“Birth Certificate” by Frank Banfield

Frank's Birth Certificate. Click to expand

Everyone should have one of these: a birth certificate!

This document shows the date I was born, my father’s full name and my mother’s birth name and her married name also. The place where I was born is called Calivigny. What a strange name for a colony of the British Empire!

To me, the most important fact is that I have a mother and a father. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t be here. My dad has roots in Ireland, England, St Vincent and Barbados. My mother has Scottish and African roots.

And so begins my tale.

As my birth certificate states, I was born on the island of Grenada, which is 12 miles across and 24 miles long and was named by France (before they lost it to the British).

The story goes that my father, a prosperous farmer, married his cousin and raised five children. All of them were girls. During a storm my father went out to make sure the cattle were okay. He got soaked to his bones. His wife went out to feed the pigs. She slipped and died where she fell.

Nutmeg

You can imagine his dilemma. He had to look after the farm and five daughters. On top of this, his grief tugged at his heart. His oldest child, Ermintrude, could see her father could not cope. 

One day she took him aside and told him about a young woman who might make him happy.

“Whose family is she from?” he asked.

“The Marshalls,” Ermintrude answered and handed him their address. 

My father sent a letter to the family to arrange for a time to meet the young lady. Upon receiving an invitation, and being a no-nonsense man, he dressed in his Sunday best and saddled up his horse.  He covered the fifteen miles to the Marshall estate in a few hours.

When he arrived, Mrs. Marshall ushered him into the drawing room and sat him next to her younger daughter. To his surprise, Mrs. Marshall had two daughters. Her older daughter, Rica, was recently widowed. Rica served tea and supper. This way Mrs. Marshall’s younger daughter could spend time getting to know my father. My father was impressed with Rica’s skills.

Mister Marshall, a prominent nutmeg estate owner, arrived in time for the evening meal. At the conclusion of supper, Rica began to clear the dishes. My father got up from his chair and said, “Mister Marshall would you give me your daughter…” Before he could finish his question, the younger daughter, began to tremble.

My father continued, “Your daughter Rica’s hand in marriage?”

Rica dropped the platter from her hands. Her younger sister, who was relieved not to have to marry a much older man, quickly gave Rica a big hug. Mr. Marshall extended his hand to my father. “Welcome to our family, Walter.” 

***

Frank Banfield was born on the tiny island of Grenada forever ago. He likes to write about the trials and triumphs of family members. As one of fifteen children Frank is likely to be writing for some time.

See all of Brian’s upcoming weekly writing classes, one-day workshops, and weekend retreats here.

 

“Foster and Elmo” by Randi Evans

 

I was dreading picking our kids up from school. Our 14-year-old border collie had been missing, and the Humane Society had just called saying that he had been hit by a car and hadn’t survived. I knew the kids would be devastated, as were my husband, Bill, and I.

We had recently moved and thought we had secured our yard. But this was the second time he had found a way out, painting our sadness with a layer of guilt. The worst moment was that evening, when our 12-year-old son tearfully confided, “I don’t ever want another pet. They just die.”

It was seven years before we felt ready again. We had recently lost Bill’s mother, and everyone was in a funk. A puppy might be just what we needed.  We chose an 8-week-old tri-black Australian Shepherd. He had the beautiful full coat of his father, Bud the Spud of Bootez, a fly-ball champion. His mother was Spark of Light, a red merle and a herder. We thought a great name would be Bud Light, but settled on Foster, thinking an Australian beer would be more appropriate.

We diligently took him for obedience training, even entering him in competitions. That ended when Bill came home from a show chuckling and saying that Foster scored top marks, but the handler (Bill) had made enough mistakes to bounce them out of the medals.

Foster

We learned that Foster had inherited his mother’s herding instinct the day we heard shrieks of terror and went outside to find our daughter and her friends being held captive in a corner of the yard. Foster was nipping at their heels if they tried to leave the “herd”. Sadly, we had to quell that natural talent with intense training.

