Writers House has been around for over fifty years (it even used to be an actual house!), and it's one of the largest literary agencies in the industry, representing fiction and non-fiction of every stripe.

I've been with Writers House for a little over sixteen years now, and while I'm not an actual house (couldn't get the permits), I'm a pretty omnivorous agent, with both an adult list (mostly literary and commercial fiction, as well as journalistic non-fiction) and a children's list (everything from picture books to young adult). At the moment, I've got a particular hankering for...

- adult fiction that rewards the reader line-by-line and handcuffs humor and tragedy to the same radiator, like Maggie Thrash's Rainbow Black (other recent favorites include The Searcher, Five Decembers, Lonesome Dove, and The Night Watchman)

- bonkers high-concept novels with a speculative tilt (time loops and the like!)

- audacious, experimental mysteries, fantasies and psychological suspense

- intricate, heart-on-its-sleeve, voice-abundant YA like King Dork or Baby & Solo (bonus points for unrequited love stories!)

- fantastical or contemporary middle grade that takes on heavy themes with an optimistic, eccentric touch (like Eli Brown's Oddity)

- sweet and/or silly and/or heartbreaking picture books from adventurous author/illustrators

- unexpected memoirs with itchy voices

- narrative non-fiction that tackles hard-to-tackle issues, like Monsters: A Fan's Dilemma

I'm also willing to be a sucker for...

- detective stories that bend reality

- ghost stories that blow reality to hell

- Secret Book X (I don't know what Secret Book X is, but suffice it to say, I'm open to the occasional curveball).

And I have almost zero emotional baggage, so I'm ready to fall in love (with your book)!

* * *

Also! Scattered around the relatively jokey answers in these old interviews is a bit more detail on my bookish affinities...

https://www.writersdigest.com/getting-published/successful-queries-stephen-barr-and-land-of-no-regrets-by-sadi-muktadir

https://www.onlypicturebooks.com/2021/02/22/agent-interview-stephen-barr-writers-house/

https://childrenswritersworkshop.com/pages/profiles/faculty/interviews/2015/agent-barr.html

http://www.middlegradeninja.com/2013/07/7-questions-for-literary-agent-stephen.html

https://theliterarymom.wordpress.com/2014/04/15/interview-with-literary-agent-stephen-barr-of-writers-house/

David Macaulay, Caldecott Medalist and MacArthur Fellow, author/illustrator of THE WAY THINGS WORK
Maggie Thrash, author of RAINBOW BLACK, and author/illustrator of HONOR GIRL and LOST SOUL, BE AT PEACE
F.C. Yee, NYT bestselling author of the CHRONICLES OF THE AVATAR series and THE EPIC CRUSH OF GENIE LO
Kate Milford, NYT bestselling author of the Edgar Award-winning, National Book Award nominee GREENGLASS HOUSE
Laurel Snyder, author of the National Book Award nominee ORPHAN ISLAND and the Geisel Award winning CHARLIE AND MOUSE
Gideon Sterer, NYT bestselling author of THE CHRISTMAS OWL and THE MIDNIGHT FAIR
John Corey Whaley, Printz Award winner for WHERE THINGS COME BACK, National Book Award finalist for NOGGIN
Katherine Roy, author/illustrator of the Sibert Honor winner NEIGHBORHOOD SHARKS and MAKING MORE
Eli Brown, author of ODDITY
Hannah Salyer, author/illustrator of PACKS and ANCESTORY
Joe Kady, AKA Mummy Joe
James Robinson, author of WHALE EYES/
Jon Chad, author/illustrator of the Eisner-nominated PINBALL
Joshua David Stein, author of SOLITARY ANIMALS and THE INVISIBLE ALPHABET
Paul Gilligan, author/illustrator of PLUTO ROCKET and the POOCH CAFE comic strip
Shelley Johannes, author/illustrator of BEATRICE ZINKER, UPSIDE DOWN THINKER
Rilla Alexander, author/illustrator of THE NEW ROOSTER, a NYT and NYPL Best Illustrated Book of 2022
Emily Hughes, author/illustrator of WILD and THE SNAIL
bethany bARTon, author/illustrator of I'M TRYING TO LOVE SPIDERS and GIVE BEES A CHANCE
Thyra Heder, author/illustrator of E.B. White Read-Aloud finalist ALFIE and HOW DO YOU DANCE?
Chuck Groenink, author/illustrator of BOY HERE, BOY THERE
Anna Walker, author/illustrator of PEGGY and FLORETTE
Peter Zuckerman and Amanda Padoan, National Outdoor Book Award winners for BURIED IN THE SKY

MAKE NEW FRIENDS, Joshua David Stein (Abrams)
THE WISHING WELL, Gideon Sterer and Emily Hughes (Minerva)
MEGABEASTS, Gideon Sterer (Clarion)
WHALE EYES, James Robinson (Penguin Workshop)
QUEST KIDS AND THE DRAGON PANTS OF GOLD, Mark Leiknes (Union Square Kids)
BOY HERE, BOY THERE, Chuck Groenink (Tundra)
I AM NOT THE EASTER BUNNY, T.L. McBeth (Flamingo/Penguin)
BOY VS. SHARK, Paul Gilligan (Tundra)
THE FIRST THING ABOUT YOU, Chaz Hayden (Candlewick)
THE SNAIL, Emily Hughes (Chronicle)
TINY DINO, Deborah Freedman (Viking)
THE NEW ROOSTER, Rilla Alexander (Simon & Schuster)
ODDITY, Eli Brown (Walker US)
HELLO, JIMMY!, Anna Walker (Clarion)
TOO CROWDED, Lena Podesta (Sourcebooks)
PINBALL, Jon Chad (First Second)
BABY & SOLO, Lisabeth Posthuma (Candlewick)
AVATAR: RISE OF KYOSHI, F.C. Yee (Abrams)
BONES OF A SAINT, Grant Farley (SoHo Teen)
DOGS AT WORK, Margaret Cardillo (Balzer & Bray)
KONDO AND KEZUMI VISIT GIANT ISLAND, David Goodner and Andrea Tsurumi (Hyperion)
MORE THAN SUNNY, Shelley Johannes (Atheneum)

RAINBOW BLACK, Maggie Thrash (HarperCollins)
THE LAND OF NO REGRETS, Sadi Muktadir (HarperCollins)
NO WORRIES: HOW TO LIVE A STRESS-FREE FINANCIAL LIFE, Jared Dillian (Harriman House)
THERE ARE NO ACCIDENTS, Jessie Singer (Simon & Schuster)
HERE IS REAL MAGIC, Nate Staniforth (Bloomsbury)
ASTRONAUT MAKER, Michael Cassutt (Chicago Review Press)
LAST NIGHT A SUPERHERO SAVED MY LIFE, Liesa Mignogna, ed. (Thomas Dunne)
THERE WAS A LITTLE GIRL, Brooke Shields (Dutton)
THE ACCIDENTAL SAVANT, Jason Padgett & Maureen Seaberg (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)
FAKEBOOK, Dave Cicirelli (Sourcebooks)
THE SECRETS OF LOST CATS, Nancy Davidson (St. Martin's)
BURIED IN THE SKY, Peter Zuckerman and Amanda Padoan (W.W. Norton)
PUNCHING TOM HANKS, Kevin Seccia (St. Martin's)