Workshop Leaders
New York Writers Workshop co-founders Charles Salzberg and Tim Tomlinson often lead sections of the conferences. Christina Chiu will lead a section for Spring 2022. See Workshop Leader bios below.
Christina Chiu is the winner of the James Alan McPherson Award for her novel Beauty, a Kirkus Best Books of 2020. She is also author of Troublemaker and Other Saints, published by G.P. Putnam’s Sons.Troublemaker was a nominee for the Stephen Crane First Fiction Award and winner of the Asian American Literary Award. Chiu has published in Tin House, The New Guard, Washington Square, The MacGuffin, Charlie Chan is Dead 2, Not the Only One, Washington Square, and has won literary prizes from Playboy, New Stone Circle, El Dorado Writers’ Guild, World Wide Writers. She hosts the virtual Let’s Talk Books Author Series, curates and co-hosts the Pen Parentis Literary Salon in New York City, and is a founding member of the Asian American Writers’ Workshop. She received her MFA in creative writing from Columbia University. Chiu is a shoe designer.
Ross Klavan’s novella Thump Gun Hitched was published in 2016 in the compilation Triple Shot (along with Charles Salzberg and Tim O’Mara) by Down and Out Press. His darkly comic novel Schmuck was published by Greenpoint Press in 2014. His original screenplay for the film Tigerland starring Colin Farrell was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award. Klavan recently finished an adaption of John Bowers’ The Colony and has written scripts for Miramax, Intermedia, Walden Media, Paramount and TNT TV, among others. He moderated a conversation between Kurt Vonnegut and Lee Stringer which was later published as Like Shaking Hands with God; and his short stories have appeared in magazines and been produced by the BBC. An earlier novel, Trax, was published under a pseudonym. His play How I Met My (Black) Wife (Again), co-written with Ray Iannicelli, has been produced in New York City. He has worked as a newspaper and radio journalist in London and New York City, where he lives with his wife, the painter, Mary Jones.
Charles Salzberg is a freelance writer whose work has appeared in Esquire, New York magazine, Elle, Redbook, Good Housekeeping, The New York Times Arts and Leisure, The New York Times Book Review, and other periodicals. He is the author of more than 25 non-fiction books, including From Set Shot to Slam Dunk, An Oral History of the NBA, On a Clear Day They Could See Seventh Place, Baseball's 10 Worst Teams of the Century (with George Robinson) and Soupy Sez: My Zany Life and Times, with Soupy Sales. He is also the author of the Shamus Award nominated Swann's Last Song, Swann Dives In, and Swann's Lake of Despair, as well as Devil in the Hole, which was named one of the best crime novels of 2014 by Suspense magazine. He has been a Visiting Professor of Magazine at the S.I. School of Public Communications at Syracuse University, Sarah Lawrence College, the Writer's Voice, and the New York Writers Workshop, where he is a Founding Member.
Tim Tomlinson is co-founder of New York Writers Workshop, and co-author of its popular text, The Portable MFA in Creative Writing. He has also published the books This Is Not Happening to You (short fiction), Yolanda: An Oral History in Verse (oral history/poetry), and Requiem for the Tree Fort I Set on Fire (poetry). His work has been collected in Brooklyn Poets Anthology, A Feast of Narrative: Stories by Italian-American Writers, Long Island Noir, Poet Sounds: Poems Inspired by the Beach Boys' Pet Sounds, Surviving Suicide: A Collection of Poems That May Save a Life, and elsewhere. He has been published in Australia, China, India, Singapore, the Philippines, and in numerous venues in the US, including, most recently, About Place Journal, Another Chicago Magazine, ChillFiltr Review, Columbia Journal, Good Life Review, Litro, and the Passengers Journal. He's on the Advisory Board of Asia Pacific Writers & Translators. He teaches in New York University's Global Liberal Studies program. Visit Tim online at http://timtomlinson.org/.
Moderator for Agents' Panel:
Laurence Klavan wrote the novels, The Cutting Room and The Shooting Script, published by Ballantine Books. His novel, Mrs. White, co-written under a pseudonym, won the Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America. His graphic novels, City of Spies and Brain Camp, co-written with Susan Kim, were published by First Second Books at Macmillan, and their Young Adult fiction series, Wasteland, is currently being published by Harper Collins. His short work has been published in such print and online journals as The Alaska Quarterly, The Literary Review, Conjunctions, Natural Bridge, Gargoyle, Failbetter, Pank, Stickman Review, Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, among many others, and a collection, ‘The Family Unit’ and Other Fantasies, has been published by Chizine Publications. He received two Drama Desk nominations for the book and lyrics to Bed and Sofa, the musical produced by the Vineyard Theater in New York and the Finborough Theatre in London. His one-act, The Summer Sublet, produced in the EST Marathon in New York, was published in Applause Books' Best American Short Plays 2000-2001. His web site is LaurenceKlavan.com.
Ross Klavan’s novella Thump Gun Hitched was published in 2016 in the compilation Triple Shot (along with Charles Salzberg and Tim O’Mara) by Down and Out Press. His darkly comic novel Schmuck was published by Greenpoint Press in 2014. His original screenplay for the film Tigerland starring Colin Farrell was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award. Klavan recently finished an adaption of John Bowers’ The Colony and has written scripts for Miramax, Intermedia, Walden Media, Paramount and TNT TV, among others. He moderated a conversation between Kurt Vonnegut and Lee Stringer which was later published as Like Shaking Hands with God; and his short stories have appeared in magazines and been produced by the BBC. An earlier novel, Trax, was published under a pseudonym. His play How I Met My (Black) Wife (Again), co-written with Ray Iannicelli, has been produced in New York City. He has worked as a newspaper and radio journalist in London and New York City, where he lives with his wife, the painter, Mary Jones.