Foster’s best friend was Elmo, a big German Shepherd with a friendly face and one floppy ear, who lived just around the corner. All of the neighbours knew Elmo.  He’d learned that if he jumped against his fence, he could pop the gate open. He would take off for hours until he was led home by a neighbour or returned on his own dripping wet from the nearby creek. 

 I was nervous when we introduced this huge dog to our puppy, but it was immediately clear that they were going to be pals. They had playdates where they ran in wild circles around our yard, attacked our twirling sprinkler and played keep-away with balls and Frisbees. We were amazed to watch Foster brilliantly dodge Elmo’s attempts to catch him.

We learned just how agile Foster was the day he jumped our five foot fence from a standstill. Ahhh. . . agility training might be fun. We were proud of how quickly he progressed, but soon realized our mistake. The better he got, the higher our fence needed to be. 

When he started inexplicably getting out of our yard, we wondered, could he be jumping our new 6-foot fence? The man across the street solved the mystery. He had watched one day as Elmo ran to our fence, jumped against it popping our latch, nudged the gate open, and freed Foster. The two of them headed straight to the creek.

When Elmo was seven, his owners were moving and couldn’t take him. Bill (unbeknownst to me) offered to adopt Elmo. I wasn’t happy, as the dogs’ playtime put my prized azaleas and tender sedum in grave danger. I knew that would now be a daily occurrence. But Elmo needed a home. I rationalized. He was seven. Not that I wanted him to die, but I knew he probably wouldn’t be with us more than another five years. I convinced myself I could live with that. 

Elmo

Besides, it was good for Foster to have company when we were gone all day. And the two of them were great babysitters. The first time we left our 11-year-old daughter home alone in the evening, we returned to find her on the couch watching TV sandwiched between the dogs. Of course, I eventually came to love Elmo as much as Foster, which was a good thing, as Elmo lived to be eighteen.

As compatible as the dogs were, there were major differences. Elmo was a natural predator. We had to check that no squirrel, rabbit, or other creature was in our yard before letting him out. Foster had no such instincts. One day he was under our deck, growling ferociously every time Elmo or Bill got near. This was totally out of character. 

We went onto the deck and looked down between the floorboards to find Foster standing protectively over a rabbit’s nest. There were five babies with their eyes barely open. If one started to wriggle away, he gently nudged it back into the nest with his nose. The wild animal rescue told us to bring the kits in. We locked Elmo up and coaxed Foster away with raw meat long enough to snatch the babies.

One warm summer night, Foster and Elmo had the adventure that eclipsed all others. Our teenage daughter came charging up the basement stairs yelling, “SKUNK! SKUNK! A skunk sprayed the window, and it’s gross.” We rushed outside to see the dogs running around, agitated and confused. The smell was so strong we couldn’t tell if they had been directly hit or it was just in the air. It was too late to buy deodorizers, so we locked them in the garage for the night. 

The next morning, Bill went to let them out and found them sitting motionless exactly where he had left them. Their expressions asked “what were you thinking?” Then a slight motion caught Bill’s eye from the far end of the garage. He was horrified to realize that we had locked the dogs in with the skunk all night. It took us two days to get the skunk to leave, which was a month sooner than the smell.

Of course there were the vet bills, chewed shoes, mammoth hair balls, happy tails wagging mud onto the walls, holes in the yard, trampled tulips and the occasional stolen hotdog. But, as long as we had Foster and Elmo, all of us felt safe, unconditionally loved, and of course, well entertained.

***

Randi Evans enjoys travelling, gardening, classroom volunteering and being a grandma. She has always enjoyed writing, but for years found little time to do more than edit or write an occasional article for the company newsletter. In retirement, Randi has written a few picture-book stories for her young grandchildren and is now experimenting with other genres, including memoirs, short fiction and poetry. Randi lives in St. Catharines, Ontario.

See Brian Henry’s upcoming weekly writing classes, one-day workshops, and weekend retreats here.

