“Fun is my main ingredient. If we’re not at least enjoying this, what is the point?”
-Tricia Lawrence
Every year, the Writers’ League of Texas brings a faculty of close to thirty agents, editors, and other industry professionals to Austin for its Agents & Editors Conference. As we look ahead to the 26th Annual A&E Conference, taking place June 28–June 30, 2019, we’re happy to share Q&As with some of our faculty here.
An Interview with Tricia Lawrence
Tricia Lawrence 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.
Scribe: What is your approach to the author/agent relationship?
Tricia Lawrence: Communication, vision, evolution, and fun! Let’s break it down.
Scribe: Are there specific elements that draw you to a project?
TL: Voice every time. If the project beckons to me, I’m in.
Scribe: Tell us about a recent project you’re excited about!
TL: A MG graphic novel adaptation that I’m about to go out with. It began as a YA novel, and we sent it out on sub, got feedback about the voice sounding too young for YA, so my client and I talked about it, and she decided to turn it into a MG graphic novel. It’s been so much fun. I’m so excited, so pleased with her vision, her evolution, her determination, and that she had fun! You can tell!
Scribe: And also, what is your favorite children’s lit story to have recently come out?
TL: Jerome By Heart, put out by Enchanted Lion. It’s just masterful. I can’t stop thinking about it.
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Thanks, Tricia!
Click here to read our 2019 A&E Conference agent bios.
Click here for more information on the 2019 Agents & Editors Conference, a weekend long event in Austin, TX (June 28-June 30) that focuses on the craft of writing, the business of publishing, and building a literary community.
