Lorna Hemingway

About

Lorna is a Literary and Illustration Agent at the Darley Anderson Children's Book Agency.

She started agenting in 2019 at Bell Lomax Moreton and moved to Darley Anderson in 2025, where she represents award-winning and Sunday Times bestselling authors and illustrators. Her list has won or been shortlisted for awards including the Klaus Flugge Prize, the Inclusive Books for Children Award, the Indie Book Awards, the BookTrust Storytime Prize and the World Illustration Awards, with work featured in The Observer, The Sunday Times, The Guardian and Waterstones best books of 2023 and 2025.

Genres

Looking for

• illustration-led children's books
• board books, picture books, chapter books, highly illustrated fiction, graphic novels and non-fiction, in both the commercial and gift space
• picture books with a strong beginning, middle and end, a fantastic narrative hook and warmth
• board books that treat the format as a tool for play, with paper ingenuity and series potential
• laugh-out-loud chapter books and highly illustrated middle grade
• strong main characters with brand and series potential
• quieter texts with lyrical prose and stunning description
• teen and young adult graphic novel proposals
• non-Western mythologies and stories previously unheard
• non-fiction proposals across every age range, from board books to young adult, from the hilarious to the giftable
• experts and enthusiasts who can twist an educational subject into something unique
• submissions from LGBTQIA+ authors and illustrators and other underrepresented creators.

Agency submission guidelines

Submissions are by email only, to one agent at a time; the agency discusses promising submissions internally, so there is no need to approach more than one agent. What to send: your covering letter in the body of the email, with attachments as Word documents or PDFs. Novels: the first three chapters or first twenty pages, with a one-page synopsis, spoilers included. Picture books: up to three full texts, each as a separate attachment, without illustrations unless you are also submitting as an illustrator. Non-fiction: a proposal, a full chapter list and up to three sample chapters, which need not be consecutive. Illustrators: apply through the agency's illustration website. Under-represented writers are encouraged to add the hashtag #diversevoices to the email subject line.

Links

Clients include

• Amanda Jenner
• Aysha Tengiz
• Bia Melo
• Bryher Mackenzie
• Clare Fennell
• Conor Merriman
• Mojca Novak
• Em Cosh
• Iona Campbell
• Judy Wise
• Lucy Salmon
• Michael Parkin
• Paul Delaney
• Rose Grover
• Salomey Doku

Other agents at Darley Anderson Children’s Book Agency

• Becca Langton

  Darley Anderson Children’s Book Agency

  Becca is a Senior Literary Agent at the Darley Anderson Children's Book Agency, with a focus on North American rights. She joined in 2021 after ten years in IP development, editorial consultancy and scouting, and has spent four years building a children's, illustration, young adult and crossover to new adult list with a focus on the North American market. Recent deals include USA Today and New York Times bestsellers and YALSA Award winners, with sales across the Big Five publishers and independent houses. Becca is an editorial agent who likes to work closely with authors and illustrators from concept to finished manuscript, and is particularly interested in creators writing from marginalised perspectives.

  Genres:Children's Books · Fantasy · Graphic Novels · Horror · Middle Grade +2 more

  Open

  Last checked 7 days ago

• Chloe Davis

  Darley Anderson Children’s Book Agency

  Chloe is the Agency’s Associate Agent, having joined as an assistant in 2019. Following a post-university stint as a bookseller at Waterstones and time spent working in the Rights team at Macmillan Children’s Books, Chloe decided she wanted a taste of life on the other side of Publishing and is now actively building her own list, alongside supporting Clare Wallace and her list of clients.

  Genres:Children's Books · Fantasy · Middle Grade · Mystery · Young Adult

  Closed

  Last checked 19 days ago

• Clare Wallace

  Darley Anderson Children’s Book Agency

  Clare has been working with Darley Anderson since 2011 and is Managing Director and a literary agent at the Darley Anderson Children's Book Agency. Her clients have been Sunday Times and New York Times bestsellers and Irish Book Award winners, shortlisted for the Waterstones Children's Book Prize, picked as Waterstones Children's Book of the Month, shortlisted for the Branford Boase, and nominated, longlisted and shortlisted for the Carnegie, with many titles adapted for or in development for the screen. In 2024 she was shortlisted for Agent of the Year by the British Book Awards. Before joining Darley Anderson she proof-listened to audio books, took a Masters in Creative Writing, coached international students, worked as a research assistant, assisted at a specialist non-fiction agency, waitressed and bartended for years, cherry-picked for months in Gumeracha, and worked one night in a casino emptying ashtrays. Working closely with her clients she is in it for the long term, and she loves creative discussions and developing ideas as much as the satisfying polish of a last line edit. She represents everything from picture books through to young adult, alongside a boutique list of adult fiction, and is always led by standout voices and characters. She is passionate about inclusivity and keen to read submissions from under-represented writers.

  Genres:Children's Books · Contemporary Fiction · Fantasy · Graphic Novels · Historical (Non-Fiction) +7 more

  Open

  Last checked 14 days ago

• Kat Lenahan

  Darley Anderson Children’s Book Agency

  Kat is a Junior Agent and Agency Assistant at the Darley Anderson Children's Book Agency, and is building her own list alongside supporting Clare Wallace. Before joining in May 2024, Kat worked as a production assistant in visual effects on The Witcher and The Wheel of Time, then completed an MA in Creative and Critical Writing. She is drawn to the editorial side of agenting and likes to work with authors she can help develop.

  Genres:Children's Books · Contemporary Fiction · Horror · Middle Grade · Mystery +2 more

  Open

  Last checked 7 days ago

• Lucy Irvine

  Darley Anderson Children’s Book Agency

  Lucy joined the Darley Anderson Children's Book Agency as a literary agent in November 2025, after eight years at PFD. Her authors have been Sunday Times and instant bestsellers and Books of the Month at Waterstones and Easons, and have won, been shortlisted or nominated for awards including the Carnegie Medal for Writing and Illustration, the Week Junior Book Awards, the Branford Boase Awards, the ALCS Educational Writers' Award, the School Library Association's IBA Award, and the British Book Awards. Lucy is building her list with a focus on middle grade, young adult, new adult and fantasy fiction.

  Genres:Contemporary Fiction · Fantasy · Historical Fiction · Horror · Middle Grade +5 more

  Open

  Last checked 7 days ago