Bestselling Authors, Top Editors and Literary Agents
Agents
Andrea Brown
Andrea Brown is the Founder and President Emeritus of the Andrea Brown Literary Agency, Inc. Founded in New York City in 1981, it was the first literary agency to represent both children's book authors and illustrators. Prior to opening her own firm, Andrea was an editor at Alfred A. Knopf, and worked in the editorial departments of Random House and Dell. In 1990, she moved her literary agency to Northern California. Andrea has published articles and published a book, WRITER’S GUIDE. She has been quoted in the New York Post, CNN.com, Yahoo News, Forbes, Good Housekeeping and Reuters News Service.
Caryn Wiseman
Caryn has been an agent with the Andrea Brown Literary Agency since 2003. She represents children's books only: YA and middle grade fiction and nonfiction, chapter books, graphic novels, and fiction and nonfiction picture books. She represents NYT bestselling authors, award-winning authors, debut authors, and authors at every stage in between. No matter the genre, Caryn is looking for books with emotional depth and a strong voice; excellent writing in a tightly-plotted story; and characters that stick with her long after she has closed the book. In YA, she gravitates toward books that make her think, and toward books that make her cry; in middle grade and chapter books, laughter tends to be the common thread; in picture books, it's subtle crafting of story. "Smart with heart" is her watchward across categories, and she loves illustration with bold lines and sharp perspective. She is not a good fit for horror or fantasy, but a sprinkling of magical realism or grounded, five-minutes in the future dystopian or sci-fi would appeal.
Kelly Sonnack
Kelly, President of Andrea Brown Literary Agency, represents illustrators and writers for all age groups and formats within children's literature (picture books, middle grade, chapter book, YA, and graphic novels).
Kelly loves sophisticated YA novels that examine social issues in fresh ways, and is also a sucker for things with a little magic and fantasy. In MG, she tends toward emotional, family-centered stories. She likes unique, clever picture books with emotional layers that reflect the challenges and conflicts 0-7 year olds face. Kelly is a passionate graphic novel fan. She loves humorous and/or fantastical adventures for a juvenile audience or personal, layered stories for older teen audiences. She is also always on the lookout for dynamic illustrators, whether they're writing their own books or interested in illustrating other people's.
Jennifer Laughran
Jennifer began her career in agenting after working as a long-time children's bookseller and buyer. She is also the founder of the extremely popular YA event series "Not Your Mother's Book Club." She joined the Andrea Brown Literary Agency in 2007. Always on the lookout for sparkling YA and middle grade fiction with unusual and unforgettable characters and vivid settings, she is drawn to all kinds of books, whether realistic comedies or richly imagined magical adventures. However, the common thread in her favorite stories is an offbeat world-view. Jennifer adores simplicity, but she is not interested in the conventional, predictable, mechanical, gimmicky, or ordinary. Jennifer loves funny books, thrilling books, romantic books, books that make her cry, and all-around un-put-downable books...and her true favorites are all of the above.
Kathleen Rushall
Kathleen represents NYT bestselling and award-winning authors for picture books, chapter books, middle grade, YA, and adult novels. When it comes to novels, Kathleen loves contemporary, fantasy, cozy scary, and dark suspense with layers. She’s decidedly pro witch and dragon. She’s always interested in atmospheric settings that feel like a character, multi-generational stories, matrilineal magic, and really enjoys memorable rapport and romance.
She represents fiction and nonfiction board books and picture books. For nonfiction, she’s drawn to environmental and STEM themes. For fiction, she’s all over the place: try her with something timeless and thoughtful, something irreverent and hilarious, or a sweet younger text. She’s learned to love truck books after reading 10,045 of them to her own toddler, and is interested in finding something fresh for the vehicle lovers. She will forever identify with all things whimsical and would love to discover a charming story about fairies.
