Elise Howard
DeFiore & Company
A literary agent since 2023, Elise Howard was the founding publisher of Algonquin Young Readers, an imprint of Workman Publishing, which she led from 2011 to 2022. Elise was previously SVP and associate publisher at HarperCollins Children's Books, where she oversaw the publication of many award-winning and bestselling books. Some of the authors she has worked with include Masuma Ahuja, Avi, Tracey Baptiste, Kelly Barnhill, Sara Farizan, Neil Gaiman, Kelly Jensen, and Nova Ren Suma. Books she has edited have won the Newbery Medal twice, the Edgar Allen Poe Award for best juvenile novel twice, and many other awards and honors. She began her career as a book packager, conceiving, selling to publishers, and developing juvenile and adult fiction and non-fiction projects.
Subject Focus
Experience
Submission Requirements
How to successfully present your work
Submission guidelines: Please email queryelise@defliterary.com with the title of your work and its category (e.g., adult n.f., middle-grade fiction) in the subject line. Please include in the body of your email: • A brief, compelling description introducing your book. • A paragraph (not more!) about you, relevant to your submission. • For non-fiction, a concise synopsis that compels me to read on and the opening chapter. • For fiction, the opening chapter. • For graphic novels, the first chapter or the first twenty-five pages. • For picture books, the full manuscript. • No attachments, please. Submissions that include them won’t be opened.