I seek projects that spark imagination and provoke thought & empathy
with an emphasis on gifted author/illustrators,
and evocative literary fiction and non-fiction for adults.
monaInk
Query Manager Open 07/05-08/05/26
Open to queries with an emphasis on gifted author/illustrators, literary fiction for adults, and thought provoking non-fiction with attention to craft.
July 05, 2026-August 05, 2026.
ABOUT
After working as a developmental editor and literary agent, Mona founded her own agency to be a creative partner to original thinkers and creators and an advocate for imaginative, artistically ambitious books for adults and children—work that trusts readers, resists simplification, and holds value beyond the immediate demands of the marketplace.
Drawn to the imaginative challenges of content creation, she spent 25 years designing, writing, and producing nonfiction media for broadcast, print, and the web. She became a producer through writing, helping to define audiences and shape messages for, among others, the Human Genome Project, Weston Woods, Discovery, and PBS. Her work received top national awards.
Throughout her careers, Mona has sought to forge connections—between reader and text, between trust and collaboration, and between content and emotion.
Education:
MSLS, Simmons
Simmons Center for the Study of Children’s Literature
Parsons School of Design
Sampling My Tastes
For Kiddos, I’m Looking for the Next…
Picture Books
Fireworks — Matthew Burgess, illustrated by Cátia Chien
Girl on a Motorcycle — Amy Novesky, illustrated by Julie Morstad
Hot Dog — written and illustrated by Doug Salati
I Talk Like a River — Jordan Scott, illustrated by Sydney Smith
If You Went to the Bottom of the Ocean — Brooke McIntyre, illustrated by Gordy Wright
In a Jar — written and illustrated by Deborah Marcero
Island Storm — Brian Floca, illustrated by Sydney Smith
Little Doctor and the Fearless Beast — written and illustrated by Sophie Gilmore
Little Witch Hazel — written and illustrated by Phoebe Wahl
Milo Imagines the World — Matt de la Peña, illustrated by Christian Robinson
Nina: A Story of Nina Simone — Traci N. Todd, illustrated by Christian Robinson
The Tide Pool Waits — Candace Fleming, illustrated by Amy Hevron
We All Play — written and illustrated by Julie Flett
...and Beyond
All the Blues in the Sky — Renée Watson
Brown Girl Dreaming — Jacqueline Woodson
Everything Sad Is Untrue — Daniel Nayeri
Pax — Sara Pennypacker, illustrated by Jon Klassen
The Wild Robot — written and illustrated by Peter Brown
When You Reach Me — Rebecca Stead
For Adults, I’m Looking for the Next…
Fiction
All Fours—Miranda July
Audition — Katie Kitamura
Exit West — Mohsin Hamid
James — Percival Everett
Matrix — Lauren Groff
The Memory Police — Yoko Ogawa
On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous — Ocean Vuong
Vladimir — Julia May Jonas
The Wrong End of the Telescope — Rabih Alameddine
Bread of Angels — Patti Smith
An Immense World — Ed Yong
Lab Girl — Hope Jahren
Wildwood — Roger Deakin
A Few Enduring Favorites
Too many to count, but some selects:
Anna Karenina & other Russian novels
Bear—Marian Engel
Beloved — Toni Morrison
The Bookmaker’s Daughter — Shirley Abbott
The Collected Poems of Mary Oliver
Consolations — David Whyte
Exit West — Mohsin Hamid
The Fire Next Time & Giovanni’s Room—James Baldwin
Hamnet—Maggie O’Farrell
In Search of Love and Beauty—Ruth Prawer Jhabvala
Klara And the Sun—Kazuo Ishiguro
On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous — Ocean Vuong
A Poetry Handbook — Mary Oliver
‘Rain’a poem—William Carlos Williams
Speak, Memory — Vladimir Nabokov
The Wolf Hall trilogy — Hilary Mantel
Beyond Books
Onstage: Anything featuring Mark Rylance.
A documentary for our times: The Librarians.
Current television favorite: Sugar.
A perennial favorite: Slow Horses.
Filmmakers whose work I seek out include Almodóvar, Wes Anderson, Sofia Coppola,
Guillermo del Toro, Greta Gerwig, and Spike Lee.
I’m particularly drawn to films that capture the strangeness, intensity, and imaginative reality of childhood, including The Go-Between, Hope and Glory, Jojo Rabbit, The Last Emperor, Pan’s Labyrinth, and Roma.