Jennifer March Soloway
JENNIFER MARCH SOLOWAY represents both kidlit and adult authors. She loves working with writers and illustrators, and nothing gives her greater joy than to help an author elevate their story. She enjoys all genres and kidlit categories, from laugh-out-loud picture books to young adult, but her specialty is novels. She is always hoping to find an action-packed thriller or a mystery full of unexpected twists, and she especially loves psychological horror that blurs the lines between the real and the imagined. Throw in a dash of (bad) romance, and she’s hooked! But as much as she loves a good thriller, her favorite novels focus on family, relationships, sexuality, mental health, or addiction. Regardless of genre, she is most drawn to emotionally compelling voices and fresh perspectives.
Saritza Hernández
Known as the first literary agent to represent marginalized creators in the digital publishing space, Saritza is a self-proclaimed geek who loves escaping into worlds and stories from all walks of life. Her love of great storytelling is what has driven her work in the publishing industry for the past 18 years, and her passion for amplifying queer and BIPOC voices is what continues to drive her today. An avid romance, fantasy, and science-fiction reader, Saritza is a strong advocate of traditionally underserved and underrepresented communities. She enjoys fresh voices in MG and YA genre fiction. She specializes in romance and young adult fiction by and for diverse audiences.
Jemiscoe Chambers-Black
Before Jemiscoe "Jem" Chambers-Black joined Andrea Brown Literary Agency in 2020, she was an assistant director for film and television. Her love for books prevailed, and she went back to school to study English Literature and creative writing in fiction and earned her MFA. She represents adult fiction, YA, MG, picture book authors, illustrators and select adult nonfiction. She is especially looking for diverse voices.
Paige Terlip
Paige Terlip represents all categories of children’s books from picture books to young adult, as well as adult fiction and platform-based prescriptive nonfiction.
Paige has been with the Andrea Brown Literary Agency since 2017 and is currently co-chair of the Association of American Literary Agents’ Communications Committee. She is proud to represent award-winning and bestselling authors, as well as debuts. She comes to agenting with a background in marketing, design, and freelance editorial. She is also the founder of COwrite, which offers writing classes and workshops for writers of all levels, and has an MA in Children's Literature and an MFA in Writing for Children from Simmons University. If she’s not reading, you'll find her hiking with her Husky-Shepherd mix.
Sally M. Kim
Prior to joining Andrea Brown Literary Agency in late 2023, Sally spent more than fifteen years in children’s book marketing and publicity at Macmillan, Penguin, and Chronicle Books. More recently, she has worked as an independent consultant for global children’s book publishers and literacy-related non-profits.
Sally is looking to represent a wide range of children’s book authors, illustrators, and author-illustrators. She is drawn to picture book, chapter book, and middle grade stories with a distinct voice, unexpected wit, aggressive pacing, punchy and/or emotionally resonant endings. When it comes to illustration, she gravitates to traditional mediums and is always on the lookout for versatile artists with a unique take on color, texture, perspective, and thoughtful details. Sally is especially eager to see authentic explorations of underrepresented cultures, relationships, and identities.
Analía Cabello
Analía is thrilled to be joining ABLA as an associate agent. She has been with the agency since 2021, assisting Executive Agent Kelly Sonnack in championing a diverse list of authors and illustrators. Before that, she was an editorial assistant at Candlewick Press and interned at several literary agencies.
As Analía builds her list, she’s looking to represent picture book illustrators, authors, and author-illustrators; middle grade fiction; and young adult fiction. In all categories, she is a fan of characters who feel in-between in any sense (identity, friend groups, transitional period of life, etc.); stories of self-discovery and character growth; explorations of sibling relationships and intergenerational families; and stories from creators whose voices have been traditionally underrepresented in the industry. She values cultural specificity and stories borne from personal experience.
