Nicole Geiger has worked in just about every capacity in the publishing industry in her thirty-plus years plus career. As VP and Publisher of Ten Speed Press/Tricycle Press then VP and Publisher of Random House/Tricycle Press, Nicole was the primary acquirer and directed the production and marketing of up to 30 children’s titles yearly. In 2011, she founded Nicole Geiger Publishing, a consultancy for publishers, where she helped launch AMP! Comics for Kids and Beyond Words’ children’s publishing in partnership with Simon & Schuster, and currently manages the publishing program of Yosemite Conservancy.
As a literary agent with Full Circle Literary, Nicole focuses on a limited group of clients who create fiction and nonfiction for board books through middle grade. Curious, commercially minded, and very editorial, Nicole is looking for strong and diverse voices that tell stories for all children. Her clients include Mercedes Acosta, Carmen Bogan, Ashleigh Corrin, Sara Fajardo, Michael Genhart, Bridget George, Alexandria Giardino, Laurel Goodluck, Eileen Kennedy-Moore, Charlotte Offsay, and Jonathan Nelson.
When she is not helping her clients create their best work, Nicole can be found taking walks her family’s silly chocolate Lab, puttering in the yard, and reading to her kiddos. The books on her own bedside table are usually middle grade graphic novels and adult nonfiction, especially popular science, though she’ll read about pretty much any topic as long as the writing is amazing.
RECENT DEALS BY NICOLE
Sara Andrea Fajardo’s Crack Goes the Cascaron, about a spunky kid who wants to play tricks on his family only to realize he has met his match in his grandma, featuring an egg-citing Latin American tradition, illustrated by Rocio Arreola Mendoza, to Esther Cajahuaringa at Knopf Children’s by Nicole Geiger.
Michael Genhart’s Edie for Equality: Edie Windsor Stands Up for Marriage Equality, a biography about the LGBTQ icon whose landmark case before the Supreme Court paved the way for marriage equality, illustrated by Cheryl Thuesday, to Jessica Echeverria at Lee and Low, for publication in spring 2025, by Nicole Geiger.
Author of Forever Cousins Laurel Goodluck’s Fierce Aunties!, an ode to strong women that celebrates those who surround children with love and support, illustrated by Steph Littlebird; and Stories Are the Heart of the World, about the gift of storytelling a Native child receives from those around him, beginning before birth all the way to young adulthood, illustrated by Nicole Neidhardt, to Kendra Levin at Simon & Schuster Children’s, in a two-book deal, for publication in 2025 and 2026 by Nicole Geiger for the author.
Author of Where’s Rodney?, Carmen Bogan’s Willis Watson Is a Wannabe, a picture book about everyday heroes as seen through the eyes of a Black boy, illustrated by Cheryl Thuesday to Denene Millner at Denene Millner Books/S&S for publication in spring 2024.
Bridget George to illustrate This Land written by Ashley Fairbanks, a primer about native lands to inspires curiosity in readers about who was here before them, to Kelly Delaney at Crown Children’s, for publication in summer 2024, by Nicole Geiger for the illustrator.
Debut author Laurel Goodluck’s Forever Cousins, a friendship story based on the intertribal author’s childhood about home wherever it may be and the people we miss when they are far away, illustrated by Jonathan Nelson, to Karen Boss at Charlesbridge.
Author of Forever Cousins Laurel Goodluck’s Too Much, a picture book in which Russell’s big, loving Native family is just too noisy, too many, too much. . . and just enough, illustrated by Bridget George, to Kendra Levin at Simon & Schuster, for publication in 2024.
Ashleigh Corrin to illustrate Rio Cortez’s The River Is My Sea, about a child’s Saturday walk with their abuela and the love they share for the Hudson River, Harlem, and Yemaya, the ocean mother goddess of Santeria, a widely worshipped Yoruba orisha, to Denene Millner at Denene Millner Books, at auction, in a two-book deal, for 2024 publication.
Founding member of #LatinxPitch Sara Fajardo’s Paka Paka con La Papa: Alberto Salas Plays Potato Hide-and-Seek illustrated by Caldecott Honor winner Juana Martinez-Neal, about one of the world’s most successful plant collectors, who travels up and down the Peruvian Andes on a lifelong quest to help feed the world through protecting biodiversity, to Connie Hsu at Roaring Brook Press.
Ashleigh Corrin to illustrate Joy Takes Root by Gwendolyn Wallace, about girl who learns about the sacred connective practices of plant work and herbal medicine in her grammy’s abundant garden for publication in summer 2023, to Sydnee Monday at Kokila/Penguin Random House.
Laurel Goodluck’s Rock Your Mocs, a celebratory picture book highlighting Rock Your Mocs Day, an annual Native American and Indigenous peoples’ movement promoting Native pride, illustrated by Madelyn Goodnight, in an exclusive submission to Rosemary Brosnan and Cynthia Leitich Smith at Heartdrum/HarperCollins, with publication in Fall 2023.
Mercedes Acosta’s graphic novel debut, Cabaret Macabre, a supernatural family drama set in a New Orleans rich with magical realism and characters inspired by legends around the world. Kate Harrison at Dial Books for Young Readers acquired this project at auction, and publication is slated for 2023.
Michael Genhart’s picture book Spanish Is the Language of My Family to be illustrated by three-time Pura Belpré Honor artist John Parra, about a boy competing in the National Spanish Spelling Bee who learns of his own abuela’s childhood experience when she was banned from speaking Spanish at school. Publication is slated for summer 2023 with Neal Porter at Neal Porter Books/Holiday House.
Charlotte Offsay’s A Grandma’s Magic a celebration of grandmas and all the ways in which they are “magical,” illustrated by Asa Gilland, to Frances Gilbert at Random House/Doubleday.
Author of Rainbow: A First Book of Pride Michael Genhart’s They’re So Flamboyant!, in which a welcome change comes over a neighborhood of birds when a flamboyance of pretty, pink, and proud flamingos moves in, illustrated by Tony Neal, to Katie Moore at Magination Press.
Charlotte Offsay’s How to Return a Monster about a child’s humorous attempt to reverse course when a new baby joins the family, illustrated by Rea Zhai, to Andrew DeYoung at Beaming Books.
Charlotte Offsay’s The Big Beach Cleanup, in which a young girl joins hands with her community to clean their local seashore of plastic litter, illustrated by Katie Rewse, to Christina Pulles at Albert Whitman.
NICOLE’S WISH LIST – Nicole is currently closed to submissions; please check back in September 2023! When she reopens, she will be looking for the following categories only:
While any subject matter, if well done, she is particularly interested in:
Former US Poet Laureate Joy Harjo’s FOR A GIRL BECOMING, a benediction for a girl’s journey through life and a celebration of our connections to the world around us, illustrated by three-time Pura Belpré Honoree Adriana M. Garcia, to Simon Boughton at Norton Young Readers, with Jill Bialosky editing, for publication in spring 2025, by Stefanie Sanchez Von Borstel at Full Circle Literary for the illustrator.
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