The Gelfman Schneider Literary Agency celebrates is 28th anniversary this year. In that time we have established a tradition of excellence rooted in a diverse client list and commitment to our authors. We are passionate about the writers we represent and devoted to their professional success. 

Gelfman Schneider represents a wide range of authors including American Academy of Arts, Edgar Awards and Pushcart Prize winners as well as several New York Times bestselling authors. Among our diverse list of clients are playwrights, journalists, scientists, activists & humorists writing narrative non-fiction, memoir, political & current affairs, popular science and popular culture non-fiction, as well as novelists writing literary & commercial fiction, women’s fiction, and historical fiction.  

We also exploit all the sub-rights to our clients work including Foreign Rights, Audio Rights, and Film & Television Rights and have been privileged to form working relationships with various co-agents. We are dedicated to veterans of the business & emerging voices which maintains our longstanding traditions while ensuring that we and our clients thrive in the future.  
 

In 1981 the venerable British agency, John Farquarhson Ltd. hired Jane Gelfman and then Deborah Schneider to work here in New York City. The agency began building its own American list of clients and in 1992 Jane & Deborah formed the business partnership they still have today as their own entity Gelfman Schneider Literary Agents Inc. They will celebrate 30 years here in 2011. 

CHECK OUT OUR RECENT DEAL NEWS:

ONE DAY is the fastest selling Vintage original paperback EVER! Named a "top 10 book of summer" by ELLE, and a GOOD MORNING AMERICA pick by Janice Kaplan, ONE DAY by author David Nicholls follows Dexter Mayhew and Emma Morley every July 15th for over two decades. Compared to When Harry Met Sally, grab it before it goes off the shelf!

5/29/2010: Jeffery Deaver will pen the next James Bond novel. Currently titled PROJECT X, it is due out in May 2011. Check out the fantastic press:

The New York Times

ABC News

The Washington Post

5/8/2010 Debut novelist Peggy Hesketh's TELLING THE BEES sold to Penguin Putnam

Told from the point of view of an 80 year old beekeeper who, in the face of loss, reminisces on a life-long, unconsummated love; his devotion to the art of beekeeping; and the haunting power of words left unspoken. He finds solace and sustenance in his bees, his constant, and only, companions, but he is haunted by the murder and loss of one woman, his friend and neighbor since childhood, whose presence and long absence in his life have never been reconciled. Their story spans the arc of the twentieth century; their lies, their secrets, their omissions and their guilt hover in his eternal present like the hum of his hives

Deborah Schneider grew up in Chicago. After graduating from college, she moved to San Francisco where she co-founded a small press literary magazine, and was inspired to pursue a career in book publishing. She moved to New York in 1978 and worked for several years for the movie studios as a book scout and story editor. In 1981, seeking a less corporate environment, Deborah partnered with Jane Gelfman as an agent in the New York office of the venerable British Literary Agency, John Farquharson Ltd. Deborah began building her American client list and in 1992, she and Jane bought the agency and established the Gelfman Schneider Literary Agents Inc. that exists today.

Jane Gelfman was  born in New York, and after attending an out of-town college, couldn’t wait to move back to the city and work in Publishing. After a small flirtation with Simon and Schuster and as a “story editor” in film production, she formed an alliance with a British publisher as acquisitions editor and agent for its US rights, and then seguéd into full-time agenting in partnership with Deborah Schneider. The agency has prospered harmoniously for decades, representing a multifaceted array of wonderful writers.

Victoria Marini was born in Pennsylvania and moved to New York in 2003. She is the newest member of the Agency and came to Gelfman Schneider in July of 2008 as an Agency Assistant after graduating college in 2007. She has begun to build her own client list which includes commercial fiction, narrative non- fiction, and memoir. She is very interested in acquiring literary fiction, YA, and pop-culture and is looking for debut writers.

Heather Mitchell was born in Montreal, Canada. She started her career in Paris as a sports agent and continued for 15 years before the allure of books brought her skills as an agent to New York and to Gelfman Schneider in 2006. Heather represents a number of best selling authors, but she is particularly interested in narrative non-fiction, historical fiction and young debut authors with strong voices.

Cathy Gleason is our contracts, rights and accounts manager. She moved to New York from Virginia just after college and entered directly into publishing as an assistant at our agency. She has always been interested in literary fiction and mysteries as well as narrative non-fiction focusing on international politics, but she also follows science and technology, especially as it regards the future of digital publishing.