The Team | Smooch Pit

Who we are

#SmoochPit is a Twitter event created to showcase pitches from unagented romance authors. This year will be the first of many, and we hope to make a romantic movement for the future. Four romance authors: Christine, a Nigerian-American, created and moderated the event; Busayo, a Nigerian-Brit; Vanessa, a Ghanaian-Brit, and Amy Barber came together and created an avenue for lovers of romance.

At SmoochPit, we also run a mentoring program where published/agented authors choose one writer each to mentor. Mentors will review the selected candidate's manuscript and help polish it for our major pitch event.

Meet the Smoochie Team

Smooch Pit is a new mentorship program designed to bring together mentors and mentees from various backgrounds. Our diverse team is committed to creating a diverse romance-loving community through mentorship.

Founder

Christine

Christine is a Nigerian-American aspiring author with a passion for storytelling and a dedication to uplifting fellow authors. Born and raised in a rich cultural background, Christine draws inspiration from her Nigerian heritage and the diverse experiences that have shaped her perspective. Through her writing, she explores themes of sisterhood, love, family dynamics with depth and authenticity. Her work in progress FROM BOLE TO LOVE is currently in the querying pile.

When she's not writing, she's sharing her love for BIPOC romance on bookstagram or spending time with family.

Co Founder

Busayo

Busayo Matuluko is a Black, British Nigerian nursing undergraduate, YA writer, and extremely opinionated BookToker.

As someone who grew up reading many books without the representation she desired, she started writing to fulfil that. She will always find a way to wriggle in two black people falling in love in her work.

Somehow during that process she managed to trick Gyamfia Osei at The Good Literary Agency into signing her on as a client.

When she's not writing you can find her on Twitter at 3am tweeting her most random thoughts, or binge watching TV shows she's already watched about a thousand times

Mentorship Coordinator

Amy

Amy Buchanan is a contemporary romance author who, after decades of devouring love stories written by others, finally decided to share the ones pinging around in her brain. She writes fun and spicy romances with relatable heroines, swoonworthy heroes, and loving found families. She was a member of the SmoochPit Class of 2022 and is now represented by Jemiscoe Chambers-Black at Andrea Brown Literary Agency. Her debut, LET'S CALL A TRUCE, will be published in 2025 by St Martin's Griffin.

She lives in Central Florida with her three littles, two pups, and one husband. On top of writing, she uses her Masters in Higher Education Administration to run a scholarship foundation for first-generation college students. When not working, she trolls travel sites for luxury rentals outside of her travel budget and–poorly–trains for half-marathons.

Co Founder

Vanessa

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