Kate Rizzo
I joined Greene & Heaton in 2013 to handle the agency’s translation rights. I began working in publishing at The Robbins Office, Inc. in New York before moving to London in 2009 and continuing to work in translation rights at AM Heath, Ltd. and Mulcahy Conway Associates.
I work closely with sub-agents in some territories and directly with publishers in Brazil, Germany, Greece, Israel, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Scandinavia, and Spain in order to sell the agency’s authors’ works into as many languages as possible, and help their writing careers extend beyond the UK and the English language.
I’m also keen to find aspiring writers, and am interested in stories that explore our recent history or show us something about our world, whether through fiction or research and reportage. I’m always on the lookout for fantastically funny and compulsive commercial women’s fiction from rom-coms to romance to feel-good to novels that sweep you off your feet and everything in between.
As the Rights Director for the agency, I’m always working across the agency’s entire list to sell our books internationally. Beyond this, I represent narrative and inspirational non-fiction on behalf of some US-based clients and work with a few novelists. Because I’m so immersed in finding international homes for our author’s works, I’m drawn to and looking for novels that can also appeal to a wide range of readers, particularly in commercial to upmarket fiction that tackle universal themes of love, loss, friendship, romance, and family.
Kate's Manuscript Wishlist
I’m keen to find a love story that’s a little bit cool, whether that’s a rom-com, something more sweeping, or a story that’s as much about friendship as it is romance. I'm open to love stories of all kinds (including romantasy where the world building matches that pull of ‘will-they-or-won’t-they,’ star-crossed lovers, and opposites attract). I’m looking for stories with characters you actually want to be friends with, characters coming into their own, discovering something new about themselves and their world, who come through something in their lives and out the other side. The kinds of stories that pull at your heartstrings, have you laughing out loud or cringing in disbelief and just give joy. I’m always on the lookout for a work of strong women’s fiction with characters navigating the complexities, phases, and changes in their lives (romantic and other relationships included) and the non-linearity of life. Think anything by Emily Henry, Ashley Poston, Taylor Jenkins Reid, Kate Davies, Daisy Buchanan, an updated SEX AND THE CITY, or Nora Ephron meets David Nicholls.
Besides books by the authors above, some others that have completely absorbed me of late: , Akwaeke Emezi’s LITTLE ROT, Claire Lombardo’s SAME AS IT EVER WAS, J. Courtney Sullivan’s THE CLIFFS, Miranda Cowley Heller’s THE PAPER PALACE, Alexandra Potter’s CONFESSIONS OF A FORTY-SOMETHING F##K UP, Rachel Yoder’s NIGHTBITCH, Clare Kohda’s WOMAN, EATING, and Daphne Palasi Andreades’ BROWN GIRLS.