Kayla Lightner

Kayla Lightner is a junior agent and assistant at Ayesha Pande Literary. Prior to joining the wonderful team at APL, she worked at Liza Dawson Associates. Kayla is also a member of the We Need Diverse Books Adult Internship Grant Committee. A Georgia native with a BA in English from Vassar College, Kayla worked as a fashion market assistant at Harper’s Bazaar and a freelance writer at Creative Loafing Atlanta before finding her way to publishing. An adventurous reader, Kayla loves stories—across commercial fiction, literary fiction, and nonfiction—that masterfully straddle the line between storytelling and teaching her something new. She represents adult nonfiction and literary, upmarket, and commercial fiction and is particularly enamored with speculative fiction that centers Black voices, humorous essay collections, and compelling family sagas. When Kayla’s not reading, she can be found writing, performing stand-up, and reminiscing on her rugby days.