Tuesday, December 1, 2015

Six literary agents at New Leaf want new authors of picture books, Middle Grade, YA and adult fiction and nonfiction & memoir

New Leaf Literary & Media
110 West 40th Street, Suite 410
New York, NY 10018

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Jaida Temperly is the newest member of the team at New Leaf Literary, and like all new agents, she needs new authors. Until recently, she was a literary assistant to senior agent Joanna Volpe, but is now excited to be building her client list. Current clients include Kody Keplinger, Kirsten Hubbard, Eric Telchin, Amber McRee Turner, and Maggie Heinze. She also represents illustrators Betsy Bauer, James Lipnickas, and Genevieve Santos.

After a brief stint in medical school at University Wisconsin–Madison, Jaida moved from Wisconsin to New York City for an internship at Writer’sHouse. After five months, Jaida joined New Leaf Literary & Media, where she has been assisting Joanna Volpe for the past three years.

Jaida is seeking middle grade and young adult titles. She has a particular love for quirky, dark stories (The Mysterious Benedict Society, Coraline, Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s Library). She’s also open to picture books by author-illustrators with completed dummies.

For Adult Fiction, she loves manuscripts with strong mystery, high fantasy, or religious undertones (The Westing Game, A Discovery of Witches, A Game of Thrones, The Da Vinci Code).

Query Jaida at: query@newleafliterary.com
The word "Query" must be in the subject line, plus the agent's name; e.g., Subject: Query, Jaida Temperly. Include up to 5 double-spaced pages. No attachments.

New Leaf is a young agency and the other five agents involved are all taking on new clients:

New Leaf is led by Joanna Volpe who was previously with Nancy Coffey Literary. Joanna represents all kinds of fiction, from picture books to adult.

Joanna’s picture book taste is the most eclectic, ranging from sweet to fun to smart to quirky. For other fiction (both adult and children's) she has an affinity for stories that have a darker element to them, whether they be horror, drama or comedy. She's not the kind of reader that needs a romance in her novels, though she does appreciate a good one. 

On the nonfiction side her tastes are much more specific.  For children she looks for topics that captivate kids: biographies, animal-related stories, all sciences and history, etc. Joanna also has an affinity for morbid, weird or offbeat topics. In her adult nonfiction tastes she tends toward all things geek-related, foodie books, travel books, and general pop-culture and pop-science. Overall, she's looking for anything that highlights under-represented characters. More diversity, please!

Read 20 Questions with Joanna here

Query Joanna at: query@newleaflitrary.com   
Include up to 5 double-spaced sample pages within the body of the email. Please include "Query – Joanna Volpe" in the subject. No attachments.

Peter Knapp joined the agency July 6, 2015, and as with all new agents, Pete is hungry for new authors Peter represents authors of middle grade and young adult fiction across all genres, and he's also seeking out smart, high-concept adult fiction. He is genre-agnostic, as long as the writing is great – meaning a standout voice, complex characters (not just the protagonist), and plotting that keeps the reader hooked from the first page through to the very end.

In middle grade, he likes literary award-contenders, epic adventures (fantastical or not) and everything in-between. He has a special place in his heart for middle grade that is spooky, funny, irreverent—or all three.

In YA, he wants character-driven contemporary, magical realism, epic fantasy (but it must feel fresh), and realistic stories with some type of twist (speculative, fantastical or otherwise – such as THE RAVEN BOYS, BONE GAP, WE WERE LIARS, etc).

For adult fiction, he wants high concept, voice-driven stories, ranging from the highly commercial (such as THE MARTIAN or Blake Crouch's books) to the more literary (THE AGE OF MIRACLES, THE LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS).

For all ages, Peter is always on the lookout for character-driven horror and suspense. Visit Pete’s website here.

Query Peter at: query@newleaflitrary.com   
Include up to 5 double-spaced sample pages within the body of the email. Please include "Query - Pete Knapp" in the subject. No attachments.

Kathleen Ortiz is actively seeking to sign more authors and illustrators, specifically fresh, new voices in YA and animator/illustrator talent. In YA she gravitates more toward beautiful and exceptional world building as well as contemporary stories whose main characters stay with the reader far beyond the pages. She would love to see a beautifully written YA set within other cultures and experiences. 

On the illustration side, she loves animator/illustrators and their unique way of storytelling.

