Rachel Mann joins JULA as literary agent

Rachel Mann, most recently publishing director at The Roald Dahl Story Company, is joining Jo Unwin and Ella Berthoud as a literary agent at JULA, where she will build a list focusing primarily on children’s fiction.

Mann started her editorial career at Penguin Random House and went on to become commissioning editor at Simon and Schuster. Notable successes included bringing YA author Adam Silvera to the UK, Stewart Foster’s Bubble Boy, and commissioning Everyday Sexism’s Laura Bates’s upcoming YA fiction. She then moved over to become publishing director at the Roald Dahl Story Company, where she led the diversification and expansion of the global Dahl programme across adult and children’s. Earlier this year, she was listed as one of the inaugural FutureBook 40 for industry innovation.

Unwin said: "Rachel Mann is everything you’d want an agent to be: well-read and popular with authors, with an excellent understanding of the industry. We all warmed to her instantly as a potential colleague, so I was thrilled when she accepted the role."

Mann said: "I can think of no one better to work with than Jo, as I transition into agenting. Her warmth, commitment and incredible eye have built a broad and formidable list of clients, and she has already shown herself to be a wonderfully supportive colleague. I’m very excited to be joining the JULA team and to contribute to the continued growth of the agency."

Since founding her agency five years ago in 2013,  Unwin has built a list that includes authors including Charlie Brooker, Kit de Waal, Richard Ayoade, Jenny Colgan, Emma Flint, Nina Stibbe, AJ Pearce and Candice Carty-Williams.

Mann will start at JULA’s Somerset House offices in January 2019 and can be reached at Rachel@jounwin.co.uk.