First Pages with Agents Jacqui Lipton and Kelly Dyksterhouse and Author Kathryn Erskine

Kelly Dyksterhouse is a literary agent with the Tobias Literary Agency. She has a MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults and specializes in building the careers of authors and illustrators who work on a broad range of projects from picture books to young adult novels, graphic novels, and fascinating nonfiction for the youth market. In picture books she is drawn to stories that are subversively funny and accessible to the child reader; in MG she is on the hunt for books with series potential, ghost stories, and grounded fantasy from a unique perspective; in YA, she loves lush prose, contained settings, historical novels that feel relevant, and fantasy featuring a diverse perspective; she looks for NF projects with a strong hook that expand her understanding in surprising ways. She loves working with her clients, helping them develop ideas into books, and then seeing those books in the hands of readers.

Kathryn Erskine spent fifteen years as a lawyer before turning to her first love: writing. She was lucky to work with Patricia Gauch and her debut novel, Quaking, which was one of YALSA’s Top Ten Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers. Her novel Mockingbird won the 2010 National Book Award for Young People’s Literature. Kathryn has lived all over the world, from The Netherlands—where she was born—to Israel, South Africa, Scotland, Canada, and the United States. Her life has been filled with rich experiences, from a Hogwarts-like boarding school (minus the magic) to the African bush (complete with lions) to an ice-filled harbor. Kathryn has been a keynote speaker at SCBWI conferences, taught writing workshops and classes on a wide array of subjects, and has been a faculty member at Highlights Foundation. Her other novels for young readers include: The Absolute Value of Mike, a Crystal Kite winner, Seeing Red, a Jane Addams Award honor book, The Badger Knight, and Lily’s Promise. Her picture books include: Mama Africa!, All Of Us, and My Dad’s a DJ.

Jacqui Lipton is a senior literary agent and head of the adult department at Tobias Literary Agency. She loves all things books and publishing and has been an avid reader since elementary school. Her tastes were always broad and eclectic. She loved (and still does) everything from a good murder mystery to space opera to contemporary romance and everything in between. She also loves nonfiction projects with a compelling narrative voice. Jacqui represents fiction and nonfiction across most genres and age groups from children’s books through adult fiction and nonfiction. She also represents illustrators selectively. She is not currently seeking high fantasy, and considers science-fiction selectively. Children’s stories with animal protagonists are not the best fit for her. As a lawyer and the author of Law and Authors: A Legal Handbook for Writers, Jacqui helps book creators navigate the legal landscape.

Dionna L. Mann is a children’s book author, freelance journalist, and independent researcher who holds an MFA—a Mighty Fine Attitude—in Rewriting. Her kidlit work—fiction, nonfiction and poetry—has appeared on the pages of Cricket, Spider, and Ladybug. As a work-for-hire author, she’s published 16 books with educational publishers, including Scholastic, Lerner, Capstone, Sports Illustrated Kids, and Little, Brown. Her debut middle-grade, Mama’s Chicken & Dumplings, a Junior Library Guild Gold Selection, will be out this summer from Margaret Ferguson Books, an imprint of Holiday House Books—and this, after being in the manuscript oven for 12 years! Dionna is a longtime Mid-Atlantic SCBWI member, and a Children's Book Guild newbie member. Check out Dionna’s website and kidlit blog where she hosts interviews, blog parties, and sometimes posts reviews.