Editors
Meriam Metoui
Meriam Metoui (she/her) is an author (A Guide to the Dark, Portrait of a Shadow, Macmillan) and associate editor at Viking Children’s Books, where she primarily edits pictures books and graphic novels of all ages. She especially loves lyrical or funny picture books, grim and adventurous middle grade, and a wide variety of young adult too difficult to narrow down but knows that she can’t resist emotional storytelling and has always had a soft spot for queer BIPOC stories, magical realism, and the slightly speculative. She graduated from the University of Michigan and Hunter College, where she received a master’s degree in English literature. As a serial hobbyist, she loves writing, photography, painting, learning ASL, playing the guitar badly, and too many TV shows to list.
Courtney Code
Courtney Code (she/her) is a Senior Editor at Abrams with a focus on picture books. She loves humor, heart, and the unexpected; and she looks for narrative-driven stories packed with kid-appeal. Courtney also has a soft spot for innovative nonfiction that rewards the truly curious. Across her list, she is passionate about fostering an inclusive list that centers historically-marginalized voices. Since joining Abrams in 2015, she’s had the joy of collaborating with award-winning bookmakers including Cozbi Cabrera, Travis Jonker, Rajani LaRocca, Jennifer Thermes, and many, many more. Courtney is based in Oakland, CA, where—when she’s not reading or writing—she spends most of her time hiking in the hills with her partner and pup.
Summer Dawn Laurie
Summer Dawn Laurie entered children’s book publishing in 1997 at Chronicle Books for Children, working in both the marketing and editorial departments. In 2000 she joined Tricycle Press, the children's imprint of Ten Speed Press where as Senior Editor she worked on over 50 books published across varied genres. After seven years she became an independent editor, working directly with authors and publishers including Cameron + Co Kids, Chroma/Chronicle Books, the Collective Book Studio, and Princeton Architectural Press. Currently she is Editor-at-Large at Blue Dot Kids Press, an independent, mission-driven publisher of children’s books that engage a young reader’s innate sense of wonder and empathy, connecting them to our global community and the pale blue dot we call home. In 2007 Summer joined Books Inc. where she runs the Wild Girls Mother-Daughter Book Club and a children's writers' critique group. For 15 years, Summer managed the children’s and teen programming of San Francisco’s annual Litquake literary festival. She was the founding chair of the NCIBA Children's Alliance and has sat on boards for both the Booksellers Advisory Council and the ABC Group of the ABA.
Authors
Aiden Thomas
Aiden Thomas is a trans, Latinx, New York Times Bestselling Author with an MFA in Creative Writing from Mills College. Originally from Oakland, California, they now make their home in Portland, OR. Aiden is notorious for not being able to guess the endings of books and movies, and organizes their bookshelves by color.
Lisa Riddiough
Lisa Frenkel Riddiough is the author of ELVIS AND THE WORLD AS IT STANDS (Amulet 2021), LETTERS TO LIVE BY: AN ALPHABET BOOK WITH INTENTION (Running Press Kids 2022), PIE-RATS! (Viking 2024), and EMBARRASSED FERRET and FURIOUS TURTLE, books 1 and 2 in the Forest School of Big Feelings Series (Disney Hyperion 2025 & 2026). She earned her MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from Hamline University and is a writing mentor for Society of Young Inklings. Lisa is a former sales executive, an avid squirrel-watcher, and a frequent baker of chocolate pound cake. Learn more about Lisa at www.lisariddiough.com and on IG @lisariddiough.
Eric J. Adams
Eric J. Adams is an award-winning author, feature film producer, screenwriter and college professor. He co-produced and wrote the screenplay for the feature film Supremacy, starring Danny Glover and Mahersala Ali. Alongside Harold Ramis, Eric co-wrote and produced My Suicide, winner of 21 major international film festival awards including the Crystal Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival. Most recently, Eric brought to screen Mitali Perkins’ acclaimed middle-grade novel Rickshaw Girl, the first-ever US-Bangladesh feature film co-production.
