On the Block: Our Fabulous Agents!

The great bidding war is less than a month away!  Here are our Fabulous Fourteen, a little more up close and personal:

Sally Apokedak (Sally Apokedak)

I really want to see some MG sci-fi. And if your main character is a boy or girl Cinderella-type that will be just about perfect. I'm a sucker for the Anne Shirleys and the Harry Potters of the world.

Danielle Burby (Hannigan Salky Getzler)

I'm looking for writing that cannot be denied and at least one concept that slaps me across the face and forces me to pay attention. The perfect entry would be so energizing that it could take the place of my morning coffee, so engrossing that I would stop peering out the window wondering why I don't see fall foliage, and so absorbing that I'll forget about the chocolate bar that I just unwrapped. Bonus points if I'm so entertained by the read that I forget to leave the office at the end of the day. Those are the kinds of manuscripts that I go to war for.

Danielle Chiotti (Upstart Crow)

I'll be looking for YA and MG stories that make me sit up and take notice--stories that dare to be different, that are setting the next trend, not following current ones.

Josh Getzler (Hannigan Salky Getzler)

I'm looking to beat Brooks. That's all. Just beat Brooks. Wait--Brooks isn't IN? Then I WIN! (Suck it, Brooks!)

No, no. I'm looking for meaty historical fiction and sassy women protags. Not fantasy, not science fiction. Teach me something about a place. If you feel like killing someone in the process, so much the better!

Pam Howell (D4EO)

Tricia Lawrence (Erin Murphy)

I am calling 2015-2016 the years of the novel. I need more. And I’m hungry for anything that could sit on a shelf next to Laura Ruby’s BONE GAP for YA, or Alice Hoffman’s NIGHTBIRD for MG or even N.K. Jemisin’s DREAMBLOOD series, which is adult, but write me something like that (similar to Renee Ahdieh’s THE WRATH & THE DAWN or Sabaa Tahir’s EMBER IN THE ASHES), and I’m a happy agent.

 Lauren MacLeod (Strothman)

I have two goals for the On The Block auction: 1). Find books with a really amazing voice-- this is absolutely the hardest thing to teach, so this is the bit of innate talent I'm always hoping to discover and 2). Winning. I mean, obviously. With the notable exception of bowling-- for which I lack even the most basic talent, something I've finally made my peace with--I cannot compete in anything without engendering my highly competitive side. This is both why I'm a good agent and why my husband will not play Jenga with me anymore.

  Victoria Marini (Gelfman Schneider)

(Note:  Victoria will not be bidding during the On the Block auction, due to a conflict.  However, she will be lurking on the blog and reading entries!)

Ammi-Joan Paquette (Erin Murphy)

What am I hoping to find? More than anything, a manuscript that ties me to the railroad tracks and leaves me there screaming, unable to move or turn away. That book I just can’t put down. 'Nuff said!

Tamar Rydzinski (Laura Dail)

Jennifer Udden (Donald Maass)

Rena Rossner (Deborah Harris)

I spend most of my time in worlds other than my own - historical, fantastical, or other-worldly - and that's usually what I look for as an agent (in Picture Books, Middle Grade, Young Adult and Adult Fiction) - a book that can successfully transport me to a fully realized new place and/or time (and preferably as far away from my 5 crazy kids as possible.) All queries must pass muster with my pug, Pablo who is part-Neruda part-Picasso in his sensibilities (like him, I'm a sucker for beautiful language and art.)

  Caryn Wiseman (Andrea Brown)

Michelle Wolfson (Wolfson)

As always, I'm looking for manuscripts (YA in particular) that keep me reading late into the night, long past when I should be asleep so that I can barely drag my butt out of bed in the morning.