fantasy showpiece, Onyx Storm. In this epic, dragon-riding warriors are battling for supremacy, and the hero is desperate to find allies in an untrustworthy world. Expected to release on Jan 21.

Not only that, but R. F. Kuang, famous for The Poppy War series, along with Babel and Yellowface, is coming back with a new fantasy book, Katabasis, centered around a wandering magician who journeys through Hell (literally) to save their mentor’s soul. Expected to release on Aug 26.