Bridget Smith

About the Agent

Bridget Smith joined JABberwocky as an agent in May 2019. She grew up in Connecticut and graduated from Brown University with a BA in anthropology in 2010. After graduation, she interned at Don Congdon Associates, worked at a secondhand bookstore, and read submissions for Tor.com. In 2011, she started as an assistant at Dunham Literary, and she remained there as an agent for nearly eight years. She is the co-host of the podcast Shipping & Handling (on extended hiatus) with fellow agent Jennifer Udden. She lives in Brooklyn with her little dog Bruce, where she enjoys trying out new hobbies. Young adult fiction: Bridget is open to all genres of YA. She has a soft spot for layered, emotional contemporary, preferably with more than an ounce of humor; sophisticated and unusual SFF; and vivid, immersive historical fiction about lesser-known stories. She loves books about teenagers having complicated feelings, girls who try hard but mess up, clever concepts handled in an unusual way, and a voice that makes her feel like she knows the character personally. Science fiction and fantasy: Bridget tends to prefer the more literary side of the genre, with character and voice being the first things that grab her. Fantasy was one of her first loves, and she’s interested in a wide variety of novels, particularly stories where the characters drive the plot and the worldbuilding shapes the characters. In science fiction, she’s looking for books that are intimately human on a galactic scope. She’d particularly love to see romantic SFF (like A MARVELLOUS LIGHT or WINTER’S ORBIT), big fascinating stories with a moment that grabs you by the throat (THE TRAITOR BARU CORMORANT or GIDEON THE NINTH), and historical fantasy, but the whole genre is fair game. Literary fiction: Bridget tends to prefer literary fiction that includes elements of other genres or an interesting structure. She’s particularly interested in historical fiction about women, people of color, and LGBTQ people. Some non-client favorites include THE ESSEX SERPENT by Sarah Perry, POSSESSION by A.S. Byatt, FINGERSMITH by Sarah Waters, and THE GOLEM AND THE JINNI by Helene Wecker. She’s also interested in contemporary fiction with a speculative element and/or a strong plot (a la Alice Hoffman or Tana French). Rom-coms: Bridget is newly open to adult rom-coms. Like in YA, she wants them warm, funny, voicey, and layered; a high-concept premise that leaves space for big feelings and will appeal to a mainstream/crossover audience. She’s still not the best fit for genre romance.