Charles Salzberg is a freelance writer whose work has appeared in Esquire, New York magazine, Elle, Redbook, Good Housekeeping, The New York Times Arts and Leisure, The New York Times Book Review, and other periodicals. He is the author of more than 25 non-fiction books, including From Set Shot to Slam Dunk, An Oral History of the NBA, On a Clear Day They Could See Seventh Place, Baseball's 10 Worst Teams of the Century (with George Robinson) and Soupy Sez: My Zany Life and Times, with Soupy Sales. He is also the author of the Shamus Award nominated Swann's Last Song, Swann Dives In, and Swann's Lake of Despair, as well as Devil in the Hole, which was named one of the best crime novels of 2014 by Suspense magazine. He has been a Visiting Professor of Magazine at the S.I. School of Public Communications at Syracuse University, Sarah Lawrence College, the Writer's Voice, and the New York Writers Workshop, where he is a Founding Member.
Tim Tomlinson is co-founder of New York Writers Workshop, and co-author of its popular text, The Portable MFA in Creative Writing. He has also published the books This Is Not Happening to You (short fiction), Yolanda: An Oral History in Verse (oral history/poetry), and Requiem for the Tree Fort I Set on Fire (poetry). His work has been collected in Brooklyn Poets Anthology, A Feast of Narrative: Stories by Italian-American Writers, Long Island Noir, Poet Sounds: Poems Inspired by the Beach Boys' Pet Sounds, Surviving Suicide: A Collection of Poems That May Save a Life, and elsewhere. He has been published in Australia, China, India, Singapore, the Philippines, and in numerous venues in the US, including, most recently, About Place Journal, Another Chicago Magazine, ChillFiltr Review, Columbia Journal, Good Life Review, Litro, and the Passengers Journal. He's on the Advisory Board of Asia Pacific Writers & Translators. He teaches in New York University's Global Liberal Studies program. Visit Tim online at http://timtomlinson.org/.
Moderator for Agents' Panel:
Laurence Klavan wrote the novels, The Cutting Room and The Shooting Script, published by Ballantine Books. His novel, Mrs. White, co-written under a pseudonym, won the Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America. His graphic novels, City of Spies and Brain Camp, co-written with Susan Kim, were published by First Second Books at Macmillan, and their Young Adult fiction series, Wasteland, is currently being published by Harper Collins. His short work has been published in such print and online journals as The Alaska Quarterly, The Literary Review, Conjunctions, Natural Bridge, Gargoyle, Failbetter, Pank, Stickman Review, Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, among many others, and a collection, ‘The Family Unit’ and Other Fantasies, has been published by Chizine Publications. He received two Drama Desk nominations for the book and lyrics to Bed and Sofa, the musical produced by the Vineyard Theater in New York and the Finborough Theatre in London. His one-act, The Summer Sublet, produced in the EST Marathon in New York, was published in Applause Books' Best American Short Plays 2000-2001. His web site is LaurenceKlavan.com.
Editors & Agents
Editors will be announced in advance of each Conference.
For the April 24-25, 2021 Conference, were:
Literary agents will be announced in advance of each Conference.
For the April 24-25, 2021 Conference, editors were:
Editors at conferences past.
Katie Henderson Adams is an editor at Liveright (a new imprint of W.W. Norton) acquiring literary fiction and non-fiction. She has formerly worked at Other Press, Doubleday, Bloomsbury Press, and Oxford University Press.
Ibrahim Ahmad has worked in various capacities for Akashic Books since 2000, where he is now senior editor. He teaches at the Wilkes MFA Low-Residency Creative Writing Program and Literary Publishing MA Program and leads frequent writing workshops. In 2015 he was named one of four finalists for the inaugural Star Watch prize by Publishers Weekly, awarded to “young industry professionals who have distinguished themselves as future leaders of the industry.”
Heather Alexander is an Assistant Editor at Dial Books for Young Readers. Some of her favorite projects she’s edited are Nerve by Jeanne Ryan, My Family For The War by Anne C. Voorhoeve, Circle of Cranes by Annette LeBox, and the Charlie and Lola series. She loves ghost stories, horror stories, and nearly anything funny. She’d love to find a good book about mutants, some really funny YA, and some magical Middle Grade. Her favorite picture books are the unexpected and off-the-wall kind, with a memorable main character.
Adrienne Avila is an Editor at Berkley, a division of Penguin, where she acquires a range of nonfiction. She acquires in the areas of memoir, women’s issues, lifestyle, business, wellness, self-help, how-to. Recent non-fiction titles include the New York Times Bestseller and Wall Street Journal Bestseller Will Work from Home by Tory Johnson and Robyn Spizman, 365 Nights by Charla Muller with Betsy Thorpe, and the essay anthology It’s a Wonderful Lie: 26 Truths About Life in Your Twenties. She is also interested in multicultural fiction and quirky women’s fiction, and acquired and edited award winning Lorraine Lopez’s The Gifted Gabaldon Sisters, a [Border's] National Latino Book Club pick.
