Kiyash Monsef – Jill Grinberg Literary Management

Kiyash Monsef

Kiyash Monsef is a writer, creative director, and Emmy-nominated producer who has worked in a number of media, including television, short films, comic books, and video games. His debut novel, Once There Was was an instant New York Times bestseller, was selected as Target’s Book of the Year for Young Readers, and was named a Finalist for the 2024 William C. Morris YA Debut Award. He is also a Webby-nominated designer of innovative conversational and voice interface experiences, and has worked for Google, Motorola, Nokia, and The New York Public Library, among many other clients. His short fiction has been featured in Byliner, New Millennium Writings, and Penumbra’s New Fiction. He lives in Berkeley, California.

Agent

Katelyn Detweiler

Once There Was

A New York Times bestseller

Finalist for the William C. Morris YA Debut Award

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them meets Neil Gaiman in this thrilling novel about an Iranian American girl who discovers that her father was secretly a veterinarian to magical creatures—and that she must take up his mantle, despite the many dangers.

Once was, once wasn’t.

So began the stories Marjan’s father told her as a little girl—fables like the story of the girl who sprung a unicorn from a hunter’s snare, or the nomad boy who rescued a baby shirdal. Tales of mythical beasts that filled her with curiosity and wonder.

But Marjan’s not a little girl anymore. In the wake of her father’s sudden death, she is trying to hold it all together: her schoolwork, friendships, and keeping her dad’s shoestring veterinary practice from going under. Then, one day, she receives a visitor who reveals something stunning: Marjan’s father was no ordinary veterinarian. The creatures out of the stories he told her were real—and he traveled the world to care for them. And now that he’s gone, she must take his place.

Marjan steps into a secret world hidden in plain sight, where magical creatures are bought and sold, treasured and trapped. She finds friends she never knew she needed—a charming British boy who grew up with a griffon, a runaway witch seeking magic and home—while trying to hide her double life from her old friends and classmates.

The deeper Marjan gets into treating these animals, the closer she comes to finding who killed her father—and to a shocking truth that will reawaken her sense of wonder and put humans and beasts in the gravest of danger.

Praise for Once There Was

“The detailed visual descriptions clearly conjure up the enchanting world Monsef has created, one populated by expressive, surreal beings, each of which has its own backstory. A striking and heartfelt debut.” –Kirkus

Publisher

Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

Publication Date

April 4, 2023

Age Category

Middle Grade

Genre

Fantasy

Rights

S&S