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Meet Literary Agent Michaela Whatnall

By on February 28, 2024   /   Articles, Editor / Agent Spotlight  
Michaela Whatnall, Literary Agent

Michaela Whatnall, Literary Agent

I’m excited to introduce you to literary agent Michaela Whatnall. You’re going to love getting to know them!

Michaela Whatnall joined Dystel, Goderich & Bourret in 2019 in the agency’s West Coast office. They graduated from Emory University with a degree in English and linguistics, completed the Columbia Publishing Course, and in 2023, they were selected as a Publishers Weekly Star Watch Honoree. 

Michaela’s background in school and library marketing accounts for their strong interest in children’s literature, particularly contemporary middle grade and young adult fiction of all genres. In the adult fiction space, they are particularly seeking contemporary, speculative, and historical upmarket fiction, as well as character-driven, grounded fantasy. They are also open to select narrative nonfiction for both children and adults, graphic novels, and picture books.

I know you’re ready to learn more about Michaela, so let’s get started with the interview.

 

SK: Michaela, tell us a little about your agency.

 

MW: Dystel, Goderich & Bourret was founded in 1994 and is based in New York, though I work out of our West Coast office. We are a mid-size agency full of fantastic agents who represent books across practically every genre, with a focus on helping our clients build their careers long-term. I feel very lucky to work here!

 

SK: What was your path to becoming an agent?

 

MW: I always knew that I wanted to work with books, and from my very first internship in the publishing industry, I had an inkling that working as an agent would be the best fit for me. That said, I had a bit of a roundabout path to getting here—after a number of internships, my first job was in school and library marketing, which turned out to be a fantastic introduction to the industry and also solidified my passion for children’s books.

During my three years working on the marketing side, I continued to build up my experience in other areas, from writing reader reports for a literary agency to writing monthly reviews of forthcoming kid’s books for an industry publication. That meant that when the right opportunity opened up at DG&B, I felt very prepared to dive in.

 

SK: What are the best and worst parts of being an agent?

 

MW: There are so many good parts that it’s hard for me to choose! I think my very favorite part of my job is having editorial conversations with my clients—I truly love the process of reading their work, getting my thoughts and notes together, and then talking with them about potential routes for revision. There’s something special about the creative energy during those calls and the amazing moments of discovery that can happen that really sustains me.

The worst part of being an agent, at least for me, is probably the fact that in this role, you will never feel 100% “caught up” on your work. There is simply never an end to your reading pile—as quickly as you’re able to move through it, more gets added at the exact same time, so you can never experience that feeling of being totally up to date on work (which is a feeling I crave, as a devotee of time management and checklists!).

 

SK: What do you look for in a query?

 

MW: The number one thing I look for in a query is specificity. What makes this story different from others in its category? At the exact same time, I’m also looking to see that the writer understands how their book fits into the currently publishing landscape. My favorite queries come from writers who are well-read in their category, who understand where their book will fit on the shelves (this can be communicated through comp titles), as well as what unique angle/perspective their book brings that is providing something fresh and new.

 

SK: What are the top reasons you pass on a submission?

 

MW: There are many reasons I might pass on a submission—first and foremost, most of my passes are simply because a project is not the perfect fit for me, which is an incredibly subjective thing. It’s a reality of the industry that agents have to be selective, because there’s just not enough time in the day to take on as many clients as we wish we could. With this in mind, I encourage writers to keep querying widely—a book that’s not the right fit for me could be absolutely perfect for someone else (and vice versa!).

 

SK: Here at the Mixed-Up Files, we’re all about middle grade. What do you love most about middle-grade novels?

 

MW: I love that middle grade novels are instrumental in creating life-long readers. For so many of us, middle grade books are what made us first fall in love with reading, and I feel so lucky that I get to be a part of bringing new middle grade books into the world that will find brand new readers. I still remember my days of returning again and again to the bookstore and the library, and the extreme excitement of emerging with fresh stories that I couldn’t wait to devour (shoutout to the Pony Pals series, one of the first to truly hook me!). Middle grade writers are the ones creating that experience for kids.

 

SK: Which middle-grade book(s) influenced you most as a child?

