Lee Melillo
Lee Melillo (they/she) joined Dunham Literary, Inc. in May 2024 as Jennie Dunham’s assistant, following an internship with Dystel, Goderich, & Bourret LLC. She was made an Associate Literary Agent in June 2025. Lee additionally manages the agency’s social media and website, is a second-reader for queries, handles royalty statements and permissions, and assists on preparing submissions.
Lee graduated summa cum laude from Fordham University in 2022, with a B.A and honors in English and Theatre Directing. Through her majors, Lee discovered her passion for advocating for writers. She’s guided by the belief that literature is one of the most effective ways to gain empathy for and understanding of life experiences outside our own.
Originally from New Haven, Connecticut, Lee now resides in Sunnyside with her cats/office assistants, Meatloaf and Muffin Man. Lee maintains her love of theatre as the Executive Artistic Director of Personal Pizza Party, an indie production company, and by performing full renditions of musical theatre classics on the glorious stage of her shower.
You can find Lee on Instagram and Bluesky at @leemelillobooks.
What Lee’s Seeking:
Lee represents YA, New Adult, and Adult Fiction written by, for, and about marginalized communities. Across the board, she looks for high-concept plots, atmospheric prose, and well-drawn universes. She’s attracted to commercial hooks that can reel in a wide range of readers and subsequently deliver well-executed, memorable reading experiences on the sentence level. She appreciates elements of mystery or suspense, especially in historical settings; big-hearted, accessible reads that center platonic and/or romantic relationships; and sharp, weird senses of humor that appeals to a generation of readers raised online.
In Adult Fiction, Lee is searching for book club and upmarket fiction from BIPOC women, neurodiverse, and queer authors. She’d like contemporary fiction exploring complex issues that have both personal and societal implications; eclectic rom-coms with strong plots and unique hooks; ensemble-casts, ideally of women and/or queer folk; or cozy slice-of-life centered around a community space. She is also open to contemporary or historical fiction centered around myth, either through retellings of classics or the invention of new mythologies for the modern age; dark magical realism; bubblegum thrillers; and socially-conscious horror.
In Young and New Adult Fiction, Lee looks for YA that has crossover potential and NA stories set in college or directly post-grad. Her taste in these categories is broad, but she’s mostly looking for stories her 15-year-old self would’ve dedicated a tumblr blog to. Diversity is a must, as are well-developed, loveable (or love-to-hateable) characters. She enjoys meticulously-researched, atmospheric historical fiction with an element of mystery/suspense or other propulsive plot engines. She also loves dystopian fiction, but it must be grounded in real life issues and critique our present-day socio-political systems. For contemporary fiction, she’s open to stories centering queer characters, characters with mental illness and particularly OCD, or rom-com heroines with autism in interesting, off-beat settings.
Lee does NOT currently represent picture books, middle grade, graphic novels, or non-fiction/memoirs of any kind. She’s also not the right fit for Erotica; high fantasy or space operas; US military/police/modern politics; most stories with male-majority casts; most sports; anything that romanticizes gang life or the mafia; explicit depictions of sexual assault or violent cruelty towards people or animals; or literally anything where a pet dies.
For a more detailed description of Lee’s interests and examples, CLICK HERE to see her Manuscript Wishlist.