Annie Berger is an Editor at Sourcebooks Jabberwocky and Sourcebooks Fire. She started as an editorial assistant at Simon & Schuster’s Aladdin imprint. There she worked with authors Brandon Mull, Rachel Renée Russell and Lauren Barnholdt. Annie was involved in many successful repackages including a Felix Salten line, new Anne of Green Gables books and the re-launch of Fablehaven. She was the editor for both the middle-grade and chapter book Nancy Drew and the middle-grade Hardy Boys series. Annie also signed up debut authors Jen Malone’s At Your Service and Gail Nall’s Breaking the Ice, which published in August 2014 and March 2015 respectively. Other books she’s acquired and edited in the recent past include: At Your Service, Map to the Stars, and Wanderlost by Jen Malone; Breaking the Ice and Exit Stage Left by Gail Nail; The Distance from A to Z by Natalie Blitt, The Tiara on the Terrace by Kristen Kittscher, the Confidentially Yours series by Jo Whittemore, and the upcoming The Someday Birds by Sally J. Pla, One Amazing Elephant by Linda Oatman High, and Roll by Darcy Miller. She is looking for picture books with strong hooks and fun vibrant characters. On the middle-grade side she enjoys boy narratives with humor, and says, “I’m a big fantasy fan, I absolutely love weird, zany, off-the-wall plots, mysteries, I am a sucker for contemporary, heartfelt realistic narratives, and I won’t say no to light horror. I have also always loved school-based friendship stories. On the teen side I also enjoy boy narratives, I am a big fan of thrillers/mysteries, I LOVE magical realism, and respond very well to romance, light fantasy, and gritty realistic stories.”
Molly Boyle is an assistant editor at Bantam Dell, where she works with Kate Miciak on a list of authors that include New York Times bestsellers Lee Child, Lisa Gardner and Karin Slaughter. She acquires commercial fiction and mysteries, particularly for women, as well as memoir, narrative, and pop culture nonfiction, and has a particular fondness for offbeat and dark edges. She began her publishing career at NAL/Penguin.
Kat Brzozowski is an associate editor at Thomas Dunne Books, a division of St. Martin's Press, where she has worked since 2009. She works on a wide range of young adult fiction, including the new Fear Street books by R. L. Stine (the first, Party Games, came out in September 2014); Hello, I Love You, a love story set in the world of K-Pop (June 2015), Romancing the Dark in the City of Light, in which a troubled teen, living in Paris, is torn between two boys (October 2015), The Weight of Feathers, best described as The Night Circus meets Romeo and Juliet for teens (September 2015), In Real Life, set over one weekend in Vegas where a teen meets her online BFF IRL for the first time (2016) and Firsts, about a girl who gives classmates their perfect first time – until everything starts to fall apart (2016). Kat is looking to acquire young adult fiction across a wide range of genres, especially contemporary, realistic YA with a strong hook; dark, contemporary fiction (not too issues-y), mysteries, suspense, and thrillers; horror; and sci-fi (that’s mostly rooted in this world; think Minority Report). She is especially interested in YA with crossover appeal. When she’s reading YA, she looks for a strong sense of voice, multi-dimensional characters, and realistic dialogue. Kat grew up reading Beverly Cleary’s Ramona series and Lois Lowry’s Anastasia Krupnik voice and loves contemporary middle grade books with a lot of heart and an individual voice with a lot to say. She maintains close relationships with the Mac Kids division and will happily refer MG and picture book projects to her colleagues in the Flatiron Building.
Jackie Cantor is an Executive Editor at The Berkley Publishing Group, a division of Penguin. Prior to joining Berkley in August 2005, she was a Vice President and Executive Editor at Bantam Dell, where her list included a wide variety of fiction and nonfiction titles in all formats. She is proud to have discovered the New York Times bestselling authors Diana Gabaldon and Eloisa James. Other major authors whose work she has acquired include John Grisham, John Lescroart, and Hope Edelman (Motherless Daughters). At Berkley, her list includes the nationally bestselling authors Kate Furnivall (The Russian Concubine, Shadows on the Nile), Kate Quinn (Mistress of Rome, The Serpent and the Pearl), Laura Brodie (The Widow’s Season), Lucy Dillon (Lost Dogs and Lonely Hearts, The Secret of Happy Ever After), and Lucy Ferriss (The Lost Daughter).
Anna deVries is the Executive Editor at Picador. She acquires and edits a range of literary fiction and non-fiction. Some of the books she has edited include One Day We’ll All Be Dead and None of This Will Matter by Scaachi Koul; We Gon’ Be Alright: On Race and Resegregation by Jeff Chang; Black Man in a White Coat: A Doctor’s Reflections on Race and Medicine by Damon Tweedy, MD; Selfish, Shallow, and Self-Absorbed: 16 Writers on the Decision Not to Have Kids edited by Meghan Daum; No One Can Pronounce My Name by Rakesh Satyal, The Birth of Korean Cool by Euny Hong, and Pro: Reclaiming Abortion Rights by Katha Pollitt.
Mark Doten is Senior Editor at Soho Press, where he acquires crime fiction and the majority of the literary list. His authors have been listed for numerous awards and honors, including the Center for Fiction Flaherty Dunham first novel prize, the PEN/Open Book award, the PEN/Robert W. Bingham award, the NYPL Young Lions award, Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year, Rolling Stone Best Music Book of the Year, and Washington Post Notable Book of the Year. He has published four New York Times Editors' Choice titles. His author Dan Josefson won the Whiting Award after Soho's publication of his first novel, That's Not a Feeling, and Alex Shakar's Luminarium was awarded the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Fiction.
Julia Elliott is an Assistant Editor at William Morrow, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers. She edits a wide range of nonfiction and fiction projects and is most interested in upmarket and literary speculative fiction and fantasy; psychological suspense; smart, character-driven thrillers; and narrative nonfiction/memoir with cultural and/or scientific underpinnings. She is the editor of the Agatha Christie brand. Before joining HarperCollins, Julia worked at Penguin Random House for three years, with a focus on celebrity, humor, and politics.
