Rhea Lyons

Rhea Lyons is an agent at HG Literary. She began her publishing career while studying at the University of Rochester and interning at Open Letter, a press which exclusively publishes literature in translation, earning a Certificate in Translation Studies (Spanish to English). She then joined the Random House Publishing Group, which includes the imprints of Random House, Spiegel & Grau, Ballantine, Bantam Dell, and Del Rey, working in Subrights. In 2011, she became a scout at Franklin and Siegal Associates, and spent the next few years working to help international publishers discover and acquire new and upcoming works of fiction and nonfiction. Most recently, Rhea was the Subsidiary Rights Director at Rodale, where she also acquired books for their adult list as well as for their newly launched children’s imprint, Rodale Kids.

Rhea is looking to represent writers from a range of disciplines, from adult fiction, to popular nonfiction, to children’s and young adult — anything that encourages readers to look at the world around them with fresh eyes. For fiction, she is looking for literary/commercial crossover (especially those with a speculative bend), plot-driven commercial fiction, science fiction, fantasy, and romance — both true to the genre as well as genre-busting — told in an accessible, entertaining voice. She is also interested in narrative nonfiction, health & wellness, pop culture, and true crime– particularly books that blend history, science, and pop culture. For children’s books and young adult, Rhea is especially interested in novels about girls who play sports for the sake of sports, and in nonfiction books that hint at being educational / empowering but are primarily entertaining. Rhea will automatically love any story that focuses on women involved in athletics, horror written by women, anything you can imagine being turned into a soap opera (family dramas or compelling settings that just keep on giving), books about space, witches, space witches, or a rom com involving space witches.