The Foundry Team

Peter H. McGuigan
Peter has been in publishing since 1994, working as an active agent for more than eight of those years also serving as Rights Director for two literary agencies. Reflecting his background in both general trade and science publishing, Peter is drawn to smart, offbeat non-fiction, particularly works of narrative non-fiction on pop culture, niche history, biography, music and science. He also represents novelists, both commercial and literary, across all genres, especially first-time writers. He works closely with each author to develop innovative, rock-solid proposals and manuscripts and is happiest when representing controversial, out of the ordinary or provocative subjects and authors. Peter studied creative writing, journalism and literature at Virginia Tech and Virginia Commonwealth University and has a degree in English.

Yfat Reiss Gendell
Drawing on her early careers as a lawyer and small publisher, Yfat looks for projects with a strong, defined brand. She favors non-fiction books focusing on all manners of prescriptive: how-to, science, health and well-being, and a broad range of narrative nonfiction that includes memoirs, and adventure/travel stories. Yfat also looks for commercial fiction highlighting the full range of women's experiences - young and old - and also seeks some science fiction, thrillers and historical fiction. Her titles regularly receive national media exposure and endorsements, sell foreign rights translations all over the world and are adapted into film and television projects and merchandise lines. She understands what her authors go through, because she was one. Yfat has published eight commercial non-fiction titles with Chronicle Books, Stewart, Tabori & Chang, Penguin Avery Books, and others. She holds a B.A. in Fine Arts from Brandeis University and a J.D. from U.C.L.A. School of Law.

Stéphanie Abou
With a background in literary publishing and fashion magazines, Stéphanie Abou has been in New York publishing for 10 years. Since 1999 she has worked at literary agencies as both Rights Director and as a Domestic agent. In fiction and non-fiction alike Stéphanie is always on the lookout for authors who are accomplished storytellers with their own distinctive voice, who develop memorable characters, and who are able to create psychological conflict with their narrative. She is an across-the-board fiction lover, attracted to both literary and smart upmarket commercial fiction. In non-fiction she leans towards projects that tackle big topics with an unusual approach. Pop culture, health, science, parenting, women's and multicultural issues are of special interest. She is a graduate of the Sorbonne in Paris, France, her hometown, where the focus of her masters in comparative literature was on the poetics of translation.

Hannah Brown Gordon
After graduating from Barnard College/Columbia University, where she received her B.A. in Creative Writing and English Literature, Hannah spent a year working at Sanford J. Greenburger Associates. Since moving to Foundry Literary + Media in June 2007, she has actively and ambitiously built her list of authors and continues to do so. She enjoys the creative process of working with writers and collaborating closely with them throughout all stages of their careers. She loves absorbing and compelling writing, both fiction and nonfiction, and is seeking to represent authors across many genres of fiction, YA, memoir, narrative nonfiction, history, current events, science, psychology and pop-culture.

Chris Park
Prior to joining Foundry, Chris worked as an editor for several New York publishing houses (Hachette Book Group, Random House) and helped launch an independent publishing company. She acquired and edited works of narrative nonfiction, autobiography and memoir, inspiration, Christian interest, sports, humor, current events and fiction, including bestselling titles such as THE PREACHER AND THE PRESIDENTS by Time's Nancy Gibbs and Michael Duffy, and NFL quarterback Brett Favre's illustrated autobiography FAVRE. Chris is particularly drawn to memoirs, narrative nonfiction, Christian nonfiction and character-driven fiction, and she enjoys working with authors to develop books that are appealing and accessible to a broad audience. She has a degree in English from Harvard University and lives in a Chicago suburb with her family.

Lisa Grubka
Lisa Grubka spent six years at the William Morris Agency before joining Foundry, representing both fiction (literary, young adult and women's) and non-fiction (pop culture, food, narrative, sports and humor). Lisa has worked with a broad variety of authors, from debut novelists to Food Network stars. She takes a very hands-on approach in working with her authors, and is a thorough editor, ensuring the best possible proposal or manuscript. In addition to representing her authors, she also managed magazine/serial and audio rights for William Morris. She began her career at Farrar, Straus and Giroux and is a graduate of the University of Michigan.