Claire Evans is an editorial assistant at Dial Books for Young Readers, where she works with Kathy Dawson and Jess Garrison on a list of authors who write for YA (like Franny Billingsley and Kristin Cashore), middle grade (authors such as Gennifer Choldenko and Jacqueline West), and who write and illustrate picture books (Joe Berger and Kevin Sherry). She is on the look out for middle grade and young adult fiction, especially action or sports stories with strong characters. She also likes character-driven tales in the edgy fantasy and magical realism genres—anything that puts a new and surprising twist on things.
Shauna Fay is Assistant Editor, G. P. Putnam’s Sons, A Division of Penguin Young Readers Group. Shauna works on everything from picture books to young adult novels. She edited the 2010 Children’s Choice Book Award winner, Little Pink Pup by Johanna Kerby, and the 2010 IRA Children’s Book Award winner, Wanted: The Perfect Pet by Fiona Roberton, as well as the upcoming debut novel, The Vindico by Wesley King. While open to books for all ages, she is particularly interested in middle grade fiction with a strong voice (magical realism always welcome!), historical fiction with a commercial hook, and young, funny/quirky picture books.
Erika Goldman, Publisher and Editorial Director of Bellevue Literary Press, has been an editor of fiction and nonfiction for over two decades at several major publishing houses in New York City, including St. Martin’s Press, Charles Scribner’s Sons, Simon & Schuster, and W. H. Freeman. A recipient of fellowships from Rendez-vous à Montreal-Québec Edition, the IV Programme in conjunction with IFOA Toronto, the Frankfurt Book Fair/German Book Office, and the Jerusalem International Book Fair, she has lectured and taught at the Yale Writers’ Conference, the Wesleyan Writers Conference, the New Hampshire Institute of Art, and New York University’s Center for Publishing. She is an instructor at the New York University School of Medicine, Division of Medical Humanities.
Sarah Grill has been working in publishing since 2016, interning at Harvey Klinger, Janklow & Nesbit, and Writers House before joining the editorial staff at St. Martin's Press in 2018. In a past life, she lived in Los Angeles and worked in development at Alloy Entertainment, packaging, adapting, and pitching books for films and TV shows. Sarah is looking to acquire upmarket women's fiction, psychological thrillers and elevated mysteries, narrative nonfiction, and true crime with a literary edge. Some recent and upcoming titles she's worked on include Shamed by New York Times bestselling author Linda Castillo, Anything for You by Saul Black, The Escape Room by Megan Goldin, Where There's Hope by New York Times bestselling author Elizabeth Smart, and Secrets of a Marine's Wife by New York Times bestselling author Shanna Hogan.
Pam Gruber has worked on everything from novelty and picture books to novels. She is currently an Editor acquiring for both Little, Brown Books for Young Readers and its Poppy imprint, focusing primarily on young adult novels aimed at girls ages 12 and up, as well as select middle grade projects. She is the editor of contemporary YA novels such as What Happens Next by Colleen Clayton and Now Is the Time For Running by Michael Williams, and the sci-fi YA novel Illusive by Emily Lloyd-Jones, all of which received starred reviews. She is also excited to be the editor on such diverse projects as Alecia Whitaker’s country music-themed series Wildflower, debut author Virginia Boecker’s forthcoming fantasy novel The Witch Hunter, and blogger Shauna Miller’s budget style book Penny Chic. Pam loves alternate histories, off-beat teen romances, witty voices, and losing herself in fully realized worlds—realistic or fantastic. Pam is a graduate of NYU’s Gallatin School, where she studied the relationship between art and imagery and folklore—a combination tailor-made for children’s publishing and one that has inspired an affinity for comic books.
Michael Homler is an Editor at St. Martin’s Press. He acquires in a wide range of areas which include general and literary fiction, mystery/thrillers, graphic novels, narrative nonfiction and biography. He has worked on such books as the NBCC winning biography James Tiptree Jr. by Julie Phillips, The Fault Tree by Louise Ure, Lee Child’s anthology Killer Year, the Edgar-nominated Pyres by Derek Nikitas, and Don Mattingly’s Hitting Is Simple by Don Mattingly and Jim Rosenthal.
Grace House is a graduate of Tufts University and joined Penguin Random House in 2014. She started her career in the contracts department before switching over to the editorial side, and is currently an Assistant Editor with Berkley. Grace enjoys reading and working on romance, women’s fiction, cozy mysteries, thrillers, suspense, and true crime. Her authors include Lorna Barrett and Tom Wood.
Bronwen Hruska is the Publisher and Editor-In-Chief of Soho Press, an independent publisher of literary fiction. Founded twenty-four years ago, Soho has launched the careers of authors including Edwidge Danticat, Garth Stein, Stephen Fry, Dan Fesperman, Jacqueline Winspear, Cara Black and Robert Hellenga. Soho publishes between 60 and 80 titles a year under three imprints—Soho, Soho Crime and Soho Constable—and specializes in literary fiction and memoir, and mystery series set overseas.
Katherine Jacobs is a senior editor at Roaring Book Press, an imprint of Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group. She is looking for smart, character-driven books, from picture books to young adult, fiction and nonfiction, with an emphasis on middle grade and teen novels. Some of her recent titles are: The picture books I See Kitty by Yasmine Surovec and When the Beat Was Born by Laban Carrick Hill, illustrated by Theodore Taylor III, middle grade novel The Graham Cracker Plot by Shelley Tougas, and teen novels The Truth About Alice and Devoted both by Jennifer Mathieu, and SEKRET by Lindsay Smith.
Allison Janice is an Assistant Editor at the Berkley Books Group of Penguin Random House and a graduate of Emerson College, where she spent a few years trying to figure out how to turn her love of reading into a career. Memoir/narrative nonfiction as well as women’s fiction are her main focuses when acquiring, and she is especially interested in projects on the topics of food, body-image, pop-culture, or the environment. She is a New England transplant currently residing in Brooklyn.
