Stefanie Sanchez Von Borstel is co-founder of Full Circle Literary, an entrepreneur, and mom with 25+ years of experience in trade book publishing. Prior to agenting, she worked in editorial, publicity and trade marketing with Penguin and Harcourt Children’s Books. She enjoys tapping her publicity and marketing background to champion writers and artists.
Stefanie represents children’s books from toddler to tween, and select adult nonfiction. In adult nonfiction, her focus is on activism and inspiration. Recent titles she represents: You Will Leave a Trail of Stars by Lisa Congdon (Chronicle) and Growth: A Journal to Welcome Personal Change by Susie Ghahremani (Roost Books).
Children’s books Stefanie represents have been awarded the Sibert Medal, Caldecott Honor, Schneider Family Book Award, Ezra Jack Keats Honor, Charlotte Zolotow Award, Christopher Award, Jane Addams Children’s Book Award, New York Times Best Illustrated, Pura Belpré Awards and Honors, NCTE Orbis Pictus Honor, and Agatha Award. Some of Stefanie’s clients include Monica Brown, author of Frida Kahlo and Her Animalitos, a New York Times Best Illustrated Children’s Book; Sibert Medal and Caldecott Honor recipient Juana Martinez-Neal known for Alma and How She Got Her Name; Rafael López illustrator of #1 NYT Bestsellers The Day You Begin and Just Ask!; and poet Carmen Tafolla, author of Charlotte Zolotow Award-winning What Can You Do with a Paleta? and Warrior Girl a Jane Addams Children’s Book Award finalist.
Award-winning middle grade authors include Jasminne Mendez, author of the novel in verse making waves this year Aniana Del Mar Jumps In; Celia C. Pérez, author of Tumble and The First Rule of Punk, a Pura Belpré Honor and Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor Book; Diana López, author of Lucky Luna and Los Monstruos series; Pura Belpré Honor author Adrianna Cuevas, author of The Total Eclipse of Nestor Lopez and The Ghosts of Rancho Espanto. Stefanie also represents a celebrated list of illustrators including Juana Martinez-Neal, Lisa Congdon, Christine Almeda, Adriana M. Garcia, Estelí Meza, Vanessa Morales, Thaís Mesquita, Rafael López and Alexander Vidal. She is always thrilled to work with creatives that have a distinct style or expertise that can crossover to both children’s and adult markets.
A proud Tejana from San Antonio, Stefanie is based in southern California. She is a member of the Association of American Literary Agents and a board member of Latinx in Publishing. She was featured in Publishers Weekly’s “Literary Agents Assess the Middle Grade Landscape” and Horn Book‘s “A Conversation with Literary Agents on Diversity and Inclusion“. Follow on Instagram/Twitter @fullcirclelit
STEFANIE’S WISH LIST
Stefanie is currently closed to submissions, except for referrals or requested materials.
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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