I joined DHA in 2025, after fourteen years running the UK arm of the Bent Agency. I’m delighted to be working with such a creative and strategic team, at an agency with a sterling record of fearless advocacy and attention to detail.

My focus is on books for children and young adults. I’ve worked in publishing for most of the last 30 years, and I know that children’s books are where the real magic is. If you’re a reader, you remember the books that made you that way: the books we inhaled in hours, that distracted us from long journeys or moments of misery, that showed us how real-feeling people navigated love and adventure and danger and heartbreak. Today, it’s more important than ever that young people find the books that turn them into readers – I think reading is one of the very best ways to learn to be empathetic, courageous and open-minded, not to mention funny. Finding a manuscript that I think children or teenagers will devour, that might turn them into readers, is an endless thrill.

I sell directly to publishers in the US, the UK, Canada, and Australia. I live in London but I grew up in Northern California and spent many years in New York City, and my list reflects this: about half of my clients are American or Canadian, and I also work with some of the UK and Ireland’s leading children’s authors. Their books have been New York Times, Sunday Times and international bestsellers and have won and been shortlisted for the American Library Association’s Michael L. Printz Award and William C. Morris YA Debut Award, the Barnes & Noble Children’s Book Award, the Costa Book Award, the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize, the Carnegie Medal, the Children’s Books Ireland Book Award, the Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis and more.

I’m honored to have served for three years on the governing committee of the Association of Authors’ Agents.

I have a thriving list, but I always have room for an irresistible new project when I feel I can place it successfully with a publisher and bring real value to the author’s career. Specifically, I’m looking for exceptional middle-grade and young adult fiction with global commercial appeal, as well as graphic novels for children and young adults with illustrations in place. I also represent some speculative fiction for adults.

For children’s and YA books, I’m open to any genre and almost any topic. Contemporary, historical, fantasy, science fiction, romance, horror . . . I’ve loved and sold books for young readers that fit all those descriptions.

In fantasy, science fiction and speculative fiction for adults, I’m extremely selective. I look for fast-paced stories with a strong emotional core that would appeal to a broad audience, set in new worlds or one that could be our own.

No matter the genre or age category, the writing needs to be polished and assured and the story needs to be captivating. I like to be astonished! I’m especially drawn to stories with a strong sense of place, told by authors who fundamentally understand the world they’re writing about, whether it’s real or imaginary.

I’m assisted by Martha Perotto-Wills.