Four-year-old agency Folio Literary Management is expanding its presence in the children’s book market with the launch of Folio Jr., which will represent creators of middle-grade and young adult novels, as well as “selective” picture books. Two new hires at the agency—Marcy Posner and Emily van Beek—as well as Folio’s Molly Jaffa will represent clients for the division, though Folio Jr. will also encompass other children’s/YA authors at Folio, including those represented by other agents.
“We really want to be able to give children’s book authors a full-service experience,” says Posner, who joined Folio in early April and was most recently an agent and foreign rights director at Sterling Lord Literistic. “We see this as a real growth area. With Emily there and with Molly being promoted to an agent, it was not an opportunity to be passed up.”
Posner will continue to represent authors including Newbery Honor-winner Jacqueline Kelly (The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate) and Jan Bozarth; Posner also represents a number of adult authors. Van Beek, who joined Folio in early May, was an agent and rights director at Pippin Properties, Inc., where she sold books by such writers as Newbery Honor-winner Kathi Appelt (The Underneath), Jandy Nelson, and Jenny Han; van Beek will represent middle-grade and YA authors, as well as be a “picture book point person,” according to Posner. Jaffa has sold subsidiary rights at Folio since 2008, and will focus on middle-grade and YA fiction.
