Celia Catchpole
The Catchpole Agency
Submission Guidelines
- Submit via
- Submission contact
- submissions@thecatchpoleagency.co.uk
- Looking for
- Voice and style come first — the agency needs to fall for your voice above all else. Ideas are secondary and can be developed, but the voice must draw them in immediately. Particularly interested in hearing from diverse authors and illustrators, and those writing own voices stories. Also interested in illustrators who write or intend to write, as they benefit most from the agency's editorial input.
- How to submit
- Email submissions@thecatchpoleagency.co.uk with: a short cover letter with a couple of details about yourself; a one- or two-sentence pitch setting out the hook of your premise; a brief note on intended readership; and a writing sample pasted into the body of the email (a complete picture book text or a couple of chapters of a novel). Illustrators should also include a link to work viewable online plus some writing. No postal submissions accepted. If own voices or diverse applies to you, include #ownvoices or #diverse in the subject line. Note: submissions are closed until June 2026.
- Response time
- Unknown
What They Represent
- Genres
- Picture Books, Children's Fiction
- Age categories
- Children's, Picture Books
- Location
- UK
What we found
Celia trained in art and specialises in discovering and developing new author-illustrators of picture books, with a strong editorial focus. She began her publishing career in rights before working at Pollinger, where she discovered JM Coetzee from unsolicited submissions. The agency is small and long-established (over 25 years), with notable clients including the creators of Varjak Paw and Top Secret Diary of Pig, the agency only responds to submissions that genuinely capture their attention, and warns that the odds are slim.
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