Curtis Brown is one of the world's leading literary agencies, and these 3 Curtis Brown agents are hungry for new authors

Curtis Brown Ltd

228 E 45th Street
New York, NY  10017

http://www.curtisbrown.com/

Don't ever miss what’s happening with Quick Brown Fox. If you’re not yet on my newsletter, send me an email, including your locale to: brianhenry@sympatico.ca
  ~Brian

Curtis Brown is one of the world’s leading literary agencies, representing a wide variety of established and emerging authors of all genres since 1914. With seventeen agents and offices  in New York, San Francisco and New Orleans, Curtis Brown is full-service literary agency that handles all aspects of their clients’ careers, including dramatic, translation, audio and digital media rights. For new authors, your best bets at Curtis Brown may be one of these three agents:

Jazmia Young is an associate agent at Curtis Brown Ltd and is the newest member of the team. Like all new agents, she needs authors.

Jazmia received her bachelor’s degree in English with a concentration in Creative Writing at the City College of New York and was a graduate of the Publishing Certificate Program at CCNY.

Jazmia is interested in representing children’s books, picture books through YA, focusing on middle-grade fiction and nonfiction with the goal of amplifying underrepresented voices and experiences. She particularly loves stories with friendship ties, complicated family dynamics, and grief or loss. Being a New York native, anything based in the great NYC has her heart.

Jazmia is also the Administrative Assistant of the Association of American Literary Agents.

Query Jazmia at: jky@cbltd.com

Paste the first ten pages of your manuscript into the body of the email and put QUERY in the subject line.

Kerry D’Agostino is a literary agent at Curtis Brown, Ltd. She represents literary and upmarket fiction, and her authors include novelists Andrea Bobotis, Leesa Cross-Smith, Nancy Wayson Dinan, Micah Dean Hicks, Leslie Pietrzyk and Liza Wieland, as well as suspense writers Caroline B. Cooney and John Straley. Kerry also represents select nonfiction and YA. 

Kerry is particularly drawn to character-driven work, unconventional plot structures, unreliable narrators, complicated family relationships, and speculative elements that challenge our ways of thinking about the world.

Kerry is a graduate of Bowdoin College, Harvard Graduate School of Education and the Columbia Publishing Course. She currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Association of American Literary Agents, where she is also a member of the organization’s Programming and Communications Committees and a mentor for the Literary Agents of Change Mentorship Program. Kerry is also a member of Curtis Brown’s Inclusion & Accountability Committee. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband and two cats.

Query Kerry at kd@cbltd.com

 Include either the first fifty pages of your manuscript or your full proposal in an attachment as a Word document. Kerry reviews all submissions within three to four weeks and will respond if she is interested in seeing more.

Sarah Gerton is an agent at Curtis Brown, Ltd. She’s building a list of fiction and narrative nonfiction for middle grade and young adult readers. While fantasy is her first love, she’s eager to read YA and MG fiction of all genres, gravitating toward character-driven stories with unforgettable settings. 

On the nonfiction side, her interests include beautifully written history, reportage, and/or memoir for a young audience.

Sarah graduated from Wesleyan University and the Columbia Publishing Course.

Queries Sarah at: sg@cbltd.com

Put “query” in the subject line and include the first ten pages of your manuscript in the body of the email.

Full submission guidelines here.

If you’re interested in meeting an agent and in getting published, don’t miss our online How to Get Published   workshop Sunday, February 20, with literary agent Marie Lamba of the Jennifer De Chiara Agency. Marie represents both adult and children’s literature and is an author herself. Details here.  

Note: if it’s past Feb 2022, check out upcoming “How to Get Published” workshops here.

Beyond that, Brian’s schedule continues to take shape....

Workshops:

Online: Raising the Stakes ~ How to increase your story’s tension.
  Sunday, February 27. See here.

Writing Retreats:

Jackson's Point on Lake Simcoe: Writing Retreat at The Briars Resort and Spa.  Get away to this modern lakeside resort built around a historic country estate.  Friday, March 4 – Monday, March 7. Details  here. Still space in this retreat.

Algonquin Park: Writing Retreat at Arowhon Pines Resort, June 3 – June 6. Join us for a weekend of creativity and fine dining in the midst of the Algonquin wilderness. Details  here. This retreat is full. 

