As of January 1, 2023 Wendy is a senior partner with Aevitas Creative Management.

Wendy Strothman has long been an advocate for authors and freedom of expression. Before starting the Strothman Agency, Wendy was the Publisher of Trade & Reference books at Houghton Mifflin (now Houghton Mifflin Harcourt) and the Publisher at Beacon Press.

At Houghton Mifflin, Wendy acquired and edited books by key authors, including Philip Roth, John Kenneth Galbraith, Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., Paul Theroux, and James Carroll. She also vigorously pursued the defense in the lawsuit brought by the Margaret Mitchell estate to block publication of Alice Randall’s The Wind Done Gone, a parody of Gone with the Wind.

Wendy’s efforts to publish books at the highest standards led the company to receive more literary awards than at any time in its history--two Pulitzer Prizes, one National Book Award, three Caldecott Medals, and two Newbery Medals, among many other honors- and led to the company’s greatest period of growth and recognition.

From 1983 to 1995, Wendy headed Beacon Press, a Boston publisher founded in 1854. She published two New York Times bestsellers (Cornel West’s Race Matters and Marian Wright Edelman’s The Measure of Our Success) and one National Book Award winner.

Wendy began her career in 1972 at the University of Chicago Press where she launched the Critical Edition of the Works of Giuseppe Verdi.

Agent Member of the Association of American Literary Agents

Awards and Recognition: Publisher of the Year Award (New England Booksellers Association); Person of the Year Award for “permanent and significant contributions to the book industry” (Literary Market Place); “Friend to Writers” Award (PEN New England-never before given to a publisher); and two Doctor of Humane Letters (one from Brown University, and one from Meadville Lombard Theological School, affiliated with the University of Chicago).

Boards: Wendy is the Vice President of the  Authors Guild Foundation Board, and the she is also a member of the Association of American Literary Agents Contracts Committee. Wendy has served on the board of the Copyright Clearance Center and the Board of Governors of Yale University Press, as a Trustee at Deerfield Academy and 826 Boston, and as a Trustee and Senior Fellow of the Brown University Corporation where she was Secretary of the Corporation for ten years. 

Wendy has also consulted for a number of small publishers and non-profits on publishing business strategy and has served as a publishing expert in legal matters.

Looking for: Books that matter, books that change the way we think about things we take for granted, that tell stories that readers can’t forget, and advance scholarship and knowledge. History, narrative nonfiction, narrative journalism, science and nature, and current affairs.

Submissions: Wendy only accepts submission through QueryManager.

Lauren MacLeod

As of January 1, 2023 Lauren is a senior agent at Aevitas Creative Management.

Lauren MacLeod is Vice President of The Strothman Agency, which she joined in 2007 after graduating cum laude from Emerson College with a BFA in Writing, Literature, and Publishing. She lives in Nashville, TN, and tweets under @Lauren_MacLeod.

Lauren’s primary interests are young adult fiction and nonfiction, middle-grade novels, as well as narrative nonfiction, memoir, and cookbooks. 

Click here for Lauren's Manuscript Wish List. 

Agent Member of the Association of American Literary Agents 

Boards: Lauren currently serves on the Association of American Literary Agents Board of Directors. She is co-chair of the Communications Committee and sit on the Copyright & Contracts Committees.

Looking for: On nonfiction side, Lauren looks for all captivating narrative nonfiction for both adult and kidlit audiences and is particularly interested in food writing, cookbooks, science, pop culture, journalism, true crime, memoir, activism, and history. Her dream nonfiction project would be a feminist history of the United States.

Lauren also represents young adult & middle grade in every subgenre. She loves books for and about lost people, and well-drawn, complex, flawed characters. She is particularly interested in inclusive, diverse narratives as well as books that deal with immigration, income inequality, racism, abortion, authoritarian governments, social justice, climate change, and civil rights. 

Lauren does not represent adult romance, adult SFF, or adult mysteries and thrillers. At this time she is only accepting MG or YA fiction submissions via referral.

Submissions: Lauren only accepts submission through QueryManager.

Farley Doodle

Farley's taste in books is universal -- he eats them all right up! He's named after another furry goof, Farley Mowat who stopped at nothing to get a good story.

Elvis MacLeod-Bua

Elvis Rocco occasionally reads manuscripts for The Strothman Agency. His interests include the dog park, sunbathing, early morning yipping and shopping for sufficiently commanding dog outfits. He writes Snoopy fan fiction in his spare time.