Samantha Wekstein is a literary agent with the Thompson Literary Agency. She grew up in Westchester, NY. She attended the University of Maryland, College Park and received a B.A. in English. She now lives in NYC with her husband and dog. After internships with Sarah Jane Freymann Literary Agency and Rowman & Littlefield, she began her career in 2013 at Writers House LLC. She then briefly worked as an assistant at The Agency Group (now UTA) before returning to Writers House for the next 5 years where she began supporting the CEO, and then the Founder, before becoming an agent. SheÕs been lucky to work with a variety of best-selling and award winning authors across all genres. She joined TLA in 2019 where sheÕs excited to grow her list. In YA, she loves creative and epic fantasies, but she is also drawn to realistic stories with multi-dimensional female characters. She is always interested in elevating diverse voices, particularly through feminist narratives. She is seeking middle grade of all stripes, but especially stories that deal with themes of friendship, adventure, or encountering tragedy for the first time. She is also on the lookout for whimsical, meaningful, and funny picture books. On the adult side she is drawn to commercial voices in Romance, WomenÕs Fiction, Historical Fiction, Sci-Fi and Fantasy.