Muskoka Writing Retreat at Sherwood Inn, Friday, Oct 14 – Monday Oct 17, 2022. Details here. Mark your calendars and reserve early before it fills up! 

Weekly classes starting in April:

In-person: Welcome to Creative Writing, an introductory, low-pressure course to get the creative juices flowing Thursday evenings, April 14 – June 21. Details here.

Details of online spring classes coming soon.

For more details or to register for any workshop, retreat or weekly class, email brianhenry@sympatico.ca

Navigation tips: Always check out the Labels underneath a post; they’ll lead you to various distinct collections of postings. If you're searching for more interviews with literary agents or a literary agent who represents a particular type of book, check out this post.

How to Get Published workshop with literary agent Marie Lamba, Sunday, Feb 20 ~ online

The Lost Language by Claudia Mills
represented by JDLA

How to Get Published

An editor & a literary agent tell all

Sunday, February 20, 2022
1:15 – 5:00 p.m. Toronto time
Online and accessible wherever there's Internet

If you've ever dreamed of becoming a published author, this workshop is for you. We’ll focus on the process of submitting to an agent or publisher, and show you exactly how to write a query letter that will get a “yes!” Bring all your questions! Come and get ready to be published!

Special Option: Participants are invited to prepare a draft of a query letter you might use to interest an agent or publisher in your book. You don't need to prepare anything, but if you like, email me a draft of your query prior to our workshop. Marie and I will critique several queries, perhaps half a dozen, so everyone can see what works, what doesn’t and how to improve your query. Do remember that agents come to these events wanting to hear what you’ve got and hoping to find authors they want to represent.

Guest speaker Marie Lamba is a literary agent with the Jennifer De Chiara Literary Agency  {JDLA}, a New York City–based full-service literary agency founded in 2001 and named one of the top 25 literary agencies in the country by Writer's Digest.

The eleven agents at JDLA represent children’s literature for all ages – picture books, middle-grade, and young adult novels – and also represent high-quality adult fiction and nonfiction in a wide range of genres. JDLA is also proud to represent illustrators, as well as screenwriters for both television and film. For more on the Jennifer De Chiara Literary Agency, see here.  

Marie is the author of the young adult novels What I Meant...  (Random House), Over My Head, and Drawn, and of the picture books A Day So Gray  (Clarion) and Green, Green  (Farrar Straus Giroux). 

Her articles are in more than 100 publications, and she’s a frequent contributor to Writer's Digest. She has worked as an editor, an award-winning public relations writer, and a book publicist, and has taught classes on novel writing and on author promotion.

As an agent, Marie represents fiction and nonfiction for adults and children. She’s currently seeking fiction and nonfiction in the form of picture books, middle grade and young adult works, and in graphic novels, especially with diverse points of view, or a STEM tie-in. She also wants general adult fiction and women’s fiction. She’d love to find an original women's novel that would inspire the next smart and funny chick flick. 

She’d love a fresh non-gory ghost story for any age. She’s fascinated with hidden treasures, artifacts and with discovering ancient civilizations right beneath our feet. She’s a huge fan of folklore and fairy tales, and, while she wouldn’t want a retelling, she always enjoys those elements woven into a story in a unique way. Overall, books that are original, moving and/or hilarious are especially welcome.

Workshop leader Brian Henry has been a book editor and creative writing instructor for more than 25 years. He publishes Quick Brown Fox, Canada’s most popular blog for writers, teaches creative writing at Ryerson University, and has led workshops everywhere from Boston to Buffalo and from Windsor to Charlottetown. But his proudest boast is that he has helped many of his students get their first book published and launch their careers as authors. 

See reviews of Brian's classes and workshops here.

Fee: $43.36 + 13% hst = $49 paid in advance by mail or Interac

To reserve a spot now, email: brianhenry@sympatico.ca

See Brian Henry’s upcoming weekly writing classes, one-day workshops, and weekend retreats here.

