Jordan Hamessley is an active literary agent at JABberwocky Literary Agency, Inc. Jordan is currently closed to submissions.
Represents: Picture Books, Middle Grade Fiction, Young Adult Fiction, Children's Graphic Novels, Middle Grade Nonfiction, Young Adult Nonfiction, Select Adult Genre Fiction, Pop Culture, Graphic Novelists, Illustrators
About Jordan Hamessley
Jordan Hamessley joined JABberwocky Literary Agency as an agent in 2023 with over 15 years of publishing experience as both an agent and an editor. Her editorial background includes Penguin Young Readers (Grosset & Dunlap), Egmont USA, and Adaptive Studios, where she headed the Adaptive Books imprint. She became a literary agent in 2017 and focuses on children’s books at all levels, from picture books through YA, along with select adult genre and pop culture writers, plus a growing list of graphic novelists and illustrators. She is always looking for stories that bring the queer experience into the children’s space across all age ranges. She lives in Southern California and regularly travels to Los Angeles for meetings with studios and producers.
She graduated from The New School with a BFA in Musical Theater and performed across the country before moving into publishing. Among her most notable acquisitions and sales cited by the agency when she joined are Isaac Fitzsimons’s Lambda-nominated The Passing Playbook, A. J. Sass’s Sydney Taylor Honor Book Ellen Outside the Lines, Ellen Heck’s Booklist Top Picture Book A Is for Bee, Catherine Bakewell’s indie bestseller Flowerheart, and Robin Gow’s Indie Next List pick Dear Mothman.
Submission Guidelines for Jordan Hamessley
Submitting Your Work to Jordan Hamessley
Before querying Jordan Hamessley
The Market List recommends you verify this agent is still active and open to submissions before sending a query. Check the agency website, recent deal announcements, and any posted guidelines. As of October 2, 2026, her live query form is closed — confirm the live form before querying.
To be sure your project is a fit, we recommend you familiarize yourself with Jordan Hamessley’s list by reviewing recently represented titles and the agency’s current submission guidelines before querying.
If you have recently queried Jordan Hamessley or have experience with this agent, please submit a comment below. Recent response times are always welcome and helpful to other writers.
From the Jordan Hamessley Submission Guidelines:
Queries are accepted only through Query Manager. Do not send unsolicited email queries in place of that form.
For picture books, she is only looking for author/illustrators at this time (no text-only picture book authors).
JABberwocky Literary Agency, Inc. Submission Guidelines
- Query only one JABberwocky agent at a time. Visit each agent’s page for reading preferences and submission guidelines.
- The agency handles only book-length material and is interested in a broad range of fiction and nonfiction for general audiences.
- Queries are not accepted by phone or by fax.
- Paper queries are not accepted.
- Digital queries must be directed to an address or link listed on the Contact & Submissions page; unsolicited email queries sent to any other address are considered spam and will be deleted unread.
- Follow the submission guidelines on each individual agent’s page as closely as possible.
Jordan Hamessley's Current Wishlist:
In picture books, author/illustrators only — projects where the art carries the experience, from laugh-out-loud commercial series energy to emotionally resonant, visually distinctive work (comps she has named include Brendan Wenzel’s They All Saw a Cat, Jillian Tamaki’s Our Little Kitchen, Pinkalicious, Pete the Cat, Mo Willems’s Elephant and Piggie and Pigeon books, and Nic Yulo’s A Patch of Sky).
In middle grade and YA, contemporary stories with heart and humor that celebrate queer joy, plus cozy romantic fantasy (Studio Ghibli/Miyazaki sensibility rather than epic sword-and-sorcery), and horror with ghosts, creepy forests, haunted houses, or murder.
Space-exploration and NASA-inspired children’s projects remain a passion ask (she cites Jack Cheng’s See You in the Cosmos), alongside novels-in-verse and graphic novel illustrators who can visualize the themes above.
In MG/YA nonfiction, STEM that makes science and math genuinely fun for kids (especially space), and underrepresented history with a particular interest in queer history for young readers.
Query and Submission Hints
- Picture-book queries should come from author/illustrators; text-only picture book manuscripts are not a fit right now.
- Lead with queer joy or authentic queer experience when that is central to the work — she names that as a through-line across ages.