Ridley Adams

Ridley Adams is an Afro-Brazilian fantasy writer repped by Jas Perry of KT Literary, and is currently on sub with an MG contemporary fantasy comped to Men in Black x Fantastic Beasts in South Africa. For their day job, Ridley is a conservation biologist; as their father is of Angolan descent and they have a personal connection to the continent, they specialize in African conservation issues. They’ve prevented cheetahs from eating livestock in Namibia, tested out different ways to keep elephants out of croplands in Kenya, ridden donkey carts to work in the Northern Cape of South Africa, designed a picture-only video game to teach non-literate Mozambican villagers about the ecosystem importance of vultures, climbed mountains, been stung by scorpions, and chased many a mamba and puff adder out of their office. When Ridley’s not wildlife-conserving, inventing, or writing, they’re still involved with their old pirate reenactment crew and do swash buckles on occasion.

Age Category: Middle Grade, Young Adult, Adult

Expertise: I'm happy to be a middle grade Mentor-in-Residence primarily, as I know there might be a dearth of those, but I write in all age categories and am specifically likely to be more helpful with spec fic (science fiction and fantasy). I'm happy to answer basic querying questions or general questions about the publishing industry, or about craft in general. As a Black LGBTQIA+ (bisexual and trans) author, I'm also happy to answer some light sensitivity questions