Lyssa Keusch is an Executive Editor at HarperCollins Publishers, where she primarily acquires a range of commercial fiction, including thrillers and suspense, as well as women’s fiction. Among her authors in the thriller/suspense genre are New York Times bestsellers James Rollins (The Doomsday Key), JA Jance (Queen of the Night) and International Thriller Writers award winner Jamie Freveletti (Running From the Devil). In the romance genre, Lyssa works with #1 New York Times bestseller Julia Quinn (Ten Things I Love About Your) and New York Times bestsellers Elizabeth Boyle (Mad About the Duke and Samantha James (The Secret Passion of Simon Blackwell). Among her commercial women’s fiction authors are Jean Reynolds Page (The Space Between Before and After) and Jessica Jiji (Sweet Dates in Basra). Lyssa also acquires selected non-fiction, with interest in memoir and narrative nonfiction with a commercial slant. Her most recent titles are Self-Compassion: Stop Beating Yourself Up and Leave Insecurity Behind by Kristin Neff, PhD and Real Food for Healthy Kids by Tanya Wenman Steele and Tracey Seaman. Other titles include Not Fade Away: A Short Life Well Lived by Laurence Shames and Peter Barton and Love & Madness: The Murder of Martha Ray, Mistress of the Fourth Earl of Sandwich. Lyssa is also currently in the process of developing a popular science book with biologist Daniel Riskin, PhD for acquisition.
Adam Korn is an executive editor in the William Morrow Books division of HarperCollins Publishers. He has been on both sides of the industry as an editor and agent, and has specialized in non-fiction in both capacities. Titles on which he’s worked include actor/director/writer Billy Bob Thornton’s The Billy Bob Tapes, former pitcher and current MLB commentator John Smoltz’s Starting and Closing, and fighter Urijah Faber’s The Laws of the Ring, former football star Jerry Rice’s Go Long!, fighter Forrest Griffin’s Got Fight?, TOMS Shoes CEO Blake Mycoskie’s Start Something That Matters, Wine to Water Founder and President Doc Hendley’s Wine to Water, rock guitarist Zakk Wylde’s Bringing Metal to the Children, ESPN radio host Mike Greenberg’s Why My Wife Thinks I’m an Idiot, John Weisman’s KBL: Kill Bin Laden (a novel based on true events), Trey Hamburger’s brilliant send-up to the paranormal investigation Ghost/Aliens, and Craig Heimbuch’s autobiographical tribute to manhood, fatherhood, and the great American hunt And Now We Shall Do Manly Things.
Jessica MacLeish is currently an assistant editor at HarperCollins Children’s books, where she works on a list that includes the Big Nate series by Lincoln Peirce and novels and picture books by Walter Dean Myers, as well as many other picture books, middle grade, and teen novels. She works very closely with Seymour Simon on his non-fiction photographic essay picture books, and other recent projects include The Bully Book, The School for Good and Evil, and Zits:Chillax. Jess is particularly interested in contemporary/realistic middle grade and teen projects.
Krista Marinois an Executive Editor at Delacorte Press (Random House Children’s Books) where she acquires and edits Young Adult and Middle Grade fiction. Authors she works with include Frank Portman, Michael Scott, Carrie Ryan, James Dashner, Matt de la Peña, and Jennifer Donnelly.
Samantha Martin acquires fiction, memoir, narrative nonfiction, and select parenting titles for Scribner. The fiction she has published includesModel Home by Eric Puchner, Alex Award winner and bestseller The God of Animals and Boys and Girls Like You and Me: Stories by Aryn Kyle,Lost by Alice Lichtenstein, and The Cure for Grief by Nellie Hermann. Current and upcoming nonfiction includes Henry’s Demons by NBCC finalist Patrick Cockburn and Henry Cockburn, Amen, Amen, Amen by Abby Sher, The Last of the Tribe by Monte Reel, The Journal of Best Practices by David Finch, Animal Investigators by Laurel Neme, Hippocrates’ Shadow by Dr. David Newman, The Blessing of a B Minus by New York Times bestselling author Wendy Mogel, Ph.D., Lost at School by Ross W. Greene, Ph.D., and Eat, Sleep, Poop by Dr. Scott W. Cohen.
Matt Martz is editor-in-chief of Criminal Lane Books. Authors he’s worked with include thought leaders in business like Carmine Gallo, author of Talk Like Ted: The 9 Public Speaking Secrets of the World’s Top Minds and investigative journalists like Frank Sennett, author of Groupon’s Biggest Deal Ever. The acclaimed historians and scientists at the cutting edge of their fields whom he’s published include such award-winning scholars as Thom Hatch, author of Glorious War: The Civil War Adventures of George Armstrong Custer. Matt publishes crime fiction ranging from explosive, high concept thrillers to more traditional mysteries. Authors include Karen Salvalaggio, Los Angeles Times Book Prize finalist Kelli Stanley, and Barry Award nominee Tim O’Mara.
Julie Mianecki works with women’s fiction, romance, and mystery at the Berkley imprint of Penguin Random House. Among her authors are Leah Ferguson, Fiona Sussman, Sarina Bowen, and RITA finalist Alyssa Alexander. You can find her on Twitter @juliemianecki.
Leah Miller is an editor at Harmony Books, a division of Penguin Random House. She acquires non-fiction in the wellness space, ranging from health, fitness, relationships, spirituality, and inspirational memoir. A graduate of the Johns Hopkins University Writing Seminars program, Miller worked previously as an editor at Free Press and at Sterling Lord Literistic in both domestic agenting and foreign rights. Forthcoming projects include: Michelle Phan’s MAKE UP:Your Life Guide to Beauty, Style, and Success—Online and Off and THE 13TH GIFT: A True Story of a Christmas Miracle by Joanne Huist Smith.
