Submission status
Open
Submission route
Email
Response time
Aims to reply within 12 weeks
Last checked
14 days ago

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.

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.

Clients include

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

Agency submission guidelines

Submissions are by email, to one agent only; the agency discusses promising submissions internally, so there is no need to approach more than one, and submitting to several separately just earns you several replies. Send your covering letter in the body of the email, with attachments as Word documents or PDFs. If unsure who suits your work, email the children's submission inbox addressed to the agency. Novels: the first three chapters or first twenty pages, with a one-page synopsis, spoilers included. Picture books: text-only picture book queries go to Lorna Hemingway, each text as a separate attachment, without pictures unless you are also submitting as an illustrator. Illustrators and author-illustrators should apply through the agency's illustration website. Non-fiction: a proposal, a full chapter list and up to three sample chapters, which need not be consecutive. Who to contact: Clare, Lorna, Lucy and Kat take submissions directly by email; Becca takes submissions only through her Query Manager page. Kat asks for a covering letter, a one-page synopsis and the first three chapters (up to 5,000 words) in a single Word document. Under-represented writers are encouraged to add the hashtag #diversevoices to the email subject line. Worth knowing: receipt is not acknowledged, replies aim for eight to twelve weeks, and individual feedback is not possible. The agency never asks for money at any stage; genuine messages come only from verified company addresses.

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 14 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 in the rights team at Macmillan Children's Books, she 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. Being of mixed heritage herself, she is keen to hear from authors from under-represented backgrounds.

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

    Closed
    Last checked 14 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, building her own list, and she also handles audio rights for the agency. Before joining, she worked in production 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 keen to work with authors she can help grow and develop.

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

    Open
    Last checked 14 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 14 days ago

Also open to graphic novels right now

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  • Laura Bennett

    The Liverpool Literary Agency

    Laura is an associate literary agent at the Liverpool Literary Agency. She studied Writing at Liverpool John Moores University, gaining a BA and later an MA, after an early career in teaching that included working with young adults with special needs and in further education. She moved into editing after her teaching career and also works as a freelance writer, having written for a video game and several roleplaying games.

    Genres:Commercial Fiction · Contemporary Fiction · Cosy Mystery · Crime · Fantasy +12 more

    Open
    Last checked today
  • Justine Smith

    Bell Lomax Moreton

    Justine is the Development Editor at Bell Lomax Moreton, where she also builds a boutique list of her own clients. She joined the agency from Pan Macmillan, where she commissioned and acquired picture books. Justine is an experienced editor and ex-publisher who has worked on picture books, non-fiction, chapter books and middle-grade fiction. She has also worked in animation as a script editor and holds a postgraduate diploma in children's illustration.

    Genres:Children's Books · Graphic Novels · Middle Grade

    Open
    Last checked yesterday
  • Christabel McKinley

    David Higham Associates

    Christabel came into publishing via teaching English in Korea, where she taught literature to children between six and eleven years of age. She believes children's books should be accessible, inclusive and unpatronising, as well as impactful and a pleasure to read. She represents authors and illustrators across the spectrum of writing and illustrating for children and young adults, spanning fiction to non-fiction and picture books to graphic novels.

    Genres:Children's Books · Fantasy · Graphic Novels · Historical Fiction · Middle Grade +3 more

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    Last checked 10 days ago
  • Esme Bright

    David Higham Associates

    Esme assists Andrew Gordon and Jessica Woollard and is starting to build her own list of literary fiction, narrative non-fiction and poetry. She is actively searching for writers who combine intellect, intention and feeling, and would love to hear from new authors.

    Genres:Biography · Food & Drink · Graphic Novels · Historical Non-Fiction · Literary Fiction +4 more

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    Last checked 10 days ago
  • Isobel Boston

    David Higham Associates

    Isobel joined David Higham in 2025 after more than ten years working as an editor in illustrated children's publishing. She began her career at Templar Publishing and Big Picture Press, commissioning across a boutique list of illustrated books, and was later Commissioning Editor at Walker Books. She is building a list of children's book creators and works across all formats.

    Genres:Children's Books · Graphic Novels · Middle Grade · Narrative Non-Fiction · Other Non-Fiction

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    Last checked 10 days ago
  • Molly Ker Hawn

    David Higham Associates

    Molly joined David Higham as a director of the company in 2025, after fourteen years running the United Kingdom arm of the Bent Agency. Her primary focus is books for children and young adults, and she has worked in publishing for most of the last thirty years. She sells directly to publishers in the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada and Australia, and about half her clients are American or Canadian. Her authors' books have been New York Times, Sunday Times and international bestsellers, and have won or been shortlisted for the Michael L. Printz Award, the William C. Morris Debut Award, the Barnes & Noble Children's Book Award, the Costa Book Award, the Waterstones Children's Book Prize and the Carnegie Medal. She served for three years on the governing committee of the Association of Authors' Agents.

    Genres:Children's Books · Contemporary Fiction · Fantasy · Graphic Novels · Historical Fiction +5 more

    Open
    Last checked 10 days ago