Three Canadian literary agents at McDermid Agency seek authors, YA to adult fiction, plus nonfiction

Company Town by Madeline Ashby,
represented by The McDermid Agency

The McDermid Agency Inc.

320 Front Street West

Suite 1105

Toronto, ON M5V 3B6

http://mcdermidagency.com/

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The McDermid Agency represents literary novelists and upmarket commercial novelists and writers of nonfiction in the areas of memoir, popular science, investigative journalism, popular culture, lifestyle, biography, history and travel. The agency also represents children's and young adult (YA) writers and writers in the fields of science fiction and fantasy. 

The agency’s writers have been nominees and winners of many literary prizes including the Man Booker Prize, the Scotiabank Giller Prize, the Governor General’s Literary Awards, the Writers Trust awards, the RBC Taylor Prize for narrative non-fiction, the (formerly named) Orange Prize, the Amazon First Novel Award, the Kobo Emerging Writers prize, the Danuta Gleed Award, and the Commonwealth Prize.

The McDermid Agency has three agents actively looking for new authors:

Monica Pacheco joined the agency in 2008 and represents a growing list of writers. represents a growing list of writers, focusing on Young Adult, science fiction and fantasy, and literary fiction

Her clients include:

Actress/writer/director Sarah Polley (Didi and the Bean, forthcoming from HarperCollins Canada)

Yves Meynard (Chrysanthe trilogy, Tor/Macmillan 2012)

Madeline Ashby (Company Town, The Machine Dynasty series, Angry Robot)

Irina Kovalyova (Specimen, forthcoming from House of Anansi spring 2015)

Sarah Henstra (Mad Miss Mimic, forthcoming from Penguin Canada summer 2015)

Janice Poon

Eli K.P. William

and Bram Stoker Award-winning horror writer David Nickle.

Monica will be one of three guest speakers at Brian Henry's “Writing for Children and for Young Adults” workshop, Saturday, August 12, in Collingwood. Details here.

Martha Magor Webb is a literary agent, director and full partner at The McDermid Agency. She’s been with the agency since 2005. She represents a wide range of books, but her list focuses primarily on literary fiction, narrative nonfiction (including memoir and true crime) and ideas-driven nonfiction. She is especially drawn to approaches that are thought-provoking, controversial, change the conversation on a given subject or have a positive impact on people’s lives.

Her clients include: 

Michael Crummey (multiple award-winning author of Sweetland)

Alison Pick (long-listed for the Booker Prize)

Robyn Doolittle (Bestselling author of Crazy Town: The Rob Ford Story)

Deborah Campbell, winner of the 2016 Hilary Weston Writers Trust Prize; Pasha Malla (long-listed for the Giller, shortlisted for the Commonwealth Writer’s Prize, winner of the Danuta Gleed and the Trillium awards)

Jessica Grant, (winner of the Amazon.ca First Novel and the Winterset awards) Grace O'Connell; Andrew Westoll

and Karen Le Billon, whose first book French Kids Eat Everything sold into thirteen countries and translated into ten languages.

Martha will be one of three guest speakers at Brian Henry's “How to Get Published” mini-conference Saturday, November 18, in Guelph. Details here. 

Chris Bucci is a literary agent, director and full partner at The McDermid Agency. He represents bestselling authors such as Bob Rae, Timothy Caulfield, Susan Delacourt, Jowita Bydlowdka, James Grainger, and Kerri Sakamoto.

Chris began his career at the University of Toronto Press and soon became an acquisitions editor in social sciences and cultural studies. Chris joined HarperCollins Canada in 2003 as a nonfiction editor. Moving to McClelland & Stewart in 2004, Chris helped revitalize their nonfiction program, establishing relationships with international authors, agents and publishers.

Chris represents both fiction and nonfiction. In particular, he’s looking for  literary fiction, mysteries, thrillers, historical fiction, commercial literary fiction and narrative nonfiction. For nonfiction, he seeks popular science, sports, popular culture, politics, essays, and history.

Submissions:
Send queries to: info@mcdermidagency.com
You are welcome to include the first 5–15 pages of your manuscript. Please do not send any further material unless invited. And naturally, you should address your query to one agent in particular. Full submission guidelines here.

Brian Henry will lead a Writing for Children & for Young Adult workshop on Saturday, August 12, in Collingwood with literary agent Monica Pacheco (see here). 

In the fall, Brian will lead a weekly Writing Kid Lit class, Thursday mornings, Oct 5 – Nov 30, in Oakville, with guest authors Sylvia McNicoll and Jennifer Mook-Sang (see here).

Note: For updated listings of Writing for Children & for Young adult workshops and for weekly Kid lit classes, see here (and scroll down).

Brian will lead a Writing Your Life and Other True Stories workshop on Saturday, Aug 19 in Brampton (see here). 

Join us for a Fall Colours Writing Retreat, at the wonderful Arowhon Pines Resort in Algonquin Park, Friday, Sept 15 – Sunday, Sept 17 (see here).

Also, in the fall, Brian will lead a “How to Make Yourself Write” workshop on Saturday, Oct 14, in Toronto (see here), a “Writing a Bestseller” workshop with New York Times #1 bestselling author Kelley Armstrong on Saturday, Oct 21 (see here), and a “How to Get Published” mini-conference, with author Hannah McKinnon, literary agent Martha Webb, and HarperCollins editor Michelle Meade on Saturday, Nov 18 (see here).

Brian will lead a full range of courses, introductory to advanced, including (for the first time) a weekly creative writing course in Toronto: 

Image by Nina Leen

Welcome to Creative Writing, Thursday afternoons, Sept 28 – Nov 30, in Burlington. See here.

Writing Personal Stories, Wednesday evenings, Sept 27 – Nov 15, in Burlington. See here.

Writing Kid Lit, Thursday mornings, Oct 5 – Nov 30, in Oakville, with guest authors Sylvia McNicoll and Jennifer Mook-Sang. See here.

Next Step in Creative Writing, Tuesday afternoons Sept 26 – Nov 28, in Burlington. See here.

Intensive Creative Writing, Monday mornings, Sept 25 – Dec 4, in Toronto. See here.

Intensive Creative Writing, Thursday evenings, Sept 28 – Nov 30 in Georgetown. See here.

Extreme Creative Writing, Wednesday afternoons, Sept 20 – Dec 6, in Burlington

See details of all seven courses offered in the fall here.

For more information or to reserve a spot in any workshop, retreat, or weekly course, email brianhenry@sympatico.ca

Read reviews of Brian’s courses and workshops here.

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

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