Author-Illustrator
When the Tides Held the Moon
Erewhon Books, 2025
Publishers Marketplace Announcement: August 7, 2023
Author/Illustrator Venessa Vida Kelley's WHEN THE TIDES HELD THE MOON, pitched as The Shape of Water meets The Greatest Showman, in which an Afro-Boricua migrant in 1911 is pressed to kidnap and care for an ocean-eyed merman on display at a Coney Island sideshow, but when he falls in love with the merman in the tank, he must reckon with the forces that have held him captive as well and realize there's more than one way to be trapped, to Diana Pho at Erewhon, for publication in 2025, by Saritza Hernandez at Andrea Brown Literary Agency (world.)
Film/TV: Tara Timinsky, Grandview
The Shape of Water meets The Greatest Showman…
Erewhon Books announces When the Tides Held the Moon, a queer historical romantasy from author and illustrator Venessa V. Kelley—forthcoming in Spring 2025. World rights negotiated by Saritza Hernández of Andrea Brown Literary. Read more.
When the Tides Held the Moon Teaser
Watch the minute-long teaser trailer for the book >>
WHEN THE TIDES HELD THE MOON will be an illustrated adult work. View concept art from the pitch below!
