Final Judging: Final judging will be conducted by WOW editors and our honorable guest judge for the season, literary agent Savannah Brooks with the
Jennifer De Chiara Literary Agency.
Savannah's bio: Savannah Brooks joined the Jennifer De Chiara team in 2018, after interning for a year and a half. She's a nonfiction MFA candidate at Hamline University and earned her BS in marketing management from Virginia Tech. As well as agenting, she works as an editor at Red Bird Chapbooks, a teaching artist at the Loft Literary Center, and a reader for multiple literary magazines. Her own creative work has been publishing in
Barely South Review,
Hobart,
Lime Hawk, and
Every Writer's Resource, among others. When not immersed in the world of words, she can be found on her motorcycle, at her boxing gym, or lounging at one of Minnesota's 10,000 lakes. She lives in the most beautiful literary capital: Saint Paul.
What Savannah's looking for in book manuscripts:
For YA, I'm interested in books that focus on friendship, conflicting identity, and the theme of truth. I’m always drawn in by a protagonist venturing into a realm where society says they don’t belong (think swapping gender norms), and characters with weird obsessions are a weird obsession of mine—teach me strange new things, and I’m yours. I’m all about magical realism, mythology, and modern retellings, but I’m not the best fit for high fantasy or science fiction. Mostly, I’m invested in representing the diverse world in which we live and would like to see that reflected in a cast of characters. Show me variations in race, sexuality, gender, dis/ability, and ethnicity without that difference being a point of contention, and I’ll be thrilled. Call me an idealist, but my goal for each book is to give teenagers an opportunity to point to the page and say, "Finally, there I am."
For adult fiction, I'm interested in contemporary/literary novels/stories that are relevant to culture and focus on themes and issues that impact our daily lives. I love a meaty cast and am drawn in by the fine line between humor and depth (think Liane Moriarty's
Nine Perfect Strangers). I would love to hear more from marginalized voices, regardless of whether or not marginalization is a central theme.
I'd love to bring more nonfiction into this world, especially topic-driven books/essays such as those written by the likes of Mary Roach, Leslie Jamison, Michelle McNamara, Malcolm Gladwell, and Bill Bryson—anything that keeps my curious mind engaged and wanting more. I'm also interested in memoir that will inspire generations to come—
H is for Hawk is a personal favorite—and I'm a sucker for humor, so long as it's doing more than just making me laugh—see:
Priestdaddy by Patricia Lockwood.
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To query Savannah (for book length manuscripts), submit your query and the first 20 pages of your manuscript via
QueryMe.Online/SavannahBrooks. Queries sent by any other medium will not be considered.