Vanessa Mobley joined Little, Brown as an executive editor in December 2014 after five years as an executive editor at The Crown Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House. Previously I worked as an editor at The Penguin Press, Henry Holt and Basic Books. I have edited and published three winners of the Pulitzer Prize, each of them debut authors: Samantha Power ("A Problem from Hell"), Caroline Elkins (Imperial Reckoning) and Liaquat Ahamed (Lords of Finance). I am proud to have also edited a number of other bestselling and prize winning authors including Matt Bai, Deborah Baker, Moustafa Bayoumi, Matthew B. Crawford, Yochi Dreazen, Sheri Fink, Timothy F. Geithner, Michelle Goldberg, Chris Hayes, Peniel Joseph, Brendan I. Koerner, Rebecca Mead, Jenny Nordberg, John Pomfret and Clay Shirky.
David Moldawer is an associate editor at St. Martin’s Press, where he acquires and edits nonfiction books. His titles include Rule the Web by Mark Frauenfelder, The Mad Fisherman by Charlie Moore with Charles Salzberg, The Indie Band Survival Guide by Jason Feehan and Randy Chertkow of the band Beatnik Turtle, and Lawyer Boy, a memoir of law school by Rick Lax. David lives in New York City.
Allison Moore is an associate editor at Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, who works on everything from illustrated titles to middle grade and young adult novels. Her recent and upcoming projects include City Shapes by Diana Murray and Bryan Collier, The Sweetest Sound by Sherri Winston, Dreamland Burning by Jennifer Latham, Be Who You Are by Todd Parr, and several books in the Dragonsitter, Space Taxi, Sweet Pea & Friends, Birdie, and Nuts series. Allison is interested in clever picture books with dynamic illustration styles and all-ages appeal; high-concept chapter books; and MG and YA novels that encourage readers to consider unexpected perspectives. You can find her on Twitter @allisonm610.
Aubrey Poole got her start as an editor correcting her friends’ grammar in high school, an effort which naturally guaranteed instant popularity. She is now an associate editor at Sourcebooks, acquiring children’s books from picture books through young adult. Her first YA novel, Send by Patty Blount, was a Junior Library Guild pick. Her middle grade novel This Journal Belongs to Ratchet by Nancy Cavanaugh received a Starred review from Kirkus and is a Florida State Bookaward winner. Aubrey hopes to continue shamelessly courting librarians with her forthcoming middle grade series The Ninja Librarians, which also received a Starred review from Kirkus. Some of Aubrey’s authors include NYT and USA Today bestseller Suzanne Brockmann, USA Today bestseller Juliana Stone, award-winner Mari Mancusi, award-winner Jen Calonita, Janet Gurtler, Natalie D. Richards, Anna Staniszewski and illustrator Tracy Dockray.
Elizabeth Poteet, born in Nashville, Tennessee, attended Colby College where she majored in English and Religious Studies. While studying at St. Andrews, she realized that though she enjoyed Shakespeare and the Dead Sea Scrolls, she preferred reading stories that were a hair more modern. Lizzie is now an Assistant Editor at St. Martin's Press and is always looking for a good love story. She loves sassy heroines, witty banter, and good old fashion romance. She’s actively seeking New Adult, YA, historical and contemporary romances, and loves anything with a happy ending. A few of her recent acquisitions include an edgy, emotional romantic suspense, The Sttrongest Steeel by Scarlett Cole, a funny, DIY-filled romance novel Start Me Up by Nicole Michaels and the heartwarming Jewell Cove series by Donna Alward.
Kate Prosswimmer is an assistant editor at Sourcebooks’ children’s and teen imprints, Sourcebooks Jabberwocky and Sourcebooks Fire. She works on a wide range of titles from picture books through young adult novels, including the forthcoming Frayed (June 2016), a young adult psychological thriller by Wattpad author Kara Terzis.
Daniela Rapp is an editor at St. Martin’s Press, where she acquires a wild and eclectic mix of projects in various genres, including mysteries and thrillers, books on animals/pets/nature, travel, food, humor, language/writing, and history, as well as memoirs. She is also interested in being introduced to high-concept narratives in fiction and is actively looking for Native American writers and books. Recent and forthcoming projects include And Then Life Happens by Auma Obama, The Starboard Sea by Amber Dermont, Shucked by Erin Byers Murray, and Across Many Mountains by Yangzom Brauen.
Helen Richard is an Assistant Editor at G. P. Putnam’s Sons. She is looking to acquire literary and book club fiction, upmarket women’s fiction, psychological and domestic suspense, thrillers, memoirs, and select narrative nonfiction in history, culture, and popular science. She has a particular love for books about the American West, the wilderness, or small-town America. She also loves literary page-turners with a rich sense of place, voicey characters, and writers that open up closed-off communities in a universal way. She’s edited PEN Center USA Literary Award winner Siobhan Fallon, genderqueer writer and activist Jacob Tobia, and novelists including Camille Perri, Robert Hillman, Lindsay Starck, and Anne-Marie Casey, among others. Before joining Putnam, she worked at Viking/Penguin and at Other Press. She got her start in the industry as a bookseller in Colorado at The Boulder Book Store and The Tattered Cover Book Store.
Ruta Rimas edits and acquires picture books, middle-grade novels, and teen novels for both the Atheneum and Margaret K. McElderry imprints at Simon & Schuster. Ruta has had the honor and privilege of working with some of the most talented authors and illustrators in the industry including Kimberly Derting, Claire Caterer, Elissa Brent Weissman, Melissa Wiley, Lucy Cooke, M.M. Vaughan, Janet Ruth Young, and many others. Ruta loves characters that come to life on the pages, stories that resonate long after the last page is read, and fiction that challenges our preconceived notions of the world.
