Regina Brooks

Regina Brooks is the CEO of Serendipity Literary Agency LLC, based in NY, New York. Her agency has represented and established a diverse base of award-winning clients in adult and young adult fiction, nonfiction, and children's literature. Her agency has represented and established a diverse base of award-winning clients in childrens and young adult literature, including: three-time National Book Award finalist, the Coretta Scott King Honor and the 2006 Michael Printz Honor Award-winning author Marilyn Nelson; winner of the 2008 Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe New Talent Award, Sundee Frazier; Stonewall and Lambda Award winner Bil Wright . Brooks also has a talent for identifying new voices and potential authors like Derrick Barnes, whose first novel, The Making of Dr Truelove won an American Library Association Award

Equally at home in the technical world of engineering as in the literary world of writing and editing, Brooks has over two decades of experience in the publishing world having held senior positions at major publishing houses including John Wiley & Sons Inc. and the McGraw-Hill Companies. She is a graduate of the Howard University Publishing Institute in Washington DC. Prior to her publishing career she worked as an aerospace engineer for NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, MD, and made history as the first African American woman to receive a Bachelors of Science Degree in Aerospace Engineering from the Ohio State University. She is also a graduate of The School of the Arts High School in Rochester, NY.

Her authors have appeared in USA TODAY, NY TIMES and the Washington Post as well as on Oprah, ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, FOX, MSBNC, TV ONE, BET and a host of others. Brooks is the author of the titles NEVER FINISHED NEVER DONE (Scholastic), WRITING GREAT BOOKS FOR YOUNG ADULTS (Source Books), and YOU SHOULD (REALLY) WRITE A BOOK: HOW TO WRITE, SELL, AND MARKET YOUR MEMOIR ( St. Martin’s Press), has edited over nearly 100 titles and is blogger for the Huffington Post and Essence.com. Brooks is also on the faculty of the Writer’s Digest University, Harvard University publishing course, The Discovery Channel’s Media Boot Camp for Doctors, the Whidbey Island Writers MFA program and teaches annually at more than twenty worldwide conferences. She has been highlighted in global media outlets including Media Bistro, Forbes, Media Bistro, Essence Magazine, Ebony Magazine, Writer’s Digest Magazine, The Writer, Jet, Rolling Out and Publishers Weekly Sister2Sister magazine, The Network Journal, and Rolling Out

She was named 2010 Woman of the Year by The National Association of Professional Women. A New York Urban League Rising Star Award winner and a 2004 finalist for the StevieTM Award for Women Entrepreneurs, Regina Brooks is featured in books such as The Guide to Literary Agents, Dark Girls, and the NAACP nominated Down to Business 10 steps for Women Entrepreneurs, and How to Build a Platform. She is also listed in International Who's Who under the categories of Professional Management, Technology, Entrepreneurs, and Engineering.

In November 2010, Brooks launched a new publishing imprint of Akashic books called Open Lens. Their inaugural title was MAKEDA by Randall Robinson.

Brooks is also the Co-Executive Director of the Y. B. Literary Foundation, a not-for-profit organization whose mission is to promote the reading of literature as a meaningful, lifelong activity and transformative experience for youth.

She is the co-founder of Brooklyn Aviation flying club, a member of the Association of Author Representatives, New York Women in Film and Television and is on the board of several literary organizations including Grub Street. She is an annual judge for the NAACP image Awards.