Eric is also the author of six books, including the children’s book On The Day His Daddy Left, and the suspense/thrillers Birdland and Plot Twist. Eric teaches screenwriting, writing, film and media at Santa Rosa Junior College and on Semester at Sea. He lives and works in resplendent Sonoma County, California.
Eric Elfman
Eric Elfman is the award-winning author or co-author of 16 books for kids and young adults, including the NYT bestselling series, The N.O.A.H. Files: I Am the Walrus, Shock the Monkey, and the popular Accelerati trilogy: Tesla's Attic, Edison's Alley and Hawking's Hallway (both series co-written with Neal Shusterman). As a screenwriter, Eric wrote or co-wrote screenplays for Interscope, Dreamworks, Walden Media and Universal. Also a writing coach, Eric has been on the faculty of the Big Sur Writers Workshop for the past eighteen years, and among his private clients are a number of award-winning and NYT bestselling authors. He can be reached via his website: www.EricElfmanCoaching.com
Tamara Ireland Stone
Tamara Ireland Stone spent nearly two decades in the technology industry before she began writing fiction. She loved her first career but finds writing for kids and teens especially rewarding.
Her New York Times bestseller Every Last Word won the Cybils Young Adult Fiction Award and the Georgia Peach Book Award, and was shortlisted for the Northern California Book Award. Little Do We Know won the NCIBA Golden Poppy Award for Young Adult Fiction, and her debut novel Time Between Us has been published in over twenty languages. Click’d, the first book in her middle-grade series, is a Sunshine State Young Readers Award pick, a Kids’ Indie Next pick, a Truman Award Nominee, and an NCIBA Golden Poppy nominee.
Tamara lives in the San Francisco Bay Area and is a proud nerd, vinyl collector, and movie lover. She burns everything she cooks.
Visit her online at www.TamaraIrelandStone.com.
Isabella Kung
Isabella Kung is an author and illustrator who delights in mixing humor, heart, and irresistible characters. She’s the creator of NUNU AND THE SEA (Knopf, Fall 2025), NO FUZZBALL! and NO SNOWBALL! (Scholastic), and has illustrated many other books and projects — including 123 CATS and ABC CATS by Lesléa Newman (Candlewick), which were listed in Bank Street College of Education’s Best Children’s Books of the Year 2022 edition.
Her award-winning work has been recognized by the Society of Illustrators, Spectrum Fantasy Art, 3x3, Creative Quarterly, SCBWI, and the International Cat Writers Association, and exhibited in galleries in America, Spain, and Singapore. Isabella has also served as Illustrator Coordinator for the SCBWI San Francisco/South chapter for 3 years. With over a decade of teaching experience, she currently shares her passion for storytelling and art at Storyteller Academy.
Find out more about her work at www.isabellakung.com.
Tim McCanna
Tim McCanna is the author and illustrator of the Peach and Plum early graphic novel series. He has also written several acclaimed picture books including Disney’s How Far You’ll Go; Bitty Bot’s Big Beach Getaway, an ALA Golden Duck Notable Picture Book; In a Garden, a Bank Street Best Children’s Book of the Year; So Many Sounds, an ALA-Children’s Book Council “Building a Home Library” book; and Watersong, a New York Public Library Best Book for Kids and NCTE Notable Poetry Book. Tim served five years as Assistant Regional Advisor for SCBWI’s San Francisco/South chapter, and he is currently a children's book writing instructor for Storyteller Academy. He lives in San Jose, California with his family.
Click here to learn more: www.timmccannabooks.com
Mitali Perkins
Mitali Perkins has written many books for young readers, including You Bring the Distant Near (nominated for a National Book Award) and Rickshaw Girl (adapted into a film by Sleeperwave Productions), all of which explore crossing different kinds of borders. Mitali's fiction explores poverty, immigration, child soldiers, microcredit, and human trafficking, thanks to living overseas for many years and studying Political Science at Stanford and Public Policy at U.C. Berkeley. Her goal is to make readers laugh or cry, preferably both, as long as their hearts are widening. She lives and writes in the East Bay.
