Brenda Bowen, Senior AGENT
Brenda Bowen represents authors and artists of books for young readers from preschool to young adult; she also represents some adult titles: fiction, humor, and cookbooks. Her clients have won the MacArthur Fellowship; the Newbery Medal and Newbery Honor; the Caldecott Medal and Caldecott Honor; the Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe Award for New Talent; the Sibert Medal; the Stonewall Award; the Geisel Honor; the William C. Morris Honor; the New York Times Best Illustrated Book prize; the Society of Illustrators Gold Medal; as well as many other awards and citations. Brenda’s clients have been #1 New York Times bestsellers, and have been translated around the globe; she represents Oscar-, Emmy-, and Tony-Award winners; career authors and artists; and newcomers making their debuts. She can’t decide which she loves more: a bold picture book, a lyrical middle-grade novel, or a sweeping work of historical fiction.
Brenda has the unusual advantage of having seen publishing from all sides. As well as being an agent, she was a children’s book publisher for many years; she’s an award-winning author of some forty books for children; she’s written one novel for adults, and is at work on another. She lives with her family in New York City, and spends August in a cottage in Maine, where the menu almost always includes blueberry corn muffins.
Right now, Brenda is not accepting picture book manuscript submissions; however, if you are an artist submitting a book dummy or a portfolio, please include a link to the dummy and to your website or portfolio. More on her wish list, here.
A few books I loved reading in my free time…. Mel Fell, by Corey R. Tabor; Jennifer Chan Is Not Alone, by Tae Keller; Heartstopper, by Alice Oseman; Oh William!, by Elizabeth Strout, Things To Look Forward To, by Sophie Blackall, The Age of Phillis, Honorée Fanonne Jeffers, The Book of St. John, Fergus Henderson & Trevor Gulliver.