 

MW: One of my very favorite books as a kid was Absolutely Normal Chaos by Sharon Creech, and I still have so much affection for it. It has a really fun premise—it’s about a girl named Mary Lou who has been assigned by her teacher to keep a journal over the summer, and her journal gets very personal very quickly (it even opens with a note to her teacher imploring them not to read it!). The journal chronicles her life in a large and hectic family (something I strongly related to!), her thoughts as she reads The Odyssey for the first time (which inspired me to read The Odyssey as a kid), and all the wacky adventures she gets up to over the summer. There’s something so relatable and engaging about Mary Lou’s sarcastic sense of humor, and I reread that book many times.

 

SK: What are some of your favorite current middle-grade novels?

 

MW: A more recent middle grade novel that I loved was The Line Tender by Kate Allen (full disclosure, Kate is represented by my colleague Michael Bourret!). It deals incredibly thoughtfully with the topics of loss and grief, and follows a girl named Lucy, who is grappling with life after the death of her mother. The book perfectly balances both sorrow and hope, and it moved me deeply.

 

SK: What is your best guess on where the middle-grade market is headed?

 

MW: Ooh, this is a tough one. The market is having a tricky moment, but middle grade as a category is evergreen, and agents and editors are going to continue to champion these books. I’m not sure that I’m able to make a strong guess about where we’re headed, but I will say that now more than ever, something that helps a book find its footing is identifying a strong hook that sets it apart.

 

SK: Which genres/themes/subjects are you drawn to / not drawn to?

 

MW: In middle grade, the books I’m most drawn to are the ones that I might have worked on in my school and library marketing days. This means that I like books that could find a good home in classrooms and libraries because they grapple with interesting themes and can spark a discussion with kids after they’ve read it. This could mean a book dealing with a real-world issue that kids face, or it could mean a super fun fantasy or adventure book that manages to weave in themes relevant to kids’ lives. Across the board, I like specificity—subject matter that’s relatable to kids, but that I haven’t seen on the page before.

 

SK: Are there any current projects you’re excited about?

 

MW: A good example of the kind of books I look for and something that I’m very excited about is my client Jasminne Paulino’s recently announced book, The Extraordinary Orbit of Alex Ramirez, which is coming from Putnam next year. It’s about a boy who attends school in a self-contained classroom and yearns to attend mainstream science class, and it dives into his relationships with his family, friends, teachers, and bullies as he learns how to advocate for himself. Before reading Jasminne’s book, I had never read a story about a student in a self-contained classroom, so it immediately caught my attention. From there, the execution of the manuscript made me fall in love. Jasminne is a poet, and her free verse style, which smoothly incorporates Spanish to reflect Alex’s bilingual upbringing, really makes this story stand out.

 

SK: What advice do you have for authors who would like to send you a query?

 

MW: If you feel we might be a match, please do try me—I’m eagerly seeking more middle grade right now! I know that querying can be an intimidating, slow, and often stressful process, but something I like to tell writers is that on the other side of the screen, I am a reader eager for a good story, so I’m excited to receive and read your query. Looking through queries is one of my favorite parts of my job because I always have that feeling that the next story I’ll fall in love with could be just a click away!

 

SK: Okay, we’ve learned so much about you as an agent. What are your favorite things to do that have nothing to do with being an agent?

 

MW: I’m a big theater fan, so I love attending shows, especially musicals. I’m also lucky to have very creative friends, so I often find myself swept up in helping to make all kinds of projects, like short films and narrative podcasts. I adore story in all its forms, so one of my favorite things is exploring the storytelling possibilities of different mediums. In my downtime I love cuddling with my two cats and settling into a cozy armchair with a good book or podcast and a warm mug of tea.

 

SK: I know that so many Mixed-Up Filers are going to want to connect with you. Where can authors learn more about you? 

 

MW: 

Agency website: https://www.dystel.com 

MSWL: https://www.manuscriptwishlist.com/mswl-post/michaela-whatnall/ 

Instagram (where I’m most active): https://www.instagram.com/michaelawhatnall/ 

Twitter: https://twitter.com/mwhatnall

 

SK: Before we close, let’s have a little fun with favorites! What is your favorite…

 

Dessert? Key Lime Pie

Type of weather? A complete tie between a perfect sunny day and a cozy drizzly one

Genre of music? A chaotic mix of showtunes and alternative/indie folk

Season? Summer

Game? Stardew Valley

 

Thanks, Michaela, for a great discussion and a lot of fun facts. Mixed-Up Filers have definitely become your fans!

