Barbara Jones

Selected Titles
INTIMACY IDIOTINTIMACY IDIOTTHE SWANS OF HARLEMTHE SWANS OF HARLEMTHE SWANS OF HARLEM (Adopted for Young Adults)THE SWANS OF HARLEM (Adopted for Young Adults)CONFIDENCECONFIDENCEMY NAME WAS GERRY SASSMY NAME WAS GERRY SASSI WILL DO BETTERI WILL DO BETTERHOW TO GET ALONG WITHOUT MEHOW TO GET ALONG WITHOUT ME

Barbara Jones worked as an editor for more than thirty years, first in magazines (Harper’s Magazine, Vogue, More Magazine) then in books (as editorial director at Hyperion Books and executive editor at Henry Holt). Some of the writers she worked in magazines include Jennifer Egan, Elizabeth Gilbert, Christopher Hitchens, Jean Korelitz, Lorrie Moore, Ann Patchett and Francine Prose. As a book editor, she edited and published national and New York Times bestsellers as well as national and international prizewinning titles by authors such as Luvvie Ajayi, Paul Auster, Dan Chaon, Susan Choi, Kelly Corrigan, Chitra Divakaruni, Sebastian Faulks, Lauren Groff, Janice Hadlow, Lillian Li, Julie Lythcott-Haims, Rick Moody, Rachel Khong, Lauren Francis-Sharma and many others.

 

As an agent, she represents an eclectic list of literary and upmarket fiction and nonfiction titles, with a special interest in voices from underrepresented communities. In 2021, she joined the Stuart Krichevsky Literary Agency, which merged with Defiore and Company in 2026. Her clients include Mohammed Naseehu Ali, Kate Axelrod, Charles Bock, J.J. Duncan, Elizabeth Ferris, Rafael Frumkin, Tali Gumbiner, Tiffany Hanssen, Julia Harrell, Danielle Lazarin, Lisa Lindsay, Isaac Oliver, The Swans of Harlem and Anastasia Taylor-Lind among others. For more than thirty years, Barbara has also led writing workshops—at New York University, Queens University of Charlotte, Yale University and elsewhere.

 

Highlighted Titles:

  • CHARLOTTE: A Novel of Jane Eyre, Elizabeth Ferris (Forthcoming -- William Morrow)
  • THE SWANS OF HARLEM: Five Black Ballerinas Fifty Years of Sisterhood, and the Reclamation of a Groundbreaking History Karen Valby (Pantheon)
  • MY NAME WAS GERRY SASS, Tiffany Hanssen (Atlantic Crime)
  • I WILL DO BETTER, A Memoir, Charles Bock (Abrams Books)
  • CONFIDENCE and BUGSY: And Other Stories, Raf Frumkin (Simon & Schuster)
  • HOW TO GET ALONG WITHOUT ME, Kate Axelrod (Clash Books)

 

What I’m looking for:

I have eclectic taste but always appreciate books written with respect for and generosity toward readers, books that reward rereading, and books that hum with a sense that the writer has something urgent—be it marvelous, terrifying or both—to show the reader for the reader's sake. (Even memoirs are not about the memoirist but are for and about the reader.)

 

How to submit to Barbara:

Please send a query letter that includes, a brief bit of info about your project; a brief, relevant bio, and the first ten pages of your manuscript or proposal (dropped into the body of an email, not as an attachment). If you have used AI in any way to prepare your writing for submission, please disclose that with your query. Note: If you don’t hear anything at all from me within two months, you can assume that I have passed up the opportunity to engage with your work as an agent.