Online workshop: Raising the Stakes – How to increase your story's tension, Sunday, Feb 27

Raising the Stakes

How to increase your story's tension 

Sunday, February 27, 2022
1:00 – 4:00 p.m.
Online and accessible wherever there’s Internet.

Ever stayed up all night reading a book?  In this workshop, you’ll learn you how to build that kind of tension.  And we'll help you put into practice the techniques professionals use – on every page and in every kind of story – to create drama and raise the tension in each scene they write.

Workshop leader Brian Henry has been a book editor and creative writing instructor for more than 25 years. He publishes Quick Brown Fox, Canada’s most popular blog for writers, teaches creative writing at Ryerson University, and has led workshops everywhere from Boston to Buffalo and from Sarnia to Charlottetown. But his proudest boast is that he has helped many of his students get their first book published and launch their careers as authors. 

See reviews of Brian's classes and workshops here.

Fee: $37.17 + hst = $42 paid in advance 

To reserve a spot now, email: brianhenry@sympatico.ca

See all of Brian’s upcoming weekly writing classes, one-day workshops, and weekend retreats here.

Six agents at Jennifer De Chiara Agency seek adult fiction and nonfiction and kid lit, picture books to young adult

Where's My Cow by Susan Blackaby
represented by JDLA

The Jennifer De Chiara Literary Agency

New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles

http://www.jdlit.com/

Don't ever miss what’s happening with Quick Brown Fox. If you’re not yet on my newsletter, send me an email, including your locale to: brianhenry@sympatico.ca
  ~Brian

Jennifer De Chiara Literary Agency {JDLA}, a New York City–based full-service literary agency founded in 2001 and named one of the top 25 literary agencies in the country by Writer's Digest.

The eleven agents at JDLA represent children’s literature for all ages – picture books, middle-grade, and young adult novels – and also represent high-quality adult fiction and nonfiction in a wide range of genres. JDLA is also proud to represent illustrators, as well as screenwriters for both television and film.  Six agents at JDLA are actively looking for new authors:

Marie Lamba is the author of the young adult novels What I Meant...  (Random House), Over My Head,  and Drawn, and of the picture books A Day So Gray (Clarion) and Green, Green (Farrar Straus Giroux). 

Her articles are in more than 100 publications, and she’s a frequent contributor to Writer's Digest. She has worked as an editor, an award-winning public relations writer, and a book publicist, and has taught classes on novel writing and on author promotion.

As an agent, Marie represents fiction and nonfiction for adults and children. She’s currently seeking fiction and nonfiction in the form of picture books, middle grade and young adult works, and in graphic novels, especially with diverse points of view, or a STEM tie-in. She also wants general adult fiction and women’s fiction. She’d love to find an original women's novel that would inspire the next smart and funny chick flick. 

She’d love a fresh non-gory ghost story for any age. She’s fascinated with hidden treasures, artifacts and with discovering ancient civilizations right beneath our feet. She’s a huge fan of folklore and fairy tales, and, while she wouldn’t want a retelling, she always enjoys those elements woven into a story in a unique way. Overall, books that are original, moving and/or hilarious are especially welcome.

Query Marie through her query manager here.

***

Note: Marie Lamba was the guest speaker at the online How to Get Published workshop on Sunday, Feb 20, 2022. Check out upcoming How to Get Published workshops  here.

***

Amy Giuffrida has been an Associate Literary Agent with JDLA since 2020, though she’s been in the publishing business since 2015. Like all newish agents, she needs authors. Amy represents middle grade, young adult and adult fiction, plus narrative nonfiction and business, social media, tech and cooking books for teens, though for nonfiction, she wants authors with a strong platform.

Other than YA Fantasy, she is completely open to every genre in MG and YA for 2022!

