March Mystery Agent Winner and Reveal!

Introducing our March Mystery Agent...

Tricia Lawrence of Erin Murphy Literary Agency!

Tricia is the "Pacific Northwest branch" of EMLA—born and raised in Oregon, and now lives in Seattle. After 17 years of working as a developmental and production-based editor (from kids book to college textbooks, but mostly college textbooks), she joined the EMLA team in March 2011 as a social media strategist hoping to learn from Erin and Joan about agenting. 

As associate agent, Tricia represents picture books/chapter books that look at the world in a unique and unusual way, with characters that are alive both on and off the page, and middle grade and young adult fiction and nonfiction that offers strong worldbuilding, wounded narrators, and stories that grab a reader and won't let go. (bio and pic from agency website)

Follow Tricia Lawrence on twitter.

And the winner is!

Title: MIGHTY MIKE AND THE ALIEN PEZ DISPENSER
Genre: MG Sci-fi/Adventure

Eleven-year-old Mike can only escape bully Brutus when daydreaming of becoming super-hero Mighty Mike until he meets a little blue alien and agrees to test candies from an Alien Pez Dispenser, each of which give him a different super (or not-so-super) power!

Congratulations,  GSMarlene!! (Congratulate Marlene on twitter)
And thank you to all of our worthy participants. You guys are awesome!

Katrina: What was it about the latest author you signed that really stood out to you in his or her work and made that book a must-have?

Tricia: Oh, I must be on a voice kick right now, but voice. Her voice was so strong, that I felt compelled to keep reading, because I had to find out what happened next. An editor that just read the manuscript wrote to tell me she had the exact same experience, it was hypnotic/addictive/can't stop. 

Once a manuscript's voice gets me into its clutches, I'm done for! I must talk to that author!

Katrina: Your agency website indicates you value strong worldbuilding. Could you name a book that does this really well, as an example?

Tricia: I'm a big fan of our agency's client, Robin LaFevers. Her GRAVE MERCY, a YA that came out last year, is amazing. A world in which assassin nuns operate? I'm so there. I'm getting a sneak peek at the next book in the trilogy now, DARK TRIUMPH (it comes out later this year). Amazing world. You get in and then you don't want to leave. 

Katrina: Favorite TV shows/Movies?

Tricia: I'm a WALKING DEAD devotee. (Who isn't?) I even got zombie apocalypse survival gear for Christmas from my husband, so I'm set. I just need to schedule some archery lessons. 

Lighter fare includes PARENTHOOD, MODERN FAMILY, BIG BANG THEORY, and THE OFFICE

I adored LES MISERABLE, THE HOBBIT, and am rewatching HUNGER GAMES because isn't the next one coming soon? It should be!

Katrina: Biggest perk of being a literary agent?

Tricia: Getting to think about, brainstorm, talk about, and work on stories to my heart's content. Our culture is so story-oriented and I love looking at the moving parts of stories, sorta like a story mechanic, in my own stories, in my client's stories, in the submissions I receive. It's a good life!

And I get to talk about stories with the best in the business. Nothing like spending an hour chatting about what we love and don't love about this story or that with editors, other agents, authors, even the marketing folks! It's a wonderful perk!

Other places you can find Tricia:

• Inland Northwest SCBWI, Spokane, WA, March 16, 2013
• Bologna Children's Book Fair, Bologna, Italy, March 25-28, 2013
• Western WA SCBWI Roundtable, Redmond, WA, April 19, 2013
• Oregon SCBWI, Portland, OR, May 17-18, 2013
• New Jersey SCBWI, Princeton, NJ, June 7-9, 2013
• Montana SCBWI, Bozeman, MT, September 28-29, 2013

"Tricia loves hiking, camping out in the woods, and collecting rocks. She loves BBC America and anything British. She has way too many books and not enough bookshelves. You can find Tricia's writing about blogging, Tweeting, Facebooking, and other social media topics (for authors and the publishing industry at large) here."

Erin Murphy Literary Agency website

Tricia Lawrence - blog

Twitter

Submission Policy

"EMLA is closed to unsolicited queries or submissions. We consider queries that come to us by referral from industry professionals we know, and individual agents are open to queries from attendees of conferences where they speak. If you have met us at a conference or have a referral, please paste your query into the contact form on this page. Please note that we are no longer responding to unsolicited queries or submissions sent in hard copy form via post or other means, and those sent via email will receive a form rejection."