About Our Agency

Approach

Lucinda Literary is a literary management firm championing the leading thinkers and emerging voices of today. Led by Lucinda Halpern, who has decades of experience guiding authors to break-out success and long-lasting careers, we specialize in books that change the way people work, behave, and live.

In practical nonfiction, our emphasis is on big idea, popular science, and thought leadership books. In narrative nonfiction and memoir, we elevate stories that challenge the status quo, shine a light on little-known subjects, and read like fiction. For fiction itself, we fall in love with voice-driven, emotionally raw novels with commercial and literary appeal. And in children’s books, we adore unconventionally told stories that transport us.

Our strong backgrounds in marketing and broad media and film relationships enable us to be strategists and advocates not just for the books, but for the long-term careers of our authors. We take on a small number of new clients by design, which allows us to be hands-on, attentive, and editorially invested.

We distinguish ourselves from other agencies in our holistic, innovative approach to client representation, and we are “all in” invested partners. We help authors generate their best ideas and excel at developing books from the ground up, often pairing authors with our stable of bestselling writers to bring their book ideas to life.

Speaker’s Bureau

Lucinda Literary’s Speakers Bureau was founded in 2016 to offer lecture opportunities and relationships to all Lucinda Literary authors, along with a select list of authors represented by colleagues.

Education

For those new to or re-entering publishing, Lucinda Literary offers live workshops and private consultations, along with an evergreen video course, Get Signed, sharing industry insights, best practices, and expert guidance to help get your book into the hands of agents and publishers.

Publishing Partners

We have worked with all of the major publishers and a number of independents, including:

• PenguinRandomHouse
• HarperCollins
• Simon & Schuster
• Hachette Book Group
• Macmillan
• Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
• Hay House
• McGraw-Hill
• Scholastic
• Chronicle
• Sourcebooks
• Workman
• Wiley
• Amazon

Lucinda Halpern
President

With over fifteen years of experience in corporate and agency publishing, Lucinda serves both sides of the literary and business worlds. An editorially invested partner with a specialty in book marketing strategy, she has an “all in” dedication and work ethic when it comes to representing authors, and a track record of procuring top media placements, lecture engagements, and tv/film deals for her clients.

Lucinda began her publishing career in the Publicity Division of HarperCollins, where she assisted on the campaigns of Stephen Dubner and Steven Levitt (Freakonomics) among other New York Times bestselling authors. She then went on to work in Scholastic’s Marketing Partnerships Division, where she helped to develop and sell custom publishing programs to a variety of Fortune 500 companies and global nonprofits. She began her literary representation career at Fletcher & Company, where she also acted as a marketing consultant to Gretchen Rubin, among others. Today, she represents authors writing in the categories of business, health, lifestyle, popular science, narrative nonfiction, memoir, and upmarket fiction, including New York Times bestselling author Susan Peirce Thompson (Bright Line Eating), Jake Wood (Once a Warrior), Cait Flanders (The Year of Less), Paul Jarvis (Company of One), and the new work of New York Times bestselling author of The Nanny Diaries, Nicola Kraus. Chris Bailey (The Productivity Project; Hyperfocus) has said, “Never mind my books, I’d trust Lucinda, and the entire team at Lucinda Literary, with my life. Lucinda is the most resourceful person I’ve ever worked with—and she’s given me open, honest, and valuable feedback through each stage of the publishing process.”

Today, Lucinda enjoys teaching writers of all stages to improve their query packages and find their big idea. She is the author of Get Signed: Find An Agent, Land a Book Deal, and Become a Published Author, published with Hay House in February of 2024.

You can read more about Lucinda in this Forbes article or listen to her most recent podcast interviews on The Writer Files and Authors Who Lead.

Lucinda studied at the Nightingale-Bamford School, The Lawrenceville School, McGill University, and the Sorbonne in Paris. She is originally from New York City, where her company is based.

To book Lucinda for an interview, speaking event, or conference, you can speak with her here.

