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Liz Nealon, Founder
Liz Nealon is the President and Founder of Great Dog Literary, where she represents both adult and children’s books, largely non-fiction.
Previously, Liz was an award-winning executive producer and media industry leader who played an integral role in shaping the indelible youth brands Sesame Street, Kidz Bop, and MTV. She served as Worldwide Creative Director for Sesame Street and traveled the world as SVP of MTV International, launching channels in Europe, Brazil, Japan, and Australia.
Not surprisingly, given her many years working in television and interactive media, Liz is drawn to illustrated books, for both children and adults. Her tastes skew to non-fiction and her instincts are decidedly commercial, so she’s always looking for just the right mix of pop appeal plus intellectual content. She likes nothing more than packaging serious non-fiction in an alternative, surprising frame. Liz is more interested in thought-provoking than provocative, though she’s been known to represent some deeply edgy content.
Across all the media in which she has worked, Liz Nealon has demonstrated a commitment to seeking out and amplifying diverse creative voices, starting with recruiting, mentoring, and supporting a diverse staff, and then empowering that team to source and develop breakthrough content.
Member: AALA
Twitter: @liznealon Facebook: @liznealon
LinkedIn: Liz Nealon
Mona Kanin, Agent
Inspired by imagination and content creation, Mona spent 25 years designing, writing and making non-fiction media for broadcast, non-broadcast, print, and the web. Mona helped define the audience, the medium, and the message for The Human Genome Project, Weston Woods, PBS, several of the Discovery Channels, and others. Her work won top national awards.
Before she was a producer, Mona was a librarian at the Boston Public Library & for several years managed a small book shop in D.C. She's always sought to forge connections—between visuals and words, trust and the collaborative process, content and authenticity/emotion. She believes in the power of books to create more empathic beings.
She is seeking smart, resonating projects including literary fiction, memoirs that read like fiction, & non-fiction for adults that speaks to today's cultural currents. She's closed to non-referral writers-for-children queries and will be open, via Query Manager, for one month (July, 2023) for exceptionally well-crafted adult literary fiction, and provocative adult narrative non-fiction. (no memoirs, please). Authenticity/own voices always essential. Member: AALA
Twitter: @kaninmona
Ismita Hussain, Agent & Social Media Manager
Ismita is a Georgia native and graduate of Emory University, where she studied Human Health and Italian. During college, she also worked for various Atlanta area hospitals in departments ranging from neonatal to geriatric care. In her Desi household, she grew up speaking Bangla, Hindi, and Urdu. Ismita is a founding member of Disability in Publishing and currently serves on their Board of Directors. She also participated in the 2022 Literary Agents of Change Mentorship Program.
Ismita is seeking literary fiction, health-related non-fiction, YA, and short story collections. Some of her favorite authors are Flannery O’Connor, Cormac McCarthy, Oscar Wilde, and Tom Perrotta. Ismita is especially drawn to fiction with a Southern setting, gritty realist writing, and any books that explore health or disability. Ultimately though, she’s a sucker for writing with a great sense of humor. Member: AALA
Twitter: @ismita Visit Ismita's Site
Gabriella Melendez, Assistant Agent & Editorial Assistant
Gabriella is an assistant agent at Great Dog Literary, where she represents both young adult fiction and adult fiction.
Gabriella currently lives in the DMV area and received her Bachelors degree from the University of Maryland. She was previously a prose editor for UMD’s literary journal, STYLUS, as well as an editor for their academic journal. Gabriella is also a graduate of the Denver Publishing Institute, where she focused her efforts on learning about the different divisions of publishing and ways to promote diversity. She began interning at Great Dog in January 2022 before transitioning full time to the Great Dog Team.
Gabriella is working towards her goal of promoting diversity and underrepresented voices in fiction with specific interest in stories by Latinx/Hispanic authors. Her taste gravitates towards commercial or upmarket fiction and she is interested in stories that present real issues in a digestible format for a wide range of readers. When she’s not working, Gabriella loves scouring Book Tok for more young adult/new adult fantasy or romance titles to add to her ever-growing TBR, playing TTRPG games, and dancing.
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