 Some things she’s especially seeking in MG and YA this year: 

•        Kids who are activists and engage in their community to invoke change
•        Vengeful and angry main characters, girls who are not made of soft edges
•        Commercial and character driven—anything with a strong voice and a big hook
•        College-Age YA – PLEASE give me something like: The Sex Lives of College Girls
•        Humor with heart
•        Close-knit family stories with underlying tensions
•        Big, sweeping adventures
•        Dark and gritty horror full of tension
•        Rescue dogs
•        Diverse cast of characters

For adult fiction in 2022, Amy would love to read about people’s joy. “I want to laugh and cry with your characters and root for them to the very end. I want to read about people I don’t know, but who become my best friend. Give me a new home, a new world, a new sense of self. Characters who are older also need to shine, so don’t hesitate to send me your 40+ year-old protagonists who fall in love or finally figure out their life. I am here for it.”

In particular, she’s seeking: 

•        Women’s Fiction
•        Book Club/Commercial Fiction
•        Contemporary Romance/Rom-Coms
•        Non-Political Thrillers/Mysteries/Suspense
•        Horror
•        Historical Fiction – with a contemporary feel

Query Amy through here query manager here.

Tori Sharp has been an Associate Literary Agent with JDLA since 2020, following a two-year internship. Like all newish agents, she needs authors. Tori has a BFA in Sequential Art from the Savannah College of Art and Design, and her bestselling graphic memoir, JUST PRETEND, is out from Little, Brown. 

In middle grade, Tori wants upbeat manuscripts that make readers think about the world around them in a new way – especially fantasy, high-concept fiction, and memoirs. She gravitates toward stories that are simultaneously silly and sincere. She’s looking for clearly defined magic, intimate stakes, and clever twists that she won’t be able to stop thinking about.

Her favorite novels include Saffy’s Angel, The School Story, Ella Enchanted, Eliza and her Monsters, Howl’s Moving Castle, Spinning Silver, Blood Water Paint, and Chaotic Good.

As for graphic novels: “As a graphic novelist myself, I am eager to represent stunning, playful, diverse, and important comics for kids in elementary through high school. I love comics that are heartfelt and gestural, and I tend to like art styles that look animated and soft, but bright. 

“I would jump at a raw but playful middle-grade graphic memoir, slice-of-life comic strip collections, or stories that feel like fairy tales. I also adore contemporary and historical fiction in comics. I love romcoms, action-adventures, and modern witchcraft. 

“Some of my favorite comics are Catboy, Crush, Nimona, Fake Blood, The Prince and the Dressmaker, On a Sunbeam, Lore Olympus, and Check, Please!”

 ​Query Tori at: querytori.jdlit@gmail.com

Include “Query” and the title of your project in the subject line and paste the first five pages of your manuscript below your query letter. 

Graphic novelists should paste a one- to two-page synopsis and five to ten finished sample pages in the body of the email and include a full link to your online portfolio in your query. Please do not use link shorteners like bit.ly. Author/illustrators of graphic novels do not need a full script or thumbnail draft in order to query, but should have a thorough synopsis available upon request.

Savannah Brooks joined the Jennifer De Chiara team in 2018 as an Associate Literary Agent after interning for a year and a half. She earned her MFA, focused in creative nonfiction, from Hamline University and her BS in marketing management from Virginia Tech. 

As well as agenting, she works as a teaching artist at the Loft Literary Center and is a reader for multiple literary magazines. Her own creative work has been published in Barely South Review, Hobart, Lime Hawk, and Every Writer's Resource, among others.

Savannah says, “I mainly represent kid-lit (Picture Books, Middle Grade, and Young Adult), and I'm interested in books that focus on friendship, conflicting identity, and the theme of truth. I’m always drawn in by a protagonist venturing into a realm where society says they don’t belong (think swapping gender norms), and characters with weird obsessions are a weird obsession of mine—teach me strange new things, and I’m yours. I’m all about magical realism, non-western mythology, and modern retellings, but I’m not the best fit for high fantasy or science fiction. 

Sarah Rising by Ty Chapman
represented by Savannah Brooks

“In Picture Books, I'm searching for projects that teach about and celebrate different cultures and places in the world and those that tackle serious topics in really accessible ways. 

“For Middle Grade, I learn very heavily into action-adventure, especially those based on global folklore and mythology, and I love a snarky narrator and spooky situations.

