Deidre Knight,
Senior Agent and President
Deidre Knight established The Knight Agency in 1996 after working in film and television. In the years since that time, she has built a dynamic, bestselling client list, placing over a thousand titles in a broad range of categories, including women’s fiction, commercial fiction, fantasy, young adult, romance, LGBT, middle grade, memoir and nonfiction narrative, personal finance, business, true crime, sports, popular culture, self-help, religion, health, and parenting.
Her recent sales include books placed with Penguin Putnam, Random House, St. Martin’s, Simon & Schuster, Scholastic, HarperCollins, Harlequin, Thomas Nelson, and Avon. Deidre’s clients have appeared on every major bestseller lists, including the New York Times, USA Today, Publisher’s Weekly, Wall Street Journal, and the Los Angeles Times Bestseller Lists. Her authors have won countless awards, including the coveted RITA, the Gold Medallion, the Walden Books Award for Best New Author, and many others. She’s also a knitter, an amateur photographer, and an author who loves to spend time with her family.
Judson Knight,
Vice President
Judson Knight joined Deidre and Pamela in 2003 as business manager and Vice President of The Knight Agency. A professional writer since 1990, he has published more than a dozen books on history, music, and science and contributed to hundreds of reference volumes. He has edited or co-written numerous other works and is currently writing a supernatural thriller. As Deidre’s husband, Judson has been involved in The Knight Agency from its inception.
Pamela Harty,
Vice President of Sales/Agent
Pamela Harty joined The Knight Agency in the summer of 2000, and has placed hundreds of titles in a broad range of categories, including; health, parenting, southern history, African-American interest, business, motivation, romance, young adult, children’s, middle grade, and Christian living. Recent sales include books to Penguin Putnam, Grand Central, Random House, Simon and Schuster, Harper Collins, Harlequin/Silhouette, Thomas Nelson, Water Brook, McGraw Hill, and Baker/Revell. She brings to the agency a successful sales background combined with a genuine love of books. Says Pamela, “Agenting is my dream job. I get to read for a living while working with incredibly talented people in a competitive and challenging industry. It’s a great time to be in publishing where there are more opportunities than ever before for writers."
Pamela serves as The Knight Agency’s Vice President of Sales, and belongs to the Association of Authors’ Representatives and Romance Writers of America.
Elaine Spencer,
Vice President of Operations/Agent
Elaine Spencer joined The Knight Agency in 2005, after graduating from the University of Georgia with a degree in economics and literature. Originally serving as the agency’s submissions coordinator, Elaine then moved on to head the foreign rights department, before beginning to actively build her own individual client list. Over the last decade Elaine has placed over 500 titles in a wide variety of sub-genres across the market.
Elaine continues to keep a focused author list as she believes it is important to work closely with her clients through each step of the publishing process. She relishes seeing her clients’ talents grow alongside their careers, and one of her favorite parts of the job continues to be educating authors about the market and business at large.
Elaine lives in Athens, Georgia with her husband, daughter, and four-legged sons. Elaine is a member of RWA and the WFWA and is also an AAR recognized agent. She is interested in a wide-variety of categories including but not limited to women’s fiction, historical fiction, romance, contemporary fiction, and a multitude of nonfiction topics which align with her personal interests.
photo by Phillips + Co. Photography
Lucienne Diver,
Agent
Lucienne Diver joined The Knight Agency in 2008, after spending fifteen years at New York City’s prestigious Spectrum Literary Agency. With her sharp eye and gift for spotting original new voices, Lucienne is one of the most well-respected agents in the industry. A lifelong book addict, she graduated summa cum laude from the State University of New York at Potsdam with dual majors in English/writing and anthropology. She thus came well-equipped for her work as an agent.
Over the course of her dynamic career she has sold well over seven hundred titles to every major publisher, and has built a client list of more than forty authors spanning the commercial fiction genres, primarily in the areas of fantasy, science fiction, horror, women’s fiction, romance, mystery/suspense and young adult. Her authors have been honored with the Hugo, Nebula, Colorado Book and National Readers’ Choice Awards, and have appeared on the New York Times and USA Today bestseller lists. A publishing veteran, Lucienne has superb industry knowledge, and a keen understanding of the foreign rights market.
Nephele Tempest,
Agent
Nephele Tempest joined The Knight Agency in January, 2005, opening the Los Angeles-area office. As an agent, she loves to help her clients hone their skills and build their careers. Nephele initially worked on the editorial side of the publishing business before leaving to try other industries, including sales and finance. She spent a number of years at several major New York investment firms, first as a financial advisor and later a marketing and communications writer. This broad experience provided her with insight into multiple aspects of the publishing industry.
Nephele continues to actively build her client list and looks for fiction with both strong, well-developed characters and a story that pulls her in and won’t let go. She primarily represents women’s contemporary or historical fiction; contemporary, paranormal, and historical single-title romance; and adult fantasy and science fiction. More generally, Nephele always looks for work with diverse cultural influences, #ownvoices projects, and stories that inspire and/or make her think.
Melissa Jeglinski,
Agent
A graduate of Clarion University of Pennsylvania, where she majored in English with a writing concentration, Melissa began her career as an editor with Harlequin Enterprises. Looking to work with a variety of authors and genres, she joined The Knight Agency in 2008.
With over two decades experience in the publishing industry, Melissa has fostered her clients to National prominence including a recent Newbery Honor. She is a member of RWA and AAR.
Kristy Hunter,
Agent
As a graduate of Vanderbilt University and The Columbia Publishing Course, Kristy Hunter began her publishing career in New York City—first as an editorial intern at Bloomsbury Children’s Books and then as a book publicist at Grove/Atlantic and Random House Children’s Books. When she moved to the agenting side of the industry, she was closely mentored by Deidre Knight, president and founder of The Knight Agency, and her first co-agented project sold at auction soon after. As an agent, Kristy enjoys being able to bring a unique perspective to her clients thanks to her diverse publishing background. When she’s not curled up with a fantastic book or manuscript, she can be found kickboxing or hiking with her dog and is an active member of SCBWI.
Jamie Pritchett,
Accounting Manager
Jamie Pritchett joined The Knight Agency in July of 2006 as Account Manager. Her background includes a strong foundation in the customer service arena, as well as extensive knowledge and experience in the areas of bookkeeping and contracts. Her knowledge of financial and human resources matters, as they specifically relate to the special needs of the publishing industry, makes her an invaluable asset to the agency team.
Travis Pennington,
Media and Marketing Director, Associate Agent
After working in the education field for over ten years, Travis turned his attention to writing, completing his first novel and helping others market their books as well. He launched a media business that has assisted both independent and New York Times bestselling authors with branding their work. He provides content and layout support for the agency newsletter, designs both advertorials and book covers, aids in the management of the agency’s social media venues, and processes digital titles through the assisted self-publishing program.
Janna Bonikowski,
Associate Agent
Janna Bonikowski joined the Knight Agency in 2016 with several years of experience as both an independent editor and a freelance editor for Lyrical Press/Kensington. She holds a bachelor’s degree focused on business and economics, but her passion for books made a career in publishing inevitable.
Janna’s clients have appeared on the New York Times, USA Today, and Indie bestseller lists. She is actively building her list, focusing on finding authors with unique viewpoints and fresh, engaging stories to tell.
When she’s not reading, Janna tries to keep her challenging dog from eating the cats, the furniture, the stairs, the walls…