Four agents at Sandra Dijkstra Literary Agency seek authors

Sandra Dijkstra Literary Agency

PMB 515

1155 Camino del Mar

Del Mar, CA 92014

http://www.dijkstraagency.com/

Roz Foster is a new associate agent for the Dijkstra Agency and she needs authors! She’s also the rights assistant, and talent scout. She has a B.A. in English Literature from UC San Diego, studied philosophy for a year at the University of Sheffield, U.K., and earned her M.A. in English, with an emphasis in composition & rhetoric and creative writing, from Portland State University. She joined the Dijkstra Agency in 2013.

Roz is interested in literary and commercial fiction, women’s fiction, literary sci-fi, and literary YA. She loves novels that make her feel like the author is tuned into a rising revolution — cultural, political, literary, or whatnot — that’s about to burst on the scene. She looks for a resonant, lively voice; rich, irresistible language; complex characters with compelling development arcs; and a mastery of dramatic structure.

Roz is also interested in non-fiction in the areas of current affairs, design, business, cultural anthropology/social science, politics, psychology and memoir. Here, she looks for driven, narrative storytelling and sharp concepts that have the potential to transcend their primary audience.

Please note that Roz is specifically not interested in: sports, cookbooks, screenplays, poetry, romance, and children’s middle-grade/picture books.

Query Roz at: Roz@dijkstraagency.com  

Three other agents at the Dijkstra Agency are also keen to take on new clients:

Thao Le is looking for adult and YA soft science fiction, fantasy, and horror and all of their sub-genres. Her taste for speculative fiction is eclectic and she enjoys both gritty, dark narratives like Anne Bishop's Black Jewel series and fantastically quirky stories like Patricia Wrede's Enchanted Forest Chronicles.

Thao is also looking for light-hearted, funny, and moving contemporary YAs with a raw, authentic teen voice. Thao is drawn to stories with multicultural elements and whose protagonists come from diverse cultural heritages. She’s looking for a story with characters to fall in love with, tight writing, smart-mouthed dialogue, and strong plots that can balance romance and action. 

Query Thao at: thao@dijkstraagency.com

Jill Marr is interested in commercial fiction, with an emphasis on mysteries, thrillers and horror, women's commercial fiction and historical fiction. She is also looking for nonfiction by authors who are getting their work published regularly in magazines and who have a realistic sense of the market and their audience. Jill is looking for nonfiction projects in the areas of self-help, inspirational, cookbooks, memoir (she especially loves travel and foodie memoirs), health & nutrition, pop culture, humor and music.

Query Jill at: jmsubmissions@dijkstraagency.com

Jennifer Azantia is only interested in young-adult science-fiction and fantasy (including all of their sub-genres) as well as smart, psychological horror.

Query Jennifer at: jen@dijkstraagency.com

Submissions:

Fiction: Please send a query letter, a 1-page synopsis, a brief bio (including a description of your publishing history), and the first 10-15 pages of your manuscript. Please send all items in the body of the email. No attachments.

Non-fiction: Please send a query letter, an overview of your project including a chapter outline, a brief bio (including a description of your publishing history), a description of competing books, and the first 10-15 pages of your first chapter. If we are interested, we will ask you to send your complete proposal. Please send all items in the body of the email. No attachments.

Full submissions guidelines here.

Carly Watters

Brian Henry will lead a “How to Get Published” workshop with guest speaker Carly Watters of P.S. Literary agency in Georgetown on October 5 (see here), and he’ll be leading a “Writing for Children & for Young Adults” workshop in Mississauga on Sat, Oct 26. (see here.) 

To register, email brianhenry@sympatico.ca

Brian will also be leading “Secrets of Writing a Page-turner” workshop in Bracebridge (in the heart of Muskoka) on August 10 (see here).  He’ll also lead “How to Write Great Dialogue" workshops in Burlington on Sept 7 (see here), and in Toronto on Sept 28 (see here).

To register, email brianhenry@sympatico.ca

But before you submit, the best way to get your manuscript into shape is with a weekly course. In September, Brian will be leading “Welcome to Creative Writing” on Tuesday afternoons in Burlington (see here); “Writing your life & other true stories” on Tuesday evenings in Burlington (here); "Next Step" courses on Thursday afternoons in Mississauga (here) and Thursday evenings in Georgetown (here) and “Intensive” courses on Wednesday afternoons in Burlington (here) and Wednesday evenings in Mississauga (here). 

To register, email brianhenry@sympatico.ca

See Brian's full schedule here, including writing workshops and creative writing courses in Kingston, Peterborough, Toronto, Mississauga, Brampton, Georgetown, Milton, Oakville, Burlington, St. Catharines, Hamilton, Dundas, Kitchener, Guelph, London, Woodstock, Orangeville, Newmarket, Barrie, Orillia, Bracebridge, Sudbury, Muskoka, Peel, Halton, the GTA, Ontario and beyond.