Maria Whelan

An agent with Mushens Entertainment (see other agents at this agency).

About

Before joining Mushens Entertainment in September 2025, Maria Whelan worked at InkWell Management in New York for over 8 years as an assistant and agent. She began her career in publishing as a Foreign Rights Assistant at Janklow & Nesbit in New York. Maria graduated from University College Dublin with a BA in English and Drama, then obtained her Master's in Literature and Modernity from the University of Edinburgh. Maria represents both fiction and nonfiction writers, including USA TODAY bestsellers, a Lammy Finalist, a PEN/Robert W. Bingham Finalist, a Simon & Schuster Books Like Us first novel winner, NPR's Best Books Of The Year authors, a James Beard Award winner, Barnes & Noble picks authors, and MacDowell Fellows.

Country

United States

AI Policy

Human-created work only; no AI use allowed

39 members set this agent as a Favorite.

Statistics Synopsis

Faster: Maria Whelan's overall average response time is faster than most agents.
Normal Acceptance: Maria Whelan's overall acceptance rate is within a normal range for agents.
More Responsive: Maria Whelan's overall rate of non-response is lower than most agents.

Learn more about our statistics

Collapse section Fiction Open

Maria is looking for: literary and upmarket fiction, speculative fiction, horror, magical realism and reimaginings of myths, fairy tales, and folklore. For short story collections, Maria accepts primarily literary fiction, collections with elements of magical realism, or speculative. With regards to novella, Maria is looking primarily for literary fiction, elements of speculative, or contemporary fiction.

Audience:

Open to a broad Audience, including: Adults. Excluding: Children, Middle grades, New adults, Young adults.

Genres:

General Open to all/most Subgenres, including: Magic Realism

Lengths:

Novella
Fiction Collection
Novel

Styles:

Open to all/most Styles, including: Literary.

Topics:

Open to all/most Topics.

Submissions:

Method: Email.
Simultaneous submissions: Simultaneous submissions are allowed.

Collapse section Nonfiction Open

In the nonfiction space, she is looking for cultural criticism, narrative nonfiction, big-idea nonfiction, and select cookbooks and food writing.

Audience:

Open to a broad Audience, including: Adults. Excluding: Children, Middle grades, New adults, Young adults.

Lengths:

Book

Styles:

Open to all/most Styles, including: Mainstream.

Topics:

Open to all/most Topics including...
Society/Culture: See guidelines.

Submissions:

Method: Email.
Simultaneous submissions: Simultaneous submissions are allowed.

Always check guidelines for details and restrictions. If you aren't familiar with these terms, see our glossary.

No recent cover image of a book represented by Maria Whelan available.

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Social:
Instagram @mushensentertainment
X (Twitter) @MushensEnt

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Maria Whelan Submission Statistics

The statistics in this section are compiled from submission reports sent to us through our submission tracker. They are not provided by the agency or by Duotrope's admins. Information in this section is updated a few times per day. Learn more about the statistics.

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Accuracy

We have received 24 reports from 24 different members within the past 12 months, not including pending responses (see below). The more responses reported, the more accurate the information.

Days Reported

4 min | 58.5 mean avg | 22.0 median | 408 max days (135.3 std dev)

Responses

79.17 %

Acceptances:

0.00 %

Rejections:

79.17 % (17.7 avg. days per rejection) | 0.0 % personal, 84.2 % form, 15.8 % unspecified | 4.0 % partial MS requested

Non-Responses

16.67 %

Lost/Returned:

Never Responded:

16.67 % (323.5 avg. days before reporting submissions as never responded)

Withdrawals

4.17 % (13.0 avg. days per withdrawal)

Pending

1 response is pending (1 day waiting).

Other Information

The agent will try to make a decision within 42 days. (16.7 % of the responses reported to us for this listing have taken longer than 42 days.)
Most submissions are acknowledged on the same day.
Most recent response reported was received on 14 Sep 2026.
Responses have been received for submissions sent as recently as 10 Sep 2026.
Date compiled: 15 Sep 2026 00:49 UTC (5 hours, 38 minutes ago).
View report of recent responses from this agent

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Juliet Mushens

Rachel Neely

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Dates

Last Updated: 12 Jul 2026

We check their guidelines for changes every four weeks, and we audit the listing twice a year.