ALUMNX RE-INTERVIEW: Lori Steel, 2012 MFA in WCYA
MFA in Writing for Children & Young Adults alumnx Lori Steel (WCYA ’12) has been involved in the world of children’s literature in one way or another for over two decades.
Having started her career as a classroom teacher and school librarian, earning her MFA at VCFA in 2012 launched Steel into a new journey as a literary agent in the kidlit space. When VCFA first interviewed Steel back in 2020, she’d just taken on a position at Raven Quill Literary Agency, an agency run by fellow VCFA alumnx Jacqui Lipton (WCYA ’16) (which has since merged with Tobias Literary).
Just four years later in 2024, Lori Steel launched her very own literary agency: SteelWorks Literary.
In our first ever “re-interview,” we spoke to Steel once more in early 2025 about her ever evolving path and the exciting trajectory of her career as a literary agent post-VCFA. Read our first interview with Steel here, and read our latest interview below. Plus, learn more about Lori Steel and SteelWorks Literary at steelworksliterary.com.
The Re-Interview
Q: Last time we spoke in late 2020, you’d just started working at Jacqui Lipton’s ( WCYA ’16) new literary agency, Raven Quill. In 2024, you launched your own literary agency, SteelWorks. Can you take us through your journey? How did you get to where you are today with SteelWorks?
A: For over a decade I learned the business through “behind the curtain” opportunities, either as an assistant or as an intern or as a reader, and often while concurrently teaching writing at Politics and Prose. Throughout this time period, I was also a school librarian, interacting with kids, books, and readers every day. When Jacqui Lipton (WCYA ’16) was launching Raven Quill Literary Agency, I reached out to learn more and was incredibly grateful for the invitation to join the RQLA team as an assistant. A few months later, I began taking on my own clients.
Raven Quill was a swift success, and merged with Tobias Literary a couple years later. While this agency partnership was mutually beneficial for both RQLA and Tobias, I was more interested in staying with a kidlit-focused agency and eager to represent illustration clients. I had the good fortune of joining the remarkable team at Red Fox Literary and their list of authors and illustrators. While I was thrilled to be part of the “Fox Den,” in the back of my mind there was always a passion, a vision, for launching my own agency, and Karen Grencik (one of the founding partners of Red Fox) knew that. In spring 2024, I decided to embark on that dream, and launched SteelWorks Literary.
Thankfully, all my clients traveled with me to SteelWorks. It’s only been eight months in our new digs, but the agency is flourishing better than I could have imagined. Our first fall book season found plenty of praise, reviews, and awards for client books. And yesterday, ALA YMA announced that my client Anita Yasuda’s nonfiction picture book, Up! Up! Ever Up! Junko Tabei Life in the Mountains, illustrated by the brilliant Yuko Shimizu, received a Caldecott Honor. It’s been an incredible journey so far, and I’m looking forward to seeing what’s on the horizon in 2025!
Q: Can you talk about the unique goals and mission of SteelWorks? What’s your vision and focus as a literary agency?
A: The concrete mission is, of course, to get the books published! But the abstract journey is about feeling supported, heard, and championed…to publication and beyond.
Community is key, and that’s why we chose it as the SWL logo (created by talented SWL illustrator, María Coco). The key logo was actually inspired by my VCFA class, the Secret Gardeners! Its symbolism of forging community and opening creative doors felt like the perfect fit.
The agency’s vision is that SWL’s list will contribute to the canon, push boundaries, and publish stories that endure. We hope to create a space that acts as an incubator, where authors and artists work, share, exchange, and thrive. Creative endeavors can often feel lonely, especially outside the walls of programs such as VCFA, so providing a space where the whole agency meets occasionally—for instance, through agency Zoom gatherings, client retreats, or conference gatherings—to nourish collaboration and foster a creative ecosystem, even if from afar, is important part of the SWL culture. Not everybody needs the ecosystem in the same way, and that’s okay! But knowing it’s there is, in itself, an important element, I think, to creating that agency “home.”
Q: What have you discovered and learned, both personally and professionally, from launching your own agency?
A: I’ve discovered that running your own agency takes a lot of stamina, and that there’s always more to do and learn! And that the insights, advice, and support provided by my colleagues is invaluable to becoming a strong partner for my clients.
And I’m finally learning to trust and embrace the inner voice that whispers, “This is where you belong.” I haven’t let go of the creative work because it feeds me personally, but I’m allowing myself to acknowledge that it’s okay to embrace the agenting path as one that’s just as valid.
Q: How has VCFA been a part of your journey in becoming the founder of your own agency?
A: VCFA is where my commitment to kidlit was solidified. It’s where I found my community, and it’s where I learned not just to be a writer, but how to be an editor, and how to work with industry colleagues. And working full time as a school librarian with two teens at home while doing the program also taught me a lot about myself—and the commitment it takes to be a writer. Creating art is not for the faint of heart!
When I applied to VCFA, did I ever think I would become a literary agent? Not in a million years! I was just really excited to learn how to write and build a community. But the MFA in WCYA encouraged me to take chances, and founding SteelWorks Literary with my clients was the next unexpected-but-inevitable step on this crazy creative journey that started at VCFA years ago.
Q: Last time we spoke in 2020, we asked about what advice you would give to aspiring authors and agents. In 2025, how would you like to expand upon that advice?
Q: In the last interview, I talked about the 427 passes Kate DiCamillo received before she got her first publishing offer. I still keep that number taped to my desk lamp, but now it sits alongside a quote by Henry David Thoreau: “I know of no more encouraging fact than the unquestionable ability of man to elevate his life by conscious endeavor.”
This goal-driven, daily conscious endeavor to create—not hoping or wishing for something to happen, but building a creative life based on elbow grease, experimentation, and routine—spurs success in this business. That conscious endeavor, and dogged determination, will see you through. Make the art, the rest will follow in time.
Q: Lastly, time has been an important aspect in your career. Your different experiences and careers over the past two plus decades have brought you to this moment. You’ve taken the time to learn, try new things, and create. What are your thoughts on the role of time in the world of publishing, agenting, and writing?
A: Funny you should ask that, because I was recently asked at a writing conference “What’s the one thing that writers should give their work?” And I said, “Time.”
In this era of generative AI, instant uploads, and social media, it seems that if we don’t work fast, we risk missing out. But it’s the opposite, I think. It’s an act of defiance and determination to slow down, to resist the hurried noise and attend to the Work.
Time to refill the cup is really important, and giving yourself time not to just marinate on stories but be in the world.
Time for your manuscript to become the story it’s meant to be, and time to give the work distance it needs for effective revision.
There’s also the matter of time to develop your creative career. Time to explore, to read craft books, to attend lectures, and to experiment. Time to find your creative voice.
Time reveals authentic stories. And isn’t that what it’s all about?
Learn more about Lori Steel and SteelWorks Literary at steelworksliterary.com.