Victoria Piontek
Victoria Piontek is the author of Better With Butter (Scholastic Press, 2021) & The Spirit of Cattail County (Scholastic Press, 2018). She is also a Literary Associate for Executive Agent Laura Rennert. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing for Children and Young Adults from Hollins University, and an MST in Education from Pace University. When she's not writing, you can find her hiking in the Bay Area, where she lives with her husband, three children, and gigantic fluffy dog.
Stephanie V.W. Lucianovic
Stephanie V.W. Lucianovic writes books in the San Francisco Bay Area surrounded by a few kids, a few cats, and one husband. She has been a writer for 25 years and is the author of Suffering Succotash: A Picky Eater's Quest to Understand Why We Hate the Foods We Hate (Penguin 2012); The End of Something Wonderful (PB, Union Square Kids, 2019); Hello, Star (PB Little, Brown, 2021); The League of Picky Eaters (MG Clarion/HarperCollins 2021); What is Hope? (PB, Nancy Paulsen Books/PRH 2023); Hummingbird Season (MG, Bloomsbury Children's, 2024), Touch the Sky (PB CarolRhoda/Lerner Books, 2024), Zombie and Brain Are Friends (PB, Bloomsbury Children's, 2025) and Not Like Everyday (PB, Random House Children's, 2025). Stephanie still sleeps with the teddy bear she had as a baby, has a bellybutton phobia, and was born with six wisdom teeth.
Dev Petty
Dev Petty is the author of many picture books, including Don’t Eat Bees (Life Lessons from Chip the Dog), How Old is Mr. Tortoise?, Monty and the Mushrooms, and the much awaited follow up to Claymates, Claydate (Releasing April, 2026). She used to be a film effects artist but now writes silly books for kids and their people. She lives in Berkeley, her hometown, with her family, dogs, cats, and a snake named Boots. You can visit Dev online at DevPetty.com.
Kirsten W. Larson
Kirsten W. Larson, used to work with rocket scientists at NASA, but now writes books for curious kids. She is the author of more than 30 nonfiction books for young readers, including The Fire of Stars, illustrated by Katherine Roy, a Good Housekeeping Award-winner and NCTE Orbis Pictus Honor book. Her latest picture book is This Is How You Know, illustrated by Cornelia Li. Kirsten is the author of Reimagining Your Nonfiction Picture Book: A step-by-step revision guide, called “a must-have for every nonfiction picture book writer’s bookshelf” and the host of the Nonfiction Kidlit Craft Conversations podcast. She lives near Los Angeles with her family. Learn more at KirstenWLarson.com.
Deborah Halverson
Deborah Halverson is the award-winning author of Writing Young Adult Fiction for Dummies and Writing New Adult Fiction, as well as numerous teen novels, books in a series for struggling readers, and a picture book. Formerly an editor at Harcourt Children's Books and now a freelance editor specializing in picture books and Young Adult/Middle Grade fiction and nonfiction, Deborah has been working with authors—bestsellers, veterans, debut, and aspiring—for twenty-five years. She is also the founder of the popular writers’ advice site DearEditor.com and serves on the advisory board for the UC San Diego Extension “Children’s Book Writing and Illustrating” certificate program. DeborahHalverson.com / Connect with Deborah on your social media platforms: https://linktr.ee/deborahhalverson
Josephine Carr
Josephine Carr has published five novels, including two Y.A.’s (No Regrets and My Beautiful Fat Friend), and three adult novels (Monday’s Child, The Dewey Decimal System of Love, and My Very Own Murder). After teenage years in Kenya and Switzerland, she received degrees in English Literature from Mt. Holyoke and Bryn Mawr, followed by teaching at Temple University. She particularly loves guiding people in discovering their voice, their story, and their unique place in the world as writers. She’s currently working on her spiritual memoir/self-help book, called Make Me A F*cking Miracle.