Stephanie Thwaites

I am Curtis Brown’s Children’s Agent representing picture books authors, fiction for young readers, middle grade fiction and young adult novels. I studied English literature at Leeds University, with a year at McGill University in Montreal. After a brief stint of work experience at a Publishing PR company, I joined the Curtis Brown team in 2003 and took over the Children’s Department in 2008. I have been fortunate to work with a huge range of incredibly talented authors, both established voices and new names in the children’s fiction world and I’m actively looking for new authors to team up with. I handle UK and translation rights for my clients, and for our partners at ICM and Curtis Brown Australia and I really enjoy the international view this gives me and the insight it provides into different markets beyond the English language speaking world.

Discovering new talent is undoubtedly one of the most exciting parts of the job and I’m thrilled to have worked with Tony Bradman on our Curtis Brown Creative Writing for Children course where I had the opportunity to spend time with budding new writers and hear their views and ideas. I have been invited to speak to creative writing groups at different Universities and I always find it inspiring to see how committed and hardworking the students often are. I know it can be a real struggle to write and the path to publication can be a rocky one but I think with the right idea, the right approach and the right support, the results can be hugely satisfying.

It’s difficult to pinpoint exactly what I’m looking for. Sometimes you just know when you see it even if it doesn’t meet any of your imagined criteria.

However as a guide – I’m looking for:
- Stand alone stories with depth, some emotion and really distinctive protagonists, for a 9+ readership.
- Stories with a twist for 8-12s, fast paced and with adventure.
- Thrillers for young adults.
- Friendship focused stories for pre-teen girls with something different to offer.
- Anything with a gothic feel!