Following President Donald Trump's executive order suspending refugee admission to the U.S. and restricting immigration from seven Muslim countries, a number of literary agents from separate agencies have announced a collective open call for submissions by Muslim writers.
"The events following Trump’s executive order on January 27, 2017, deeply shocked and saddened all of us," the agents wrote in a statement. "The messages of fear and discrimination against Muslims within this country and to those outside its borders are not ones that reflect our own beliefs and understanding. As a result, we are taking action by encouraging submissions from writers of Muslim heritage for children’s and adult fiction and nonfiction books."
They added: "This is our open call for stories that will bring increased understanding, tolerance, empathy and compassion in the world."
Agents involved in the call as of the issuing of the statement include: Laura Biagi of the Jean V. Naggar Literary Agency; Melissa Edwards of Stonesong Literary; Caitie Flum and Jennifer Johnson-Blalock of Liza Dawson Associates; Lilly Ghahremani of Full Circle Literary; Clelia Gore of Martin Literary Management; Tricia Lawrence and Ammi-Joan Paquette of the Erin Murphy Literary Agency, Carrie Pestritto, Kirsten Carleston, and Becca Stumpf of the Prospect Agency, and Cindy Uh of the Thompson Literary Agency.
Other agents have since joined the open call, which is hosted on Gore's website.