Brant Rumble is a Senior Editor at Scribner. His list includes Esquire columnist Chuck Klosterman, ESPN.com’s Rob Neyer, and nationally syndicated ¡Ask a Mexican! columnist Gustavo Arellano. Brant’s recent titles include Benjamin Nugent’s American Nerd: The Story of My People and Daniel Radosh’s Rapture Ready!: Adventures in the Parallel Universe of Christian Pop Culture. Brant acquires and edits a variety of narrative nonfiction, memoir, and literary fiction; usual subjects include pop culture, subcultures, music, and sports. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife and son.
Denise Scarfi is an Assistant Editor at W. W. Norton & Company, where she has worked for over four years. She began at Norton as the assistant to Executive Editor Alane Salierno Mason and poetry and literary fiction editor Carol Houck Smith shortly after graduating from NYU with a degree in Comparative Literature and a focus in Latin American literature. Her first acquisition for Norton, Gun Dealers’ Daughter by Gina Apostol (July 2012), is a Borgesian literary puzzle set in the Marcos-era Philippines.
Denise Silvestro, a graduate of New York University, has been in the publishing industry for seventeen years and is currently Executive Editor at the Berkley Publishing Group. Although she acquires both fiction and nonfiction, 90% of her list is nonfiction. She works within all genres, including narrative nonfiction, memoir, self-help/motivational, personal finance, health/well-being, and spirituality. She has worked with bestselling authors such as Don Piper, psychic-medium John Edward, minister T. D. Jakes, and financial expert Julie Stav.
As an Assistant Editor at Balzer + Bray, an imprint of HarperCollins Children’s Books, Viana Siniscalchi supports the Co-Publisher and a Senior Editor, and edits everything from picture books to young adult fiction. She works with many acclaimed, award-winning, and bestselling authors and illustrators, including Colin Meloy and Carson Ellis, Kadir Nelson, Adam Rex, and Maryrose Wood. Before joining Harper, Viana attended the Columbia Publishing Course and interned at W.W. Norton & Company. She is interested in acquiring picture books, and middle-grade and YA fiction in the following genres: contemporary realism, sci-fi/fantasy, romance, and re-imaginings.
Yaniv Soha has been working in book publishing for nine years, at both literary agencies and book publishers. He is an associate editor at St. Martin’s Press, where he publishes in the areas of narrative nonfiction, pop culture, humor, and popular psychology. He has published books by Pulitzer-winning reporters, film producers, rock journalists, professors, and stand-up comedians. He is also the fiction and prose editor of 2 Bridges Review, the literary/arts journal of CUNY City Tech.
Nicole Sohl joined Thomas Dunne Books, an imprint of St. Martin’s Press, in March 2011 after interning at industry landmarks such as Workman Publishing, Regal Literary, Folio Literary Management, and assisting at the agency powerhouse WME. At Thomas Dunne, she has assisted on the young adult series by Julie Cross that follows a 19-year-old time traveler, as well as the Conquered Earth young adult series by J. Barton Mitchell and the Grimm City young adult series by Gareth Jefferson Jones and genre-icon, K. W. Jeter. She is eager to acquire fiction for both middle school and young adult audiences, especially contemporary fiction with crossover appeal in the mystery and horror genres.
Hilary Rubin Teeman joined St. Martin’s Press as an Associate Editor in May 2006. Prior to that, she spent three years at Trident Media Group, where she represented her own list of authors and handled audio rights for the company. At St. Martin’s Press, Hilary is looking to acquire commercial and literary women’s fiction, historical fiction and romantic suspense, as well as memoirs, pop-culture, sociology, and prescriptive non-fiction titles.
Alison S. Weiss is an editor at Sky Pony Press, working on picture books through YA. She's especially eager to find middle grade with a cozy feel, and voice-driven, sweeping, romantic YA. She's worked with New York Times best-selling author Jessica Verday (Of Monsters and Madness), Agatha Award winner Peny WArner (The Code Busters Club series), YALSA-award winning Sarah Cross (Kill Me Softly and Tear You Apart), ITW Award Finalist Kristen Lippert-Martin (Tabula Rasa), Mike A. Lancaster, Kristina McBride, Jessica Taylor, Amalie Howard, and Sarah McGuiare, among others. She also assisted on Christopher Myer's H.O.R.S.E., which won a 2013 Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor Award and the 2014 Odyssey Award. Follow her on Twitter @alioop7.
Julie Will is a Senior Editor at Rodale. She acquires and edits in the categories of health & wellness, science, psychology, self-help, mind/body, relationship, and memoir. Her authors include former FDA Commissioner Dr. David Kessler, Discovery Channel host and conservationist Jeff Corwin, journalist Julia Savacool, and Men’s Health sex columnist Debby Herbenick. She also oversees the best-selling Intellectual Devotional and Biggest Loser franchises.
Clarissa Wong is an editor at the Feminist Press, where she acquires and edits fiction, memoir, and narrative non-fiction. Prior to the Feminist Press, she worked on children’s books and graphic novels. She is drawn to stories with a strong, unique voice (especially from a multicultural point of view) that hooks the readers in on the first page.
Editors will be announced in advance of each Conference.
For the April 24-25, 2021 Conference, were:
- Miranda Hill is an Assistant Editor at Berkley/Ace whose interests lie in acquiring commercial horror, fantasy, and mystery titles. Miranda joined the publishing team at Berkley in 2016, and is particularly interested in ghost stories, character-driven speculative fiction, and witch novels with a romance element. Some of her recent and upcoming titles include The God of Lost Words by A.J. Hackwith, The Moonshine Shack Murder by Diane Kelly, and Impossible by Sarah Lotz..