Query Kathleeen at: query@newleaflitrary.com   
Include up to 5 double-spaced sample pages within the body of the email. Please include "Query – Kathleen Ortiz" in the subject. No attachments.

Suzie Townsend represents all brands of children's and adult fiction. She is actively looking to build her list. In adult, she's specifically looking for new adult, romance (all subgenres), fantasy (urban fantasy, science fiction, steampunk, epic fantasy) and crime fiction (mysteries, thrillers). In Childrens' she loves YA (all subgenres) and is dying to find great Middle Grade projects.

Suzie loves strong characters and voice driven stories that break out of the typical tropes of their genres.

Query Suzie at: query@newleaflitrary.com   
Include up to 5 double-spaced sample pages within the body of the email. Please include "Query – Suzie Townsend" in the subject. No attachments.

Mackenzie Brady Watson joined New Leaf Literary as an agent in 2014. Previously, she'd been an agent at Charlotte Sheedy Literary Agency and before that an intern at Farrar, Straus & Giroux and FinePrint Literary Management.

Mackenzie was a microbiologist in her pre-publishing life, so she's always on the hunt for projects that bring new facets of science to light. She is endlessly fascinated by the human body, especially the heart. Her taste in nonfiction extends beyond science books to memoirs, lost histories, epic sports narratives, and gift/lifestyle books. She's looking for nonfiction for all ages. She is particularly interested in projects with a strong narrative and a female bend.

If you've written the next Brain on Fire, The Power of Habit, Random Family, The Boys in the Boat, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Autobiography of an Execution, or Young House Love, she wants to see it. 

On the fiction side, Mackenzie only represents a very select list of upmarket commercial-literary adult and YA projects.  She also represents illustrators with or without book projects of their own. In the end, all she wants is to be told a good story.

Query Mackenzie at: query@newleaflitrary.com   
Include up to 5 double-spaced sample pages within the body of the email. Please include "Query -Mackenzie Brady Watson" in the subject. No attachments.

Full submission guidelines here.

Olga Filina
Brian Henry will lead How to Get Published workshops on Saturday, Feb 20, in Kitchener, with literary agent Olga Filina of The Rights Factory (see here) and on Saturday, Feb 27, in Brampton with Martha Webb of the McDermid Agency (see here).

Also, Brian will lead Writing for Children & for Young Adults workshops on Saturday, March 5, in Burlington, with Monica Pacheco, literary agent with The McDermid Agency (see here), and on Saturday, April 30, in Guelph, with Yasemin Uçar, senior editor, Kids Can Press (see here).

Other upcoming workshops include Writing Your Life, Saturday, Dec 5, in Burlington (see  here), How to Build Your Story, Saturday, Jan 16, in Georgetown (see here), and Saturday, Jan 30 in Toronto (see here), and Writing With Style, Saturday, March 12, in Oakville (see here).

For more information or to register, email brianhenry@sympatico.ca

But the best way to grow as a writer or to get your manuscript ready for publication may be with a weekly class. Starting in the new year, Brian will be offering a full range of courses for both beginning to experienced writers (details of all five classes here)
Welcome to Creative Writing, Thursday afternoons, Jan 28 – March 31, (no class March 17), in Burlington. (See details of this class here.)
Writing Personal Stories, Tuesday afternoons, Feb 2 – March 29, (no class March 15) in Burlington (see here.)
The Next Step in Creative Writing, Wednesday evenings, Jan 20 – March 30 (no class March 16), in Burlington (see here)
Intermediate Creative Writing, Thurs evenings, Jan 21 – March 31, (no class March 17), in Georgetown (see here)
Intensive Creative Writing, Wednesday afternoons, Jan 20 – March 9  (For details, email brianhenry@sympatico.ca) 
See details of all five classes here.
Read reviews of Brian’s courses and workshops here.
To register or for more information, email: brianhenry@sympatico.ca

See Brian's full schedule here, including writing workshops and creative writing courses in Algonquin Park, Barrie, Bracebridge, Brampton, Burlington, Caledon, Collingwood, Georgetown, Guelph, Hamilton, Ingersoll, Kingston, Kitchener, London, Midland, Mississauga, Newmarket, Orillia, Oakville, Ottawa, Peterborough, St. Catharines, Saint John, NB, Sudbury, Thessalon, Toronto, Windsor, Halton, Kitchener-Waterloo, Muskoka, Peel, Simcoe, York, the GTA, Ontario and beyond.


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