Erin was born and raised in Arizona, and founded EMLA in Flagstaff in 1999. As founder of EMLA she has focused not just on publishing books, but on building careers—and creating a sense of community, as well. In 2016, she relocated the agency headquarters to southern Maine.

Erin represents writers and writer-illustrators of picture books, novels for middle-graders and young adults, and strong nonfiction for kids and teens. Her favorite reads feel timeless, have strong voices, and express unique creative visions. Because of her full client list, she rarely signs new writers or illustrators, but she is particularly interested in adding cultural diversity to her client list. In addition to reading, her interests include traveling, knitting, walking, kayaking, watching movies, and figuring out How People Work.

You can find Erin on Twitter @agentemurph. She accepts queries by request or referral, or from people who have attended conferences where she spoke, at Query Manager. 

Joan is a Senior Agent with EMLA, working from her home office in Massachusetts. She represents all forms of children's and young adult literature, but is most excited by a strong lyrical voice, tight plotting with surprising twists and turns, and stories told with heart and resonance that will stand the test of time.

An EMLA client herself, Joan is also the author of numerous books for children, most recently the Princess Juniper series, the picture books Ghost in the House, Elf in the House, Bunny Bus, and The Tiptoe Guide to Tracking Fairies, and the "non-fiction with a twist" series Two Truths and a Lie, co-written with Laurie Ann Thompson.—Her next novel, the magical adventure The Train of Lost Things, is forthcoming from Philomel in March 2018. When she is not on the phone, answering email, or writing, you will most likely find Joan curled up with a book. Or baking something delicious. Or talking about something delicious she's baked. Really, after books and food, what else is there worth saying?

You can read more about Joan's writing and agenting process here.

Joan does not have any upcoming conferences and events scheduled at this time.

Tricia is the "Pacific Northwest branch" of EMLA—born and raised in Oregon, and now lives in Seattle. After 22 years of working as a developmental and production-based editor (from kids books to college textbooks, but mostly college textbooks), she joined the EMLA team in March 2011 as a social media strategist.

As 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.

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 and here.

Upcoming 2021 Events:

October 25, 2021: An Agent & Author's Perspective on Writing for Very Young Children with Senior Literary Agent Tricia Lawrence and Author Annie Bailey (submission opportunity) with Eastern PA SCBI chapter (contact the SCBWI regional chapter for info)

November 4-7, 2021: Vermont College MFA mini-res (contact VCFA for info)

November 30, 2021: Creating Interesting Characters Zoom with Black Creators In Kid Lit (group membership required)

Kevin has been a publishing professional for more than 25 years and has held positions at Scholastic, Simon & Schuster, and Disney. He has edited such best-selling and award-winning writers and illustrators as Cynthia Rylant, Mark Teague, Dav Pilkey, Angela Johnson, Laurie Halse Anderson, Matt Cordell, Lauren Thompson, Derek Anderson, Jane Dyer, Tony DiTerlizzi, Holly Black, Loren Long, LeUyen Pham, and Kadir Nelson, to name but a few.

In addition to editing, he has written close to a dozen picture books, including Chugga Chugga Choo Choo and My Truck Is Stuck.

He lives with his husband and dog in a 200-year-old farm house in the Hudson Valley.

As an agent, Kevin's focus primarily is on writer-illustrators and diverse voices.

Kevin does not have any upcoming conference appearances scheduled at this time.

Tara Gonzalez is an Associate Agent at EMLA, as well as the assistant to Erin Murphy and social media coordinator for EMLA. She's located in Florida, although she's currently plotting how to make her way back to London, where she studied abroad for several months during her undergrad.

Tara is actively building her client list. She loves all ages of children's literature, but her passion is in young adult and middle grade novels. Her taste spans across broad ranges of genres, from contemporary, historical, literary, to adventure and fantasy. She loves characters and stories that resonate, and strong voices.

Beyond books, Tara loves movies, cats, buying things she probably doesn't need on Etsy, and getting hooked on TV shows that get cancelled after one season. She recently graduated with her master's degree in Media and Communication Studies, and is always looking for the next opportunity to travel.

Tara does not currently have any conference appearances scheduled.

Miranda Paul (she/her) holds a B.A. in English from St. Mary's College of Maryland and has worked with students (and campers) in every grade from Pre-K through college. A co-founding member of the nonprofit organization We Need Diverse Books, Miranda currently serves as its Mentorship chairperson. In her other lives, Miranda has worked as a freelance writer and journalist, and is the award-winning author of more than a dozen picture books including One Plastic Bag, Water is Water, 10 Little Ninjas, I Am Farmer, Nine Months, and Little Libraries, Big Heroes. Writers and Illustrators may query using the contact form or Query Tracker—Miranda has her sights on authors and author-illustrators who create everything from board books through YA and she is interested in both fiction and nonfiction (and those weird manuscripts that fall somewhere in between). She loves picture books, novels, memoirs, and nonfiction works that are clever, original, and emotionally gripping. Miranda lives in Wisconsin with her husband, author Baptiste Paul, their children, and an assortment of resident and foster animals.

Dennis handles agency accounting, organization, and development in the Maine office, including planning the annual client retreat. He prefers the less formal title of "bon vivant."

Co-agency for foreign and translation rights. Contact Alexandra Devlin with inquiries, alexandradevlin@rightspeople.com.

Co-agency for dramatic and performance rights. 

Co-agency for audio rights. Contact Rebecca Mancini (rightsmix@gmail.com) with inquiries, 973-900-7876.

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