Mollie Glick
After graduating from Brown University, Mollie began her publishing career as a literary scout, advising foreign publishers regarding the acquisition of rights to American books. She then worked as an editor at the Crown imprint of Random House, before switching over to "the other side" and becoming an agent at JVNLA (The Jean V. Naggar Literary Agency) in 2003. Mollie's list includes literary fiction, narrative non-fiction, and a bit of practical non- fiction. She's particularly interested in fiction that bridges the literary/commercial divide, combining strong writing with a great plot, and non-fiction dealing with popular science, medicine, psychology, cultural history, memoir and current events. She's very hands-on, working collaboratively with her authors to refine their projects, then focusing on identifying just the right editors for the submissions. In addition to her work as a literary agent, Mollie also teaches classes on non-fiction proposal writing at Media Bistro, and a copy of her instructional article on non-fiction proposal writing will be featured in this year's edition of the Writers Digest guide to literary agents.

Stephen Barbara
In January of 2009 Stephen joined Foundry, where he represents a select list of popular, award-winning, and emerging writers for the adult and children's trade markets. His focus is on books for young readers (everything from Young Adult fiction down to picture books) as well as adult fiction and nonfiction with a young, hip feel, and crossover potential. His clients include Lynne Jonell, Lauren Oliver, Laura Amy Schlitz, Todd Strasser, and Tom Venuto. A graduate of the University of Chicago, where he studied literary criticism, Stephen has worked previous stints at HarperCollins publishers and The Donald Maass gency. For more information please visit: http://www.publishersmarketplace.com/members/StephenBarbara/

David R. Patterson
David has been involved in publishing since his graduation from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1996 with a degree in English, Highest Honors. David completed an internship at Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, worked for several years at Politics and Prose Bookstore in Washington, DC, and has worked as an Editor and Senior Editor at PublicAffairs and Henry Holt and Company. Books that he published while at PublicAffairs and Henry Holt include Nate Blakeslee's J. Anthony Lukas award-winning Tulia: Race, Cocaine, and Corruption in a Small Texas Town, Charles Peters' Five Days in Philadelphia, Eric Burns' Infamous Scribblers: The Founding Fathers and the Rowdy Beginnings of American Journalism, Thurston Clarke's bestselling The Last Campaign: Robert F. Kennedy and 82 Days that Inspired America, Nicholas Schmidle's To Live or to Perish Forever: Two Tumultuous Years in Pakistan, Peter Manseau's Rag and Bone: A Journey Among the World's Holy Dead, Ethan Brown's Shake the Devil Off: A True Story of the Murder that Rocked New Orleans, and Michael Schaffer's One Nation Under Dog: America's Love Affair with Our Dogs. David is looking especially for the most prominent and talented journalists, scholars, and personalities in a wide variety of fields, with either outstanding narratives and/or idea-driven works of nonfiction, which can be deeply serious or terrifically entertaining, and often combine those two qualities. He enjoys and is adept at working both with established and with up-and-coming writers. David will also represent fiction when he feels strongly that the author has a distinctive voice that can break out of the pack. He is in the habit of partnering fully with authors, from conception of an idea, to developing a thorough and compelling proposal, to helping them navigate in the best way what can sometimes be an opaque—and often thrilling—publishing process.

Brandi Bowles
Brandi Bowles joined Foundry Literary in 2010, after working as an agent at Morhaim Literary and an assistant editor at Crown/Three Rivers Press. Brandi represents idea and platform-driven nonfiction in all categories, including music and pop-culture, humor, business, sociology, philosophy, health, and relationships. Quirky, funny, or contrarian proposals are always welcome in her inbox, as are big-idea books that change the way we think about the world. Brandi also represents fiction in the categories of literary fiction, women's fiction, urban fantasy, and YA. She only accepts email queries. Bbowles [at] foundrymedia [dot] com