Fiona Kenshole

From 9/1/20 – 12/31/20 I’m open to queries from BIPOC writers and illustrators only – I’m looking forward to reading your work. I only accept queries through this link

https://querymanager.com/query/QueryFiona

Exceptions: If you have a personal referral from one of my clients, or have attended a conference or workshop with me, please tell me in your submission or use the special link.

Wishlist dos: I am hungry for middle grade, especially funny stories, real children in magical worlds, and any kind of animal story. I’m passionate about the natural world and saving the planet and look for stories that chime with those beliefs, and I would especially love to find more native American writers. Yes please to a 21st century 101 Dalmatians or Charlotte’s Web. Black and Latinx environmentalists and crusaders would be terrific!

I adore feel-good YA, especially romcoms. And think of me for clever high school politics. I’d love to celebrate Black Joy in YA!

 I like quirky contemporary, humor; unreliable narrators; wilderness adventures; immigrant stories; sister stories, practical feminism, and ghost stories.  I’d love a story about the sheer joy of escaping on your bike or on skis.

For picture books, I’m currently only taking on projects with author/illustrators, especially those who share my animation background. I’m a sucker for clever British-style humor.

I love stories that surprise me: If I can predict the ending in the opening pages, it’s probably not for me. Most of all I love compelling writing that makes me laugh out loud, or makes me love the characters so much that I like them more than the real people around me! 

Wishlist don’ts: I’m not taking on rhyming picture books, picture book texts, poetry, screenplays or faith-based stories, and I don’t usually like sad endings.

“I love the midwifery of being an agent, from getting your debut published to doing the movie deal. I specialize in children’s and YA from picture books to older teenage.”

Fiona came to agenting after nearly a decade as VP at Laika Studios, creating a development slate of new projects for the Academy Award winning animation studio including the Oscar-nominated THE BOXTROLLS and CORALINE.

Previously she was a senior publisher in the UK where she published authors including Michael Bond (Paddington Bear), P.L Travers (Mary Poppins) and the Laureate Michael Morpurgo (War Horse) and was UK editor for Beverley Cleary, Lois Lowry, Bruce Coville, Gary Paulsen and Cynthia Voigt. She was nominated for “Editor of the Year” at the British Book Awards.

Fiona enjoys being on faculty as a conference guest speaker throughout the US and in Europe. She has taught publishing at Oxford Brookes University and Portland State, organized events for the Oxford Literary Festival and is herself a published author. A British citizen, Fiona now lives in Portland, Oregon.

She joined Transatlantic in 2013. Her clients’ recent successes include Rosanne Parry’s MG A WOLF CALLED WANDER (Andersen Press/Greenwillow) which has spent 37 weeks in the NYT bestseller list and sold in 11 languages, and Vicki Grant’s YA romcom, 36 QUESTIONS THAT CHANGED MY MIND ABOUT YOU (Running Press), which sold in 22 languages and is optioned for TV.