Caren Johnson Literary Agency

We’re expanding here at CJLA. We’re proud to welcome Rachel Downes as the newest member of the agency. She’ll be acting as an assistant to me and as a junior agent. She’ll start signing a few authors to start. Check out her bio below.

Rachel Downes is a junior literary agent at the Caren Johnson Literary Agency. She has a BA from Manhattan College in international studies and minored in economics and philosophy. She graduated as a member of Sigma Iota Rho, the national honor society for international studies students.

Rachel began as an intern for CJLA. She assisted on the following projects: Once Again to Zelda by Marlene Wagman-Geller (Perigee, November 2008), Where Am I Wearing? by Kelsey Timmerman (Wiley, November 2008) , The Old Fashioned Guide to Modern Girl Life by Jordan Christy (Center Street/Grand Central Publishing, Summer 2009), You Are So Undead To Me by Stacey Jay (Razorbill, Spring 2009), The Ex-Games by Jennifer Echols (Simon Pulse, Fall 2009), Skin Deep by Annaliese Evans/Anna J. Evans (Summer 2009), and The Briar Rose Series by Annaliese Evans/Anna J. Evans (Tor Books, beginning February 2009). She is looking to represent commercial and literary fiction as well as nonfiction in the following subjects: narrative, history, pop culture, humor, science, women’s studies and social science.

Rachel is a voracious reader and writer. She wrote for an independently-run student philosophy journal at her school, Praxis. She works closely with Caren to develop and nurture CJLA authors.