Agent Spotlight: Anna Olswanger

This week's Agent Spotlight features Anna Olswanger of Olswanger Literary, LLC.
Status: Update on 2/4/2024: Accepting submissions.

About: “Anna Olswanger has been a literary agent since 2005. She started her career at Liza Dawson Associates in Manhattan, and in 2014 launched her own literary agency, Olswanger Literary LLC, where she represents a wide variety of genres, but is currently focused on illustrated books (picture books and graphic novels). She is a member of the AALA .
"Anna has sold to major publishers, including Bloomsbury, Chronicle, HarperCollins, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Macmillan, Penguin Random House, and Simon & Schuster.
"Her clients' books have won the Newbery Honor, Asian Pacific American Award for Literature Honor, Flora Stieglitz Strauss Award for Nonfiction, Orbis Pictus Honor, PEN/Steven Kroll Award for Picture Book Writing, Parents Choice Gold Award, Bank Street College of Education Best Children's Books, Sibert Award Honor, Ezra Jack Keats Book Award Honor, Sydney Taylor Silver Medal, Boston Globe Horn Book Nonfiction Honor, International Bologna/Ragazzi Nonfiction Honor, CCBC Choices, and been Junior Library Guild Selections and on The New York Times Bestseller list. You can view many of her clients' books on Instagram.
"Anna enjoys discovering new authors and illustrators, and is looking for “voice,” the sound and rhythm of an author that is hers alone. She has a particular interest in picture books (author-illustrators only) and graphic novels.
"She works hard with authors to get their manuscripts into shape for submission. She finds that most manuscripts need work on plot, so if you're a potential author or illustrator client, be ready to go through many revisions before Anna agrees to send out your manuscript. Her job is to get the story to the point where an editor will make an offer. (And then be prepared to make more revisions for the editor.)

"Anna would like to represent more author-illustrators of color." (From the agency website)

About the Agency:
"In 2014 she launched her own literary agency, Olswanger Literary LLC, where she represents a wide variety of genres, but is currently focused on illustrated books (picture books and graphic novels)." (From the agency website)
Web Presence:
Olswanger Literary website,
Publisher's Marketplace page.
AgentQuery, QueryTracker.
Pinterest.

#MS Wishlist

Twitter
What She's Looking For:
From the Agency Website:
Picture books and graphic novels. Also see her Manuscript Wish List to learn what she's looking for.
What She Isn't Looking For:
Anything other than the above

.Editorial Agent?
Yes, see her bio above.
Clients:
There are lists of client titles on the website.
Ms. Olswanger’s clients include Jim Carroll, Cathy Fishman, Michael Hall, Marvin Hamlisch, Michelle Markel,Margaret Peot, Jennifer Sattler, among others.
Query Methods:
E-mail: Yes.
Snail-Mail: No.
Online-Form: No.
Submission Guidelines (always verify):
Email query with a few pages of your manuscript. See the Olswanger Literary website for complete, up-to-date submission guidelines.  
Response Times:
Ms. Olswanger only responds if she is interested in reading more.
Worth Your Time:
Interviews:

Podcast Interview with Mel Rosenburg (07/2023)
Author Agent Spotlight: Anna Olswanger at KidLit411 (04/2019).
November Agent of the Month: Anna Olswanger interview Part 1 and Part 2 at Writing and Illustrating (11/2018)
Contact:
Please see the agency website for contact and query information.
Profile Details:
Last updated: 2/4/2024.
Agent Contacted For Review? Yes.
Last Reviewed By Agent?  2/5/2025.
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Have any experience with this agent? See something that needs updating? Please leave a comment or e-mail me at natalieiaguirre7(at)gmail(dot)com

Note: These agent profiles presently focus on agents who accept children's fiction. They are not interviews. Please take the time to verify anything you might use here before querying an agent. The information found herein is subject to change.