Roseanne Wells
Agent

Roseanne is eager to see diverse voices and marginalized stories. She’s looking for young adult and middle grade of all genres; nonfiction picture books, MG, and YA in STEAM, arts, history, and biography; and MG and YA graphic novels, especially queer stories or nonfiction subjects. She’s also interested in science fiction and fantasy for adult readers. In adult nonfiction, Roseanne likes narrative nonfiction– especially popular science and history, pop culture, and big idea books with personal stakes–as well as food books and cookbooks with a fresh perspective on cuisine or culture, all with a strong hook and takeaway for the reader.

Roseanne Wells joined Lucinda Literary Agency in 2022. Previously with The Jennifer De Chiara Literary Agency since 2012 and the Marianne Strong Literary Agency before that, she has also worked as a proofreader and a special sales/editorial assistant. She graduated from Sarah Lawrence College with degrees in literature and dance. An avid reader, Roseanne discovered her passion for book publishing during her internship at W. W. Norton, and she approaches agenting as a writer’s advocate and partner. She is a former volunteer for Housing Works Bookstore Cafe in Soho, NYC.

Kelly Bergh
Agent

After beginning her career as an editor in academic publishing and briefly serving as a children’s librarian, Kelly joined Lucinda Literary to begin building a list in adult practical nonfiction, specifically in the categories of health and wellness, spirituality, and popular science. She selectively takes on children’s and gift books/decks in the same areas.

A certified yoga teacher, Kelly is drawn to representing authors who seek to educate and empower those curious about what it means to live in alignment with their values. She is looking for PhDs and journalists who want to share their research with a general audience, as well as established thought leaders and influencers seeking a new medium through which to connect with their existing audiences.

Kelly holds a master’s degree in publishing from Drexel University and splits her time between Philadelphia and Seattle.

Julia Collucci
Project & Program Manager

As a previous private English teacher, Julia brings forth a passion for organization and project management alongside reading and editorial work. She graduated from Rutgers University, where she received her Bachelor’s degree in English and double minored in Psychology and Creative Writing. In her senior year, she was honored as a Paul Robeson Scholar for her Undergraduate Honors Thesis, which examined issues of identity in three fin de siècle fiction novels.

Julia assists in developing editorial projects and works as a program manager and liaison for participants of Lucinda Literary’s courses and workshops.

In nonfiction, she is interested in works backed by psychology-based research along with stimulating stories that compel readers not only to think, but change the way in which they do so. In fiction, Julia enjoys gripping, immersive tales of adventure that contain multi-dimensional characters and witty language.

Kate Rizzo
Rights

Kate Rizzo handles the foreign rights for Lucinda Literary, and has been the Rights Director at Greene & Heaton since 2013. She began working in publishing at The Robbins Office, Inc. in New York before moving to London in 2009 and continuing to work in translation rights at AM Heath, Ltd. and Mulcahy Conway Associates.

Kate works closely with sub-agents in some territories and directly with publishers in Brazil, France, Germany, Greece, Israel, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Scandinavia, and Spain with the aim of selling an authors’ works into as many languages as possible, and help their writing careers extend beyond the UK and the English language.

To contact Kate directly, click here.

Deirdre Smerillo
Contracts

Deirdre oversees contracts for Lucinda Literary. She is the principal partner of Smerillo Associates, a consulting firm founded in 2006 which specializes in contract and royalty management for independent publishers, literary agencies, and other industry professionals. Her 35 years of experience in the book publishing industry includes in-house positions as Director of Contracts for the Hyperion Books division of the Walt Disney Company and Director of Contracts for Random House, Inc. Deirdre holds a BA from Rutgers College and an MBA from Monmouth University.

Ashley Bernardi
Affiliate

Lucinda Literary selectively partners with creator of Nardi Media, LLC, Ashley Bernardi, who brings over a decade of booking and producing experience in the television broadcast industry, including CBS News, Washington Post Live, and Bloomberg. She has helped countless clients achieve their broadcast outreach goals by securing interviews and placements on NBC’s Today Show, CBS This Morning, MSNBC, CNN, CNBC, Bloomberg TV, NPR, Business Insider, and hundreds of other national and local television and radio outlets across the world. Ashley manages the full production of satellite media tours, including television and radio bookings, media strategy, media training, producing and logistics. Throughout her career, she has booked and interviewed Heads of State, celebrities, lawmakers, Presidential candidates, guests for breaking news stories, and more. She is based in Washington, D.C.