Nancy Paulsen Books

Nancy_Paulsen_penguin

Overview

Nancy Paulsen Books launched its first hardcover list in Fall 2011. The imprint publishes approximately thirty books a year and focuses on picture books that are eye-opening and empowering, and fiction from diverse and distinct voices, especially stories that are inventive and emotionally satisfying.

Recent picture books include the New York Times bestsellers I Am Every Good Thing by Derrick Barnes and Gordon James, The Day You Begin by Jacqueline Woodson and Rafael López, and Caldecott Honor winner Wonder Walkers by Micha Archer. Fiction includes National Book Award winner Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson, Printz Honor winner Starfish by Lisa Fipps, Walter Award winner The
Bridge Home by Padma Venkatraman, and New York Times bestsellers Fish in a Tree by Lynda Mullaly Hunt, Thirst by Varsha Bajaj, and Amal Unbound by Aisha Saeed.

Meet the Team

Nancy Paulsen, President & Publisher

Nancy Paulsen has been with Penguin her entire career, starting as an assistant at Viking Children’s Books, serving as Publisher of Puffin Books and G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers, and then starting her eponymous imprint in 2011. She publishes a list of diverse and award-winning titles, and specializes in editing picture books and middle grade fiction. The authors she works with include Jacqueline Woodson, Lynda Mullaly Hunt, Aisha Saeed, Padma Venkatraman, Brenda Woods, Derrick Barnes, Torrey Maldonado, Micha Archer, Ruth Behar, Lisa Fipps, and Varsha Bajaj. Some of the award-winning and bestselling titles she’s edited include National Book Award winner Brown Girl Dreaming, Printz Honor winner Starfish, Pura Belpré Honor winner Lucky Broken Girl, Walter Award winner The Bridge Home, Caldecott Honor winner Wonder Walkers, and Schneider Honor winner A Walk in the Words. New York Times Bestsellers include Fish in a Tree, Amal Unbound, Thirst, I Am Every Good Thing, The Day You Begin, and The Year We Learned to Fly.

Stacey Barney, Associate Publisher

Stacey Barney joined Nancy Paulsen Books for Young Readers as Associate Publisher in 2021. She edits a diverse list of award-winning and bestselling young adult and middle grade fiction as well as select picture books and nonfiction. Her list includes New York Times bestselling authors Krystal Sutherland, Renée Ahdieh, Katherine Arden, Ellen Hopkins and American Ballet Theater principal dancer Misty Copeland as well as Caldecott Honor-winning The Cat Man of Aleppo by Irene Latham and Karim Shamsi-Basha, illustrated by Yuko Shimizu.

Caitlin Tutterow, Editor

Caitlin Tutterow is an editor at Nancy Paulsen Books and worked at Putnam Young Readers before joining the Paulsen team in 2021. She’s looking for children’s books for kids of all ages but is especially interested in acquiring novels where the lyrical meets the fantastical and stories told from strong, driven, vulnerable voices that you feel in your chest, whether that be from laughing, crying, or because you are holding your breath. Hailing from North Carolina, she’s a Southerner at heart and holds degrees in English and Biology from Duke University.

Sarah Sather, Assistant Editor

Sarah Sather (she/her) joined Nancy Paulsen Books as an Assistant Editor in June 2024. Previously, she worked at Netflix Animation, Marvel Comics, and Saturday Night Live. An avid reader since she could hold a book, Sarah is passionate about supporting and developing diverse content that re-centers marginalized voices, dissolves barriers, and expands the idea of who gets to be the hero of their story. She believes that books are a form of magic, and through them, one might even be able to radically transform the world.