IMPORTANT NOTICE:
STARTING JANUARY 2026, DUNHAM LITERARY WILL BE SWITCHING TO QUERYMANAGER FOR QUERY SUBMISSIONS. PLEASE DIRECT ALL FUTURE QUERIES TO THE APPROPRIATE QUERYMANAGER FORMS.
Submission Guidelines
Dunham Literary represents Adult Fiction, Adult Non-Fiction, and Children’s Books (including both authors and illustrators).
We do not represent Individual Short Stories, Chapbooks or Novellas, or Original Screen/Stage Plays.
Starting January 2026, Dunham Literary will accept queries through QUERYMANAGER ONLY. Our previous querying email address will no longer be used for query submissions. We also do not accept queries sent by mail or fax, and we do not take pitches over the phone or through any social media platforms. After receiving a query letter, we request projects that may be right for us.
We read and respond to all queries that come in to our QueryManager inboxes. We do not reply to queries sent to any Dunham Literary email addresses or social media. We try to respond within four weeks from the time we receive query letters, but sometimes we are faster or slower.
Please address your query to the agent you think would be the best fit for you and your manuscript. All our agents regularly share queries with each other when we think appropriate, so please only send one query to Dunham Literary.
Not sure who to query? Check out the “What They’re Seeking” sections of our agents’ profiles for more info.
Learn about Jennie Dunham here.
Learn about Anjanette Barr here.
Learn about Lee Melillo here.
Solicited Queries
Referrals: If someone referred you to our agency, please put their name in the first paragraph of your query letter saying that this person recommended that you contact our agency specifically. We accept queries with a referral from someone we know while we are otherwise closed to queries.
Conferences: If you attended a writers' conference where Jennie Dunham, Anjanette Barr, or Lee Melillo were visiting faculty, they may have given you a code to use. Please put this conference code in the appropriate box on QueryManager. Please note that these codes change from conference to conference. We accept queries with a code from a conference or event while we are otherwise closed to queries.
For more information about querying, please see our Frequently Asked Questions.
QueryManager Links
Note: Dunham Literary, Inc. is not affiliated with or in any way related to The Dunham Group.