A boutique Manhattan literary agency, the O’Connor Literary Agency moves your project from scattered thoughts, to pages-long manuscript, to publisher and finally to sale. Tell your story; share your unique take on the world.
Since his first job out of college at Sesame Workshop, Kevin has always worked at the intersection of business and creative. He has hands-on experience in a variety of media: animation, live action TV, toys, live shows, music, educational apps, and “the sweetest plum” t-shirts*. In addition to Sesame, he’s worked for Fisher-Price, VTech, Kidz Bop, Barnes & Noble, and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. He’s inked deals with Chrysler, Nestle, Intel, and all the major publishers.
As an agent, Kevin takes on serious adult nonfiction (Brian McCullough’s How the Internet Happened, Claude Andrew Clegg’s The Black President). On the adult fiction side, he represents Afghan and Iraq War Vet Adam Kovac (The Surge) and the acclaimed Colin Winnette (Users).
For middlegrade readers, he’s the agent behind the Russell Ginns’s Samantha Spinner series; Cas Hyman’s Mango Delight; and Steven B. Frank’s Armstrong and Charlie. He reps the picturebooks Papa, Daddy & Riley by Seamus Kirst; Honeysmoke by Monique Fields; and A Is for Audra by John Robert Allman, illustrated by Peter Emmerich.
He is a Columbia College grad and the founding director of The Center for Nonfiction, a Columbia University Community Scholars Project dedicated to helping journalists and scholars understand the formal needs of trade publishers.
Here are two podcasts he’s done about how he got into agenting and what he’s looking for / how he works:
*Krusty the Clown called the t-shirt concession “the sweetest plum.” (The Simpsons, “Krusty Gets Kancelled,” Season 4, Episode 22, 1993.)”
Bart: That's all right, Krusty. Lisa: We're getting 50% of the T-shirt sales. Krusty: What? That's the sweetest plum! See: Oconnor Literary Agency