Kelly Dyksterhouse
Literary Agent
Kelly holds an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults for Vermont College of Fine Arts and got her start in agenting by working as an editorial reader and assistant at leading literary agencies. She joined The Tobias Literary Agency with the merger of Raven Quill Literary Agency in 2022 and is excited to help grow TLA’s Children’s Department.
Kelly considers the opportunity to help bring books into existence to be a great honor, and it is a particular joy for her to work alongside authors as they develop their project from idea to polished manuscript. The best feeling of all is when those manuscripts end up as books in the hands of children. Her agenting style is collaborative and editorial, and she always seeks to refine a manuscript so that the author is telling the story they most want to tell in the best way possible.
Kelly represents picture books, middle grade and young adult, both fiction and nonfiction, as well as graphic novels. She also represents illustrators. She is drawn to high concept stories with high level writing, books that can be described in one sentence that bring something new to shelves—children’s books should be both fun to read and say something important. She passionately believes that all kids should be able to see themselves in books, and so is always on the lookout for diverse perspectives.
She is actively building her middle grade and young adult list. For middle grade, she loves books with ensemble casts, books about good kids making bad decisions and then having to get themselves out of it, quests and hijinks, spooky stories and mysteries, and historical novels that feel relevant.
For YA, Kelly is looking for much of the same, and is drawn to books with atmospheric settings, lush writing, and books with romance threaded through but not the primary plot. She is particularly interested in middle grade and young adult fantasy told from a unique perspective, ghost stories, accessible sci-fi, magical realism, contemporary stories that challenge assumptions and ask hard questions, and she will forever be on the lookout for a good heist.