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STEM Tuesday — Brain/Psychology — Author Interview

By on February 27, 2024   /   Brain/Psychology, STEM Tuesday  

We are delighted to welcome Tanya Lloyd Kyi to the blog today.

Tanya Lloyd Ki

Tanya Kyi is the author of more than 30 books for children and young adults. She writes about science, pop-culture, and places where the two overlap. Tanya has worked in the past as a graphic designer, an editor, and a dishwasher. (She considers herself entirely qualified for that last one.) Her favourite color is blue, her favourite food is cheese, and her favorite book is A Wrinkle in Time.

Her book:

This is your brain on Stereotypes

Discusses the brain science behind stereotypes. It’s very intriguing!

Blurb: An essential overview of the science behind stereotypes: from why our brains form them to how recognizing them can help us be less biased.

From the time we’re babies, our brains constantly sort and label the world around us — a skill that’s crucial for our survival. But, as adolescents are all too aware, there’s a tremendous downside: when we do this to groups of people it can cause great harm. Here’s a comprehensive introduction to the science behind stereotypes that will help young people make sense of why we classify people, and how we can change our thinking. It covers the history of identifying stereotypes, secret biases in our brains, and how stereotypes affect our sense of self. Most importantly, it covers current research into how science can help us overcome our biases, offering hope for a future where stereotypes are less prevalent and the world is more fair for everyone.

 

Received a starred review from Kirkus as well as other praise:

A must-read primer for change.―Kirkus Reviews, starred review

… fascinating …―Booklist

A worthwhile purchase … that will help readers recognize, understand, and eradicate stereotypes.―School Library Journal

Alongside Drew Shannon’s colourful illustrations [Lloyd Kyi] encapsulates key sociological and scientific research on racism and stereotyping.―New York Times

 

Thanks for joining us today, Tanya! This is such an intriguing topic, how did you come up with it? 

One afternoon, I listened to a Hidden Brain podcast about implicit bias. That evening, my husband called from Edmonton, where he was giving the keynote speech at a conference. My husband is Asian Canadian and when he’d arrived at the conference venue, he’d been mistaken for the custodian. I thought… aha! That was implicit bias at work. I did some sleuthing to see if there was enough research about the topic to fill a children’s book, and there was so much fascinating material! I could have written three books on the subject.
 

Can you give us a short explanation of how science and stereotypes are related?

 

What do you see when you picture a senior citizen? What about a ballet dancer? Or an environmentalist? You probably picture an old grey-haired lady, maybe doing some knitting. You might imagine a girl in a tutu and a bearded guy in sandals. But those are generalizations. There are plenty of tennis-playing seniors, male ballet dancers, and suit-wearing environmentalists. Stereotypes live in the same place in our brain where we store implicit memory — things we know without necessarily remembering how we know them. You understand how to use scissors, you know the grass is green, and you believe ballet dancers wear tutus. Relying on our implicit memory for scissor use is fine, but when we allow our brains to supply us with snap-judgement images about people, we can be led astray by our own assumptions.
We don’t always realize we have biases (or maybe we hide them!), so scientists have to be tricky in order to study them. Sometimes they pretend to be studying something else, while actually watching what choices we make. Or they might ask us to make choices quickly, so we don’t have time to hide the stereotypes we hold. One of the most famous tests of bias is one developed by Harvard, and you can take it yourself, online. It’s called the Implicit Association Test.

 

Can you give us a sneak peek of one or two of the activities that you have in your book to help people understand their own ways of thinking?  

 

There’s so much we can do to combat the stereotypes in our own brains. That’s one of the reasons I was so excited to write this book. If kids notice gender bias in toys, they can email the toy companies. If they want to make their school a more accepting place, they can volunteer to create a display of diverse books in the library. But one of the most researched things in all of stereotype science is called the contact hypothesis. A psychologist named Gordon Allport came up with the idea in the mid 1900s, and studies have been done in hundreds of countries since then. The contact hypothesis says that if you hang out with people who are different than you, you will hold fewer stereotypes. So the very best way to combat stereotypes? Make all sorts of friends!
 

What do you want young readers to get out of your book? 

