Lucy Irvine
- Submission status
- Open
- Submission route
- Response time
- Aims to reply within 12 weeks
- Last checked
- 7 days ago
About
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
Looking for
- middle grade, young adult and crossover or new adult, across a deliberately broad taste
- quick-paced middle grade adventure with series potential, across all genres
- commercial, plot-driven stories that never lose character or voice
- big ensemble casts spanning generations
- friendship and sibling stories, and non-traditional family structures
- fantasy with original and distinctive world-building
- re-imagined folktales, myths and legends, especially from underrepresented voices
- young adult romance with compelling character writing
- twists and subversions on beloved tropes
- genre-blending fantasy and fresh takes on traditional themes
- vampire and other monster stories
- horror, from subtle folk horror to big campy satire
- teen contemporary and coming-of-age stories
- queer stories in any genre
- found family
- science fiction and fantasy for crossover and new adult, from epic fantasy and romantasy to space opera and steampunk
- diverse writers and protagonists across race, sexuality, gender, class and disability.
Not looking for
- anything too grimdark.
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
- Alan Carrigan
- Alison Stegert
- Alison Weatherby
- Alyson Williams
- Amy Archer
- Aneesa Marufu
- Anna Zoe Quirke
- Anna Penn
- Ashley Thorpe
- Ava Eldred
- Bill Wood
- Bridget Hamilton
- Burhana Islam
- Camille Chong
- Donette Williams-Harry
Other agents at Darley Anderson Children’s Book Agency
Becca Langton
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.
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Chloe Davis
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.
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Clare Wallace
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.
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Kat Lenahan
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.
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Lorna Hemingway
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:Children's Books · Graphic Novels · Middle Grade · Other Non-Fiction · Young Adult
OpenLast checked 7 days ago