Presenters

Laura Bradford

Agent

In-Person Conference

Laura Bradford established the Bradford Literary Agency in 2001. She considers herself an editorial-focused agent and takes a hands-on approach to developing proposals and manuscripts with her authors for the most appropriate markets. The mission of Bradford Literary Agency is to form true partnerships with their clients and build long-term relationships that extend from writing the first draft through the length of the author’s career. Laura’s clients include both debut and award-winning and best-selling authors and she strives to showcase diverse voices in all genres and would love to bring more LGBTQ+ and BIPOC authors (and protagonists!) into the publishing world. She is actively building her client list and represents work in the following categories: romance (historical, romantic suspense, category, contemporary), speculative fiction, women’s fiction, historical fiction, mystery, thrillers, young adult, upper middle grade, illustration as well as some select non-fiction. She is especially interested in acquiring graphic novels, anything #ownvoices, and recent items on her wish list include: plus-sized heroines, manuscripts with disabled rep, a mystery/suspense series with a female protagonist that is an expert in a thinky field (like the Temperance Brennan series by Kathy Reichs), deep, juicy middle grade with a lot of emotional gravitas, a historical mystery series with a slow burn romance, multigenerational women’s fiction with some cool time periods and settings, middle grade with non-traditional family dynamics, stories of Black joy (any age), funny, escapist YA, forced proximity survival stories (stranded on an island? plane crash in the mountains? snowed in? Any age. She loved Baby Island AND Six Days, Seven Nights).

She is a member of the Association of American Literary Agents (AALA) and the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI).

Presentations