Agents

carolinesheldon@carolinesheldon.co.uk

Caroline Sheldon

As shoes to Imelda Marcos, so books to me. I love to read them; I love to hoard them; I love the feel of them. I work in my main areas of interest – women’s fiction, children’s books and compelling non-fiction stories. I only take on a small number of new clients but when I do I become a passionate advocate of all their work. My tastes are catholic and commercial. Nothing excites me more than the whiff of a bestseller.

In children’s books I am interested in writing through all the age ranges from picture book texts to full length novels. Plotting, storytelling, humour, exciting worlds, contemporary life are all the things that excite me.

pennyholroyde@carolinesheldon.co.uk

Penny Holroyde

I have eclectic reading tastes and, since joining the agency in 2004, I have been actively building a portfolio and am hungry for new talent.

I’m looking for children’s books for all ages and particularly like laugh-out-loud books aimed at middle-school children but I also love books with emotional depth and strong plots for older children, and always have a soft spot for the perfect picture book text. Voice is extremely important to me – the setting can be anything so long as characters are developed with good voice. I am also looking for a fresh approach to illustration and illustrators who are interested in developing novelty books.

For my adult portfolio, I’m very interested in memoir, or even fiction portraying as memoir. I like historical settings and again, a really compelling voice that works in whatever world the author has created as well as extremely well-developed characterisation, exciting plot and strong emotional pull.