I'm Holly McGhee, the founder of Pippin Properties, Inc., and I'm incredibly excited to introduce our new web site to you. Pippin is twelve years old as I write this, and the authors and artists we represent, with their unwavering resolve for excellence, define our vision. Everything we undertake here at Pippin is reflected by these words: "The world owes you nothing—you owe the world your best work." *

Pippin Properties, Inc. is a small and distinguished literary agency located in New York City, and from month to month in this blog, you'll be hearing from our authors, artists, and other special guests—all sharing stories about whom and what has most influenced them in their creative lives. It's my hope that you find these stories inspiring and come back to visit again and again.  

My vision for Pippin is captured best by the cultivation of the bonsai tree—intense devotion to detail and beauty, with elegance and mystery taking precedence over size. And with fastidious care, the bonsai lives on through generation after generation. Someone I respect enormously once said to me, "you can go large, or you can focus." To this day Pippin remains focused on representing unparalleled work by the finest authors and artists writing and drawing today, be it picture books, middle-grade, young adult, or adult literature.

Early in my children’s book publishing career, I was given the chance to edit Zeke Pippin by William Steig. Zeke is a pig who runs away from home, only to discover he has a magical ability, which he learns to use prudently. And so when I went out on my own years later, I turned to Bill Steig for a logo—that’s why you see Zeke sitting behind a desk at the top of our letterhead —and that’s why we’re called Pippin.  As Bill said in his Caldecott speech for Sylvester and the Magic Pebble:
 
“Art has the power to make any spot on earth the living center of the universe; and unlike science, which often gives us the illusion of understanding things we really do not understand, it helps us to know life in a way that still keeps before us the mystery of things. It enhances the sense of wonder.  And wonder is respect for life.”

WELCOME TO PIPPIN!

*(thank you, Alison McGhee.)