“In YA, I'm looking for multicultural and queer perspectives on everything from modern teen experiences to reframing classic tropes like vampires and witches. I've been particularly wanting to see some horror.​

“Mostly, I’m invested in representing the diverse world in which we live and would like to see that reflected in a cast of characters. Show me variations in race, sexuality, gender, dis/ability, and ethnicity, without that difference being a point of contention, and I’ll be thrilled. Call me an idealist, but my goal for each book is to give kids/teens an opportunity to point to the page and say, ‘Finally, there I am.’"

Savannah occasionally takes on adult fiction. She considers two genres: 1) contemporary novels that walk the line of being funny while still adding to a larger sociopolitical conversation, and 2) thrillers that add to a larger sociopolitical conversation (but are NOT law-enforcement focused, including FBI/CIA).

Query Savannah through her query manager here.

Stephen Fraser is a Senior Agent with JDLA. Previously he worked at HarperCollins Children’s Books. Before that, he was with Scholastic, Simon & Schuster, and Highlights for Children. 

Stephen represents both children’s and adult books in a wide range of genres.

“I am always looking for good, original writing: picture books with delicious words; middle grade stories that endure, that have strong characters and plots; young adult novels that have identifiable teens and hopeful, interesting stories for the soon-to-be adult. A good mystery perhaps, a ghost story, some poetry, something with a bit of theater. Something to dazzle me.”

Query Stephen at: fraserstephena@gmail.com

For children’s and adult fiction, paste the first 20 pages into the body of your email.

For nonfiction, attach the entire proposal as a Word documents, including a sample chapter.

Jennifer De Chiara is President of The Jennifer De Chiara Literary Agency, which she founded in 2001. Before forming the agency, she was a literary agent with two established New York agencies, worked in the editorial departments of Simon & Schuster and Random House.

Jennifer represents adult fiction and nonfiction and children’s fiction, picture books to young adult novels.

Regarding adult fiction: “I'm passionate about literary fiction with a unique, beautiful voice, but I also enjoy commercial fiction, women's fiction (no bodice-rippers, please), chick-lit, mysteries, suspense, thrillers - in general, I'm open to manuscripts in every category. I'm a sucker for underdog and outsider stories, manuscripts about the triumph of the human spirit. I want to read manuscripts that will keep me up at night, make me feel something, change the world in some way. Even if it's a fun, commercial story, at its heart should be a wonderful protagonist from whom I can learn.”

The Boy and the Gorilla by Jackie Azua Kramer
represented by JDLA

For children's fiction: “I love all kinds of picture books – soft, quirky, funny – rhyming or non-rhyming. For middle-grade and YA fiction, I'm looking for beautiful, distinctive voices, above all, and character-driven stories. I'm open to every genre under the sun, but I'm not a huge science fiction fan.

For nonfiction: “Being a former dancer/actress, I love anything and everything Hollywood, especially celebrity bios/autobiographies. I'm always looking for beautifully written memoirs about people who have overcome incredible odds, books about the arts and performing arts, behind-the-scenes-type books, and books about popular culture.

“I am passionate about books that empower people to live their best lives, whether it's a great health or exercise book or a spiritual-type (think Eckhart Tolle or Deepak Chopra) book, and self-help books of all kinds. I am particularly open to books for the GLBTQ audience and, in general, any underdog/outsider stories. I'd love to see just about any well-written book on any topic; if you're in doubt, just query me.”

Query Jenifer at: jenndec@aol.com

For fiction, paste the first 20 ages into the body of your email.

For nonfiction, attach the entire proposal as a Word document.

For screenplays, a screenplay, please email a logline, a 150-word description, and your bio, with "Screenplay Query" in the subject line of your email.

See full guidelines for each agent, along with their bios, here.

If you’re interested in meeting an agent and in getting published, don’t miss our online How to Get Published workshops. See what’s coming up next here.

And check out other upcoming one-day workshops, weekend retreats, and weekly classes here. 

Navigation tips: Always check out the Labels underneath a post; they’ll lead you to various distinct collections of postings. If you're searching for more interviews with literary agents or a literary agent who represents a particular type of book, check out this post.