Enrichetta Frezzato: ‘Write what feels most urgent to you.’

Thank you for judging this year’s prize, we can’t wait to see what catches your eye!

Thank you, it’s a great honour and I can’t wait to get reading!

How do you feel about Junior Judges choosing the shortlist?

I love this aspect of the award and I’m so excited to be working alongside Junior Judges. I’m really looking forward to seeing their choices and I think it’s so important for a prize to have that connection with readers.

How do you feel about judging blind? 

It makes so much sense, it eliminates all the background noise and allows you to focus solely on the books.

What do you hope to find in the first few pages of a book? 

A voice that immediately captures me and gives me that sense that I will not want to put this book down. A quirky setting, an unusual and intriguing premise, a funny/witty narrator, a sense of mystery.

Any tips for writing the dreaded synopsis?

I always read the sample chapters first, the voice is what really matters to me. Synopses shouldn’t be too long! I think a good way to go about it is to map out the structure of your book, make it clear and convey that through your summary. The key things I want to know when I read a synopsis is where the story starts, what the pivoting point is and how the characters have changed by the end.

What do you love most about agenting? 

That spark you feel when you read a manuscript and you know you have to sign that author (which also means you’ll go through a proper heartbreak with all kinds of sad emojis attached if you then don’t)! But also the satisfaction of telling my authors that their book will be published!

One of your newest clients is 2023 winner Carmen Wittmeier, who you signed for The Train with No End, her gorgeous picture book text about the journey of life. Can you pinpoint why it shone out for you?

I felt that spark I mentioned earlier. I was on a train when I read her text and there was a precise moment when I could feel my emotions being stirred by Carmen’s words. I knew she had captured something very profound and rendered it beautifully on the page.

How and why did you become a children’s literary agent? 

I’m not one of those lucky people who just know what they want their path to be, mine was a bit circuitous. I grew up in Italy and studied there, and initially I thought I’d want to be in cultural events. This led me to a traineeship at the Italian Cultural Institute in London, which in hindsight was a turning point for me, as it was the first step towards moving permanently to the UK and working in publishing – although it took me a few years and a PhD to finally settle! I found my place with the Translation Rights team at Curtis Brown and after some time working on the adult list, an opportunity came up to move to the children’s side. It didn’t take long to see that I’d finally landed in the right place. I was already representing some Italian authors at that point, so veering towards an international list with a heavy focus on children’s writers (and illustrators) felt like everything I enjoyed the most was finally coming together.

We are yet to have a winning chapter book, a category you are keen to acquire. Could you say a little about your favourite chapter books, and offer any general age range and broad word count advice?

I’d love to find a fun, adventurous series for little discoverers in the vein of Adventuremice or Geronimo Stilton. I also love very determined little human protagonists like Anna in Hotel Flamingo and I’m a big fan of the humour and cast of Hotel for Cats. I love to share a giggle with my own children over the slapstick humour of Rabbit and Bear or Grimwood and would love to read a funny series in a similar vein. In terms of age range, I’d say the target is 5-7 or 7-9 and between 4,000 and 8,000 words for word count.

What children’s books would make your personal shortlist of all time and why?

This is the most difficult question of all! You could ask me the same question and get a completely different answer each day of the week.

Bear Hunt by Antony Browne – one of my favourite picture book artists, so endearing and witty

Lost and Found by Oliver Jeffers – it moves me every time

The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien for the sense of adventure

Wonder by R.J. Palacio – the raw tenderness of it

Malamander by Tom Taylor – I loved the eerie sense of place and Herbert Lemon’s voice, plus he’s called Herbert Lemon!

Murder Most Unladylike – the plotty mystery and Hazel and Daisy’s friendship

Hotel Magnifique – the concept, the atmosphere, the gentle romance, I was swept away!

The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness because I just couldn’t put it down and because of Manchee

Lastly, any other advice for entrants? 

Write what you want to write, what feels most urgent to you. Regardless of the subject, I think what really you makes love a book as a reader is the connection you feel to it. And for that connection to happen the voice needs to be authentic, and the reader needs to feel that the writer is truly in it.

The Bath Children’s Novel Award 2024 is a £5,000 international writing prize for unagented writers of children’s novels, YA, chapter books and picture book texts. Submissions are open until 30th November 2024 with the winner announced in February 2025. Full prize terms can be found here