Estelle Laure – Editor

I'm the author of ten published and/or forthcoming picture books and young adult novels, including acclaimed novel THIS RAGING LIGHT and Disney's City of Villains trilogy. I've been an Indie Next pick and a BEA Buzz Book author, and have worked for more than a decade as an agency associate with a major New York-based agency doing developmental edits and preparing manuscripts for submission (to date the number is upward of fifty published picture books and novels). I specialize in picture books, middle grade, and young adult, some of which have gone on to win awards, have been made into movies or TV shows, or have been bestsellers. I have also ghostwritten for celebrity memoir.

I hold an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from Vermont College of Fine Arts and a BA in Theatre Arts from New Mexico State University. I am passionate about finding the diamond in every story and I apply this with a focus on Young Adult and Children's work. I have also taught workshops and retreats with SCBWI and Inked Voices. I've contributed articles to Bloomsbury’s Writers & Artists, Uproxx, Huffington Post, and LitHub to name just a few.

I believe the best writing comes from the heart. It doesn't need to be based on something you've experienced, but it does need to connect with the reader on a visceral level. You want them glued from the first line, the first page, the first sentence, and you want them never to be able to look away, no matter how painful or awkward it gets. That is where my specialty lies.