Writers House is one of the leading literary agencies, handling nearly every category of fiction and nonfiction, for both adults and young readers, with a record number of bestselling and award winning authors and illustrators.

I became an agent after nearly 20 years on the “other side of the desk,” where I was an editor and publisher of books for young readers and adults. As an agent, I handle children’s books--middle grade to young-adult, fiction and nonfiction, and the occasional picture book. I also handle books for adults, primarily nonfiction (eg., history, science, natural history, politics, current events, popular cultural and the arts, biography, and memoir).

CHILDREN'S FICTION (YA AND MIDDLE GRADE)

Ruta Sepetys, Between Shades of Gray. NYTimes bestseller. Sold into 24 foreign territories.
John Corey Whaley, Where Things Come Back. PW Flying Start 2011.
Elizabeth Partridge, DogTag Summer
Ilene Cooper, Angel in My Pocket
Wendy Shang, The Great Wall of Lucy Wu
Holy Goldberg Sloan, I'll Be There
Ernie Altbacker, Shark Wars
Andy Mulligan, Trash
Lisa Klein, Ophelia, Cate of the Lost Colony

CHILDREN'S NONFICTION

Deborah Heiligman, Charles and Emma. National Book Award Finalist and Printz Honor.
Elizabeth Partridge, Marching for Freedom. Boston Globe-Horn Book Award.
Sally M. Walker, Secrets of a Civil War Submarine. Sibert Medalist.
David Macaulay, The Way Things Work, Castle, Cathedral. Caldecott Medalist.
Loree Griffin Burns, Tracking Trash, The Hive Detectives
Marc Aronson, Trapped, Witch Hunt. Sibert Medalist.
HP Newquist, Here There Be Monsters, For Boys Only (with Marc Aronson)
Steven Sheinkin, The Notorious Benedict Arnold. Boston Globe-Horn Book Award.
Karen Blumenthal, Six Days in October, Bootleg. Sibert Honor.

CHILDREN'S PICTURE BOOKS

Allen Say, Grandfather's Journey, Erika-San. Caldecott Medalist.
John Hendrix, John Brown, Abe Lincoln Crosses the Creek
Deborah Freedman, Scribble, Blue Chicken

ADULT

Gregory Mone
Mike Thomas
Mark Stein
Matthew Davis
Amanda Pressner, Jennifer Baggett, Holly Corbett

Recent Children’s sales include:

Fiction:

COUNTING BY SEVENS by Holly Goldberg Sloan/Dutton/Penguin Young Reader's Group

INTENTIONS by Deborah Heiligman/Knopf Books for Young Readers

THE OTHER FELIX by Keir Graff/Roaring Brook Press

AIN'T IT CRAZY by Ruta Sepetys/Philomel/Penguin Young Readers Group

BEING AUDREY HEPBURN by Mitchell Kriegman and Lisa Daily/St. Martin's

Picture Books:

BLUE CHICKEN by Deborah Freedman/Viking Books for Young Readers

DRAWING FROM MEMORY by Allen Say/Scholstic

SHOOTING AT THE STARS by John Hendrix/Abrams

ONE LOVE and THREE LITTLE BIRDS by Bob Marley (adapted by Cedella Marley), illustrated by Vanessa Newton/Chronicle

Nonfiction:

BEETLE BUSTERS by Loree Griffin Burns/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

LINCOLN'S GRAVE ROBBERS by Steve Sheinkin/Scholastic

THE PORT CHICAGO MUTINY by Steve Sheinkin/Roaring Brook

ARRESTED BY A DAME! by Deborah Heiligman/Henry Holt

A BLIZZARD OF GLASS by Sally M. Walker/Henry Holt

ABRACADABRA: A HISTORY OF MAGIC by HP Newquist/Feiwel & Friends

HOME SWEET HOME by David Macaulay/Roaring Brook Press

THE WALL: A HISTORY OF THE VIETNAM WAR by Betsy Partridge/Viking

THE MASON DIXON LINE by Sally M. Walker/Candlewick

Recent Adult sales include:

HOW THE STATES GOT THEIR SHAPES Too: The People Behind the Borderlines by Mark Stein/Smithsonian Books (a sequel to the New York Times bestselling book, How the States Got Their Shapes)

THE SECOND CITY UNSCRIPTED: REVOLUTION AND REVELATION AT THE WORLD-FAMOUS COMEDY THEATER by Mike Thomas/Villard Books (Random House)

THE LOST GIRLS: THREE FRIENDS, FOUR CONTINENTS, ONE UNCONVENTIONAL DETOUR AROUND THE WORLD by Jennifer Baggett, Holly Corbett, and Amanda Pressner/Harper/HarperCollins

THE TRUTH ABOUT SANTA: WORM HOLES, ROBOTS, AND WHAT REALLY HAPPENS ON CHRISTMAS EVE by Greg Mone/Bloomsbury

WHEN THINGS GET DARK: A MONGOLIAN WINTER'S TALE by Matthew Davis/St. Martin's Press

THE LOST GIRLS optioned to Warner Bros for feature film. Also optioned to Warner Bros for scripted television series.

B.A. and M.A. in English; 20 years as editor and publisher at houses including Oxford University Press, HarperCollins, Henry Holt, and Scholastic; guest faculty at Stanford Publishing Course; regular participant at national and regional writers conferences; frequently asked to speak on issues relating to book publishing.

You should check the Writers House website for the relevant information: www.writershouse.com

I am selectively seeking new clients. Submissions by email and regular mail (with SASE, please) are okay.

For nonfiction, please send a query letter and a brief synopsis.

For fiction, please provide a query letter, a brief synopsis, and the first 20 or so pages of the manuscript.

No screenplays.

Writers House requests that you submit to just one agent in our agency at a time; so, if you have sent the same query to another Writers House agent, please be sure to indicate that in your letter to me.

We receive many, many submissions in the course of a short time, and it may not be possible to respond to every query, though we certainly try to.