 

I’d love young readers to begin to recognize biases in the world around them, and to understand that they have the power to make change. You don’t have to get a university degree to combat stereotypes; you just have to pop by a GSA meeting at school, or redecorate your school computer lab in gender neutral themes, or pick up a book about characters who live in a different part of the world.
 

Do you have any tips for writers who want to break into nonfiction children’s books? 

 

Information books for children have changed dramatically in the last decade, so don’t rely on your memories of your own school library shelves. Head to a local bookstore and check out the ways writers, illustrators, and publishers are using new formats and forms to capture kids’ attention.
 

What are you working on now? 

 

I’ve just released a middle-grade novel called Emily Posts (published by Penguin Random House) and I have a picture book coming out called When You Meet a Dragon (illustrated by Udayana Lugo and published by Orca Books). While these aren’t information books, they were both inspired by research. Emily Posts is about a young influencer who encounters censorship while podcasting about the climate crisis, and When You Meet a Dragon is about the power of community to overcome existential, dragon-sized problems.

 

Thank you for having me, Jennifer! It’s an honor to be featured on your site.

 

You’re so welcome, Tanya. I loved learning more about how this book came to be, and I’m sure our readers did as well.

 

You can find out more about the book– and Tanya— HERE  –> https://www.tanyalloydkyi.com/
Jennifer Swanson author
Jennifer Swanson is an award-winning children’s author and podcaster. You can find her at her website https://jenniferswansonbooks.com/,
or her Solve It! for Kids podcast website www.solveitforkids.com   or on Pinterest, or X and IG @jenswanbooks.
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Interview with Author Cathy Carr and Book Giveaway!

By on February 26, 2024   /   Author Interviews  

Cathy Carr is the author of the award-winning novel, 365 Days to Alaska, which is a Junior Library Guild Selection and a Bank Street Best Children’s Books of 2021.

Readers will fall in love with Cathy’s latest book, Lost Kites and Other Treasures (Amulet Books), just released on February 6.  The main character,  Franny, is passionate about making artwork out of collected scraps and various objects. Franny’s creativity serves as an outlet as she navigates challenges with friendships, and her relationship with her grandmother, Franny’s legal guardian. At the heart of the story are hidden secrets about Franny’s mother, who abandoned her years before. It was a joy to enter Franny’s world, as she pulls together scraps of hope throughout her journey.

When she is not writing, Cathy loves to cook, garden and take hikes in nature, all the while collecting found materials for art projects. Cathy lives in New Jersey with her husband, son and “scrappy” cats, Nutmeg and Ginger. Cathy took time away from her busy writing schedule to offer a bit of background on Lost Kites and Other Treasures.

 

Please share your inspiration for creating Franny (Frances), the main character.

When I was in my late twenties, some friends of mine had a little girl who was an absolute hellion. I loved her, but she was a handful. She had a hair-trigger temper, she cussed, she had a habit of trying to kick men in the crotch (I left that out of my book), and she had flyaway white-blonde hair—which is the reason why Franny is blonde. She grew up to be a completely reasonable, healthy adult. She was my most direct inspiration for Franny, but many other bits and pieces inspired me too—my father’s troubled childhood, for one.

You explore a variety of aspects of mental illness, and specifically, bipolar disorder, from stigma to symptoms to effect on loved ones, What prompted you to write about this important topic?

It’s common. And for many people, it’s still a taboo subject. People are often startled when I speak about it openly. And, man, do a lot of them have their own tales to share. I have a clear memory of standing on our side porch while the guy who came to read the meter told me all about his schizophrenic daughter. He and I are still friends on Facebook. The mother with OCD, the cousin with bipolar, the uncle who had serious problems but would never see a psychiatrist because that would mean he was “crazy” —I’ve heard so many stories over the years. I didn’t see that common experience reflected in the fiction I was reading for kids, and I thought it should be reflected.

Franny is an artist, using found objects to create her work. Some of the characters appreciate her creativity, others, not so much, initially. What do you hope readers will take away from her artistry?

If Franny’s example inspires kids, or adults, to start a creative habit, or restart one that they’ve put by or neglected, that would make me happy. One thing I love about Franny’s artistry is that she just keeps on making because it gives her pleasure and purpose; she doesn’t stress too much about whether it’s good. This reminds me of something one of my friends said when my first book came out and I was fretting about sales or reviews or something, one of those stressful things writers have no control over. She said something along the lines of, “You wrote this book. It’s a good book. There’s a lot of you in it. It’s out in the world now, so get busy and start working on the next one.” Such excellent advice.

