Agent Confidential: Erzsi Deak
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| Erzsi and her book Pumpkin Time! |
Name: Erzsi
Deak
AKA: Chick
Hen
Genres represented: The children’s bookshelf: picture books, graphic novels, middle-grade and teen fiction and non-fiction. New Adult and some adult fiction and non-fiction.
Authors
you represent and titles of books: I
represent about 35 authors and illustrators, both new and established
talent : Doug Cushman (Pumpkin
Time!) Bridget
Strevens-Marzo (Tiz &
Ott’s Big Draw);
Siobhan Curham (True
Face); Susan
Montanari (My Dog’s
a Chicken); Andrea
Zuill (Wolf Camp);
Kate Banks (Noah
Builds an Ark); Ann
Jacobus (Romancing the
Dark in the City of Light);
Joseph Lee (working title, Shadows
of the Dark Crystal);
Laura Gehl (Peep &
Egg series); Whitney
Stewart (Big Sky
Mind).
Recent
Deals: Picture
books and YA lately with a middle-grade non-fiction project we are
excited about and about to sign, but that we can't quite discuss yet.
Wish
List: Great
voice no matter what – both in words and pictures. I love when I
find something fantastic that I didn't know I was looking for –
originality, voice and the unexpected are key.
The
next Open Coop Day (limited open submission calls), I would be very
happy to see:
- Richly woven middle-grade stories in the vein of Holes, The Penderwicks, Three Times Lucky, A Snicker of Magic;
- Smart funny tween girl scripts that whisper that the protagonist might be Georgia Nicholson’s half-cousin twice removed and a character so self-deprecating, honest and funny that the reader cries from laughing – possibly with black-and-white illustrations;
- New and innovative chapter books;
- Illustration samples that complement the Hen&ink list: sweet but not saccharine, whimsical, a great line, lots of movement, superb use of colour, and a dash of spirit; possibly cartoony, but still beautiful.
Agent
Style: Everything
is individual in the end. That said, we have a “Coop” community
and there is a good amount of exchange and sharing of news, tips, etc
between Hen&ink authors and illustrators. I am an editorial agent
and have been known to work an author through a number of revisions
before submitting, so embracing revision is a plus. Once the author
and editor have established a working relationship, I step back and
am on-call, as needed.
Note: SCBWI Winchester 2014 picture book attendees are invited to a Private Open Coop. Please look for the flyer at the conference.
Submission
tips: We
only accept email submissions and I cannot emphasize the need to
study the favourite books list and to pay attention to the guidelines
on the Hen&ink submission page
http://henandink.com/submissions.html,
(for example, if it says, no cover letter, please don't send one. We
will get in touch via email if we would like to see more of your work
and learn more about you, promise!).
Website: Http://henandink.com
Twitter: @ErzsiDeak
Upcoming
events: I
am on a book tour in the US, dropping in on Portland, Oregon; San
Diego and San Francisco, California; and the Texas book festival in
Austin and meeting with publishers in the U.S.
Do you have questions for Erzsi? Leave them here in the comments. You have more than 140 characters!
Read Nicola Morgan: How to find a good agent
If you are an agent and would like to be featured in Agent Confidential, please contact us at writers@britishscbwi.org
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