Agent Susan Hawk at The Bent Agency has agreed to be our Guess Critiquer for June. Susan worked for over 15 years in marketing children’s books, most recently as the Marketing Director at Henry Holt Books for Young Readers, and previously as the Library Marketing Director at Penguin Young Readers Group. While at Penguin, she also worked for a time in Dutton Editorial, acquiring books for their list. Susan handles books for children exclusively: picture books, chapter books, middle grade and YA, fiction and non-fiction. In middle-grade and YA, she’s looking for something that makes her laugh out loud.
In middle-grade and YA, I’m looking for something that makes me laugh out loud. She’s a sucker for bittersweet, and she can’t resist a character that comes to understand how perfectly imperfect the world is. She wants a book to stay with her long after she finishes reading it, and she’s looking for powerful, original writing. She’s open to mystery, scifi, humor, boy books, historical, contemporary (really any genre). Her favorite projects live at the intersection of literary and commercial. In non-fiction she’s looking for books that relate to kids’ daily lives and their concerns with the world. In picture books, she’s looking particularly for author-illustrators, succinct but expressive texts, and characters as indelible as her childhood favorites: Ferdinand, Madeline, George and Martha.
WRITERS: You only have today and Saturday June 23rd to use the above illustration to inspire a first page. I will post four of the pages along with the agents comments on June 29th.
Please attach your double spaced, 12 point font, 23 line first page to an e-mail and send it to kathy(dot)temean(at)gmail(dot)com. Also cut and paste it into the body of the e-mail. Put “June 23rd First Page Prompt” in the subject line.
ILLUSTRATORS: You still have until June 26th to submit an illustration for June. I’m looking for illustrations that will show off some summer fun. Here is your chance to show off a little. I will post the illustrations as they come in during the month, but I will definitely post all by June 30th. Please make sure the illustration is at least 500 pixels wide and include a blurb about yourself and a link to see more of your work. Please send it to kathy(dot)temean(at)gmail(dot)com and put “June Illustration” in the subject box.
Here is some deeper information about Susan Hawk and what she’s looking to acquire. I found this on her blog: http://susanhawk.blogspot.com/2012/03/wish-list.html