Pronouns: they/them
D. Ann Williams is an Associate Agent with Emerald City Literary Agency, a freelance editor with 10+ years of experience, a writer, and a writing coach. They have worked with all Big 5 publishers, medium-sized publishers, Amazon, We Need Diverse Books, and self-published/indie authors on a variety of adult, kidlit, and academic projects. As a writer they are a 2023 Tin House fellow, a 2021 Voodoonauts Fellow, and the winner of the 2021 Sisters in Crime Eleanor Taylor Bland Award. When not reading, writing, or editing, they spends their time baking, traveling, and dabbling in photography.
D. Ann is starting to build their own list, and is open to select submissions in PB, MG, and YA fiction and will represent projects alongside ECLA agents Mandy Hubbard and Linda Epstein. As an Associate Agent, they also works on office management and helps with reading queries sent to ECLA agents.
SUBMISSIONS:
D. Ann represents Middle Grade and Young Adult novels and selected PB.
Do not query for new adult/adult books, screenplays, short stories/novellas, or previously published books (including self-published works or rights-reverted books).
D. Ann accepts submissions exclusively through QueryManager. If the link indicates they are closed, please check back regularly–they are just catching up on a backlog and will reopen soon!
WISHLIST:
All Ages:
BIPOC, LGBTQ+, ND, disability, religions and spiritual beliefs that are underrepresented in publishing. The world we live in is diverse, and our kidlit books should reflect that.
Picture Books
STEM-based, break down gender stereotypes, and a variety of family structures.
PB nos: sports, anthropomorphism, issue books, saviorism, or “inspirational” (that center the dominant narrative that people have to “overcome” their identities)
MG/YA
Horror (darker the better but keep it in the age category), rom-coms with a hook, spec (especially afro-futurism & magical realism variety), mysteries (gimme the new Westing Game!!!), historicals with a twist (spec, queer, mystery, etc.), found families, queer ballet, novels-in-verse, multi-POV (within reason), and stories where race, gender, sexuality, disability, etc. aren’t the center. They can just be bad-ass characters!
I’m also particularly looking for hard topics: grief/death, foster care, etc. especially for MG. Life is sticky and kids need books that acknowledge their lives.
MG/YA nos: Big cities that are not diverse, burying the gays, spec based on colonialism or imperialism, not super partial to contemporary sports settings but twists can help (thrillers, magic, etc.)
Follow D. Ann on twitter @dawilliamsbooks to see more of their #MSWL.
Some of their favorite recent reads include ME (MOTH) by Amber McBride, FIREKEEPER’S DAUGHTER by Angeline Boulley, EYES THAT KISS IN THE CORNERS BY Joanna Ho, RAYBEARER by Jordan Ifueko, and HANI AND ISHU’S GUIDE TO FAKE DATING by Adiba Jaigirdar.