Chelsea Hensley

Chelsea Hensley is an associate agent at kt literary where she represents a varied list of clients writing across ages and genres and a few who are also illustrating. She began her agenting career in 2020 at kt literary and continues to build a list that reflects her own diverse tastes, from the lushest of fantasies to the tensest thrillers, steamy, hilarious rom-coms to smart sci-fi, lyrical picture books to plucky middle grade, and imaginative, innovative horror to intelligent, deeply researched nonfiction. In all areas, Chelsea enjoys bold work from ambitious creators who share her unrelenting drive to succeed in a challenging industry. Chelsea is a Capricorn from St. Louis, where she lives with a pair of very cute, though very chaotic, dogs. She enjoys D&D, Golden Girls, women’s soccer, chocolate chip cookies, and Airtable. She is a member of the AALA and serves on the board of the 501©3 nonprofit, Literary Agents of Change, which is committed to the diversification of the publishing industry in general and the agenting profession in particular. She also serves as co-director of Communications and Fundraising Committees.


Chelsea’s client list can be found here and her Manuscript Wish List can be found here.


For the 2024 Critique Carousel, Chelsea will be critiquing: 

  • Picture book fiction 
  • Picture book nonfiction 
  • Middle grade fiction
  • Middle grade nonfiction
  • YA fiction
  • YA nonfiction