Throughout your story, Franny is faced with challenges to her friendships, including both physical separation and emotional separation due to betrayal of trust. You’ve portrayed relationships realistically, including the fact that Franny is also human and makes some mistakes along the way, which she admits to. Could you offer what you wanted to relay to young readers through these relationships?

Perfection is an unrealistic standard. We all mess up. And no one can be everything to everyone. If your toilet is overflowing, Franny’s friend Ruben is the guy to call. In other circumstances, not so much yet. He still has a lot of growing up to do. So, it’s important to give each other some grace. It’s also important to give people room to grow. People really can change. Sometimes I think we lose sight of this, especially under the influence of social media, which encourages us to form ruthless judgments of people based on 280-character tweets. Not a lot of room for nuance there.

Lost Kites and Other Treasures explores dysfunction within family relationships as well, from Nana’s secrecy about Franny’s mother’s illness, to the impact on Franny’s uncle of his sister’s illness and his response to the situation. Franny asks Ruben and friends whether their families ever fight, and what the outcome of those arguments are. Please offer insights into these relationships and situations in your story.

Life is complicated. Human relationships are complicated. I think both Nana and Uncle Gabe have been sort of worn out and worn down by the problems of Franny’s mom. What can help us under those circumstances, I believe, is community. Once Nana has that, she can start figuring out a better way to deal with her daughter’s troubled history. This is why Franny asks Ruben whether his family ever fights. If it’s just something that happens in your family, it feels awful and shaming. To know that it happens in pretty much everyone’s family lets you know you’re not alone. As for Tate’s claim that his parents never fight, some people need to portray themselves and their families as innately superior. This is often because of insecurity, but it can really be annoying to the rest of us.

I believe your story offers hope and personal growth as themes, from Franny’s hope that Nana will change in some of her stubborn ways, to Nana’s admission that even as an adult, she can be wrong in how she has behaved, in what she has communicated and, often, not. Could you please elaborate on these themes?

I think hope is important in middle-grade fiction. It’s important to communicate to our readers that a mistake isn’t the end of the world, that people’s characters aren’t set in stone, and that sometimes people behave the way they do because of circumstances you’re not aware of.

I loved how Miss Midori helped Franny’s artistic light shine, and how as an educator, she was a champion for Franny. Sadly, Franny didn’t feel that way about one of her other teachers. Care to expand on this?

It’s a common part of the school experience—the teacher you just don’t like! You don’t get them. They don’t get you either. Often it’s just two personalities that aren’t in very good sync. It’s such a common part of the middle-grade years I think it’s important to reflect that reality. On the other hand, a good teacher is a real gift, and that’s a common experience too. Mr. Burns is actually based on a math teacher I once had. I never heard him raise his voice. To this day, I have clear memories of how kind he was, especially to us geeky kids who weren’t the most socially successful.

Without giving away the ending, I loved how you didn’t tie everything up with a tight, shiny bow, but rather, true to Franny’s nature, wrapped the story up in scraps of hope. Did you consider ending the story otherwise?

“Scraps of hope”: I love that expression. No, I wasn’t tempted to write a sweet ending. Bittersweet is more my style. I try to emphasize hope and positivity in my writing for middle-schoolers, but I also work to be realistic. New problems and trials will arise, the way they always do. Nana and Franny are on the verge of having a new home at the end of the book, but there will be toilets to unclog and kitten pictures to sort through, because that’s life.

Lost Kites and Other Treasures is your second middle-grade novel, Can we look forward to other MG titles? What are you working on now?

Yes! Right now I’m working on my third novel, about a middle-grade girl in North Carolina. It’s still a rough draft, but there will be more complicated friendships, more struggles toward empathy, more family fights, and at least one pet chicken.

Thank you, Cathy, for offering insights into Franny and her world in Lost Kites and Other Treasures. To learn more about author Cathy Carr, visit her website here. For any questions or comments, feel free to reach Cathy at cathycarrwrites@gmail.com.

Cathy has offered a free copy of Lost Kites and Other Treasures through a random giveaway. Enter the Rafflecopter below. (Note entries only from continental United States.)
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