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Hannah Sheppard is leaving the DHH Literary Agency to launch a boutique agency with a focus primarily on commercial adult fiction and children’s fiction from middle grade through to YA. The Hannah Sheppard Literary Agency (HSLA) will be opening to submissions from 14th March 2023.
While at DHH, Sheppard worked with authors Dee Benson, Sarah Bonner, Abi Elphinstone and Chris McGeorge among others, and will continue to represent the majority of her client list at her new agency. With HSLA, Sheppard aims “to consciously build a community of authors who celebrate diverse and joyful representation and also commits to opening the agency’s virtual doors to aspiring authors for a monthly Zoom drop-in to help demystify publishing”.
She said: “I have spent the last few years thinking about publishing and my privilege within it and how best to use that to increase inclusivity and open the doors to more authors. I’m proud to have been part of the DHH initiatives to welcome a broader range of voices and it’s great to see the wider industry starting to think more openly too.
“Personally, as I’ve listened to the conversations that are taking place, particularly among hopeful authors from underrepresented backgrounds about how impenetrable publishing feels and how agents often seem intimidating, I’ve had a growing sense that I could experiment with doing things differently. I’m excited to launch my agency with that eye on change and openness at the centre of its creation.
“Leaving DHH was the hardest part of this decision, but it has always been my dream to start – and to fully steer the focus, direction, and impact of – my own agency. I am hugely appreciative of David Headley for the opportunity he gave me when he invited me to join DHH back in 2013 and for his mentoring and wisdom over the past 10 years.”
Sheppard has worked in publishing for 20 years. Before she moved to agenting with the DHH Literary Agency in 2013, she had worked in house in editorial at Macmillan Children’s Books, and then Headline Publishing Group, where she published Tanya Byrne’s Heart-Shaped Bruise. She can be reached at Hannah@hs-la.com.