New Literary Agent Alert: Fiona Kenshole of Transatlantic Agency
Literary agent alerts (like this one with Fiona Kenshole of Transatlantic Agency) are golden opportunities for new writers because each one is a literary agent who is likely building their client list.
About Fiona: Fiona Kenshole brings a lifetime of passion and experience of children's and YA books to Transatlantic Literary: she was still just a teen when she started working in a children’s bookshop. After graduating with a Masters in English Literature from Cambridge University, she went on to spend 20 years as a senior publisher holding key positions in the UK, as Publishing Director at Oxford University Press Children’s Books, Deputy Managing Director of Hodder Children’s Books and Editorial Director at HarperCollins. Her authors have won or been nominated for every major British children’s literary award. Several have become million copy bestsellers. Fiona was nominated for “Editor of the Year” at the British Book Awards. Fiona has lectured widely on children’s books including at Oxford and Cambridge Universities and taught publishing to Masters degree students at Oxford Brookes University. She is herself a published author. She has organized children’s events for the Sunday Times Oxford Literary Festival.
She is seeking: "I am looking for all kidlit categories from picture book to YA. I've been a publisher in all these areas and my enthusiasm for all categories continues! For picture books, I'm especially interested in talented author/illustrators. In middle grade and chapter books, I like stories that make me laugh, or real children in magical circumstances (Savvy by Ingrid Law) and I love animal stories; In YA, above all else I look for a captivating and distinctive voice.
"I'm also happy to look at both literary and commercial fiction. I love a great piece of chick lit.
"I'm not looking for rhyming picture book texts, poetry, faith-based stories, or vampires, paranormal or sword-and-sorcery fantasy."
How to submit: E-query fiona [at] transatlanticagency.com and write the word "Query" in the subject line. "Please send me the first three chapters plus a detailed synopsis and a biography in the body of an email. Illustrators should include one jpeg only or a dropbox link to their work. I will usually reply within 8 weeks of submission. Please let me know if the work is on submission to other agents, including other Transatlantic agents."
Chuck Sambuchino is a former editor with the Writer's Digest writing community and author of several books, including How to Survive a Garden Gnome Attack and Create Your Writer Platform.