- Helen O'Hare, Hachette Book Group, Mulholland Books. I’m excited to have joined this fantastic team in February 2020 and am hungry to find suspense of all kinds for Mulholland Books—including domestic suspense, psychological thrillers, mysteries, crime, and true crime—and commercial and women’s fiction for Little, Brown. I love literary page-turners with a rich sense of place, character-driven suspense, and narratives that open up unexpected perspectives or closed-off communities. My list includes Lauren Beukes’s Afterland, Kathleen Kent’s The Burn, Zoje Stage’s Wonderland, and beloved authors Denise Mina, Elizabeth Hand, and Allen Eskens. I previously spent six years at G. P. Putnam’s Sons, an imprint of Penguin Random House, where I edited Kate Weinberg, Camille Perri, Jacob Tobia, Robert Hillman, Sasha Sagan, and Jeni McFarland, and worked with writers including Delia Owens, Jill Santopolo, Lisa Gardner, and Frances Liardet. I got my start in the industry with positions at Other Press and Viking/Penguin, after years of indie bookselling at the Boulder Book Store and the Tattered Cover Book Store in Colorado.
- Daniela Rapp, St. Martin's Press. Daniela Rapp is an editor at St. Martin’s Press, where she acquires a wild and eclectic mix of projects in various genres, including mysteries and thrillers, books on animals/pets/nature, travel, food, humor, language/writing, and history, as well as memoirs. She is also interested in being introduced to high-concept narratives in fiction and is actively looking for Native American writers and books. Recent and forthcoming projects include And Then Life Happens by Auma Obama, The Starboard Sea by Amber Dermont, Shucked by Erin Byers Murray, and Across Many Mountains by Yangzom Brauen.
Literary agents will be announced in advance of each Conference.
For the April 24-25, 2021 Conference, editors were:
- Priya Doraswamy’s love for books, people, and background in law makes her career as a literary agent the perfect fit for her passions and talents. Priya enjoys working with publishers and writers from around the world including the United States, United Kingdom, Singapore, and India. Although physically in the EST, her work hours are zone-free. She does admit to occasionally losing track of time zones and waking a writer with an early morning phone call. Priya has been an agent for several years and has sold several books worldwide. She is drawn to all genre of fiction and nonfiction. Prior to her agency career, she was a practicing lawyer in the United States. Originally from Bangalore, India, Priya immigrated to the New York area many moons ago. For a period of time she relocated with her family to Singapore, and there, began her career as a literary agent. She founded Lotus Lane Literary in May 2013 and continues her journey with writers and publishers.
- Thomas Flannery Jr is an agent with Vigliano Associates, the pre-eminent boutique literary agency. Established in 1986, Vigliano Associates has represented 16 #1 New York Times bestsellers and almost 100 books that have made the lists. Thomas is also the head of Vigliano Books, an independent book publishing platform that was established in 2013. He has a BA in English Literature from Fairleigh Dickinson University and was an actor in a past life. Facebook: Vigliano Associates Twitter: @ViglianoAssoc
- Sharon Pelletier joined DG&B in 2013 after working for Europa Editions, Vantage Press, and Barnes & Noble. Born and raised in the suburbs of Detroit, Michigan, Sharon moved to New York in 2009 and now can't imagine ever living anywhere else. In addition to growing her own list, Sharon oversees digital projects and social media for the agency. While her interests are broad, Sharon is especially seeking upmarket fiction, including unexpected suspense fiction; smart, complex women’s fiction; and hearty, unforgettable book club fiction. On the nonfiction side Sharon is eager for compelling, fierce narrative nonfiction by journalists and experts, and emerging voices with a growing platform who can speak to pop culture, feminism, sports, social justice, and/or religion.
Editors at conferences past.
Katie Henderson Adams is an editor at Liveright (a new imprint of W.W. Norton) acquiring literary fiction and non-fiction. She has formerly worked at Other Press, Doubleday, Bloomsbury Press, and Oxford University Press.
Ibrahim Ahmad has worked in various capacities for Akashic Books since 2000, where he is now senior editor. He teaches at the Wilkes MFA Low-Residency Creative Writing Program and Literary Publishing MA Program and leads frequent writing workshops. In 2015 he was named one of four finalists for the inaugural Star Watch prize by Publishers Weekly, awarded to “young industry professionals who have distinguished themselves as future leaders of the industry.”
Heather Alexander is an Assistant Editor at Dial Books for Young Readers. Some of her favorite projects she’s edited are Nerve by Jeanne Ryan, My Family For The War by Anne C. Voorhoeve, Circle of Cranes by Annette LeBox, and the Charlie and Lola series. She loves ghost stories, horror stories, and nearly anything funny. She’d love to find a good book about mutants, some really funny YA, and some magical Middle Grade. Her favorite picture books are the unexpected and off-the-wall kind, with a memorable main character.
Adrienne Avila is an Editor at Berkley, a division of Penguin, where she acquires a range of nonfiction. She acquires in the areas of memoir, women’s issues, lifestyle, business, wellness, self-help, how-to. Recent non-fiction titles include the New York Times Bestseller and Wall Street Journal Bestseller Will Work from Home by Tory Johnson and Robyn Spizman, 365 Nights by Charla Muller with Betsy Thorpe, and the essay anthology It’s a Wonderful Lie: 26 Truths About Life in Your Twenties. She is also interested in multicultural fiction and quirky women’s fiction, and acquired and edited award winning Lorraine Lopez’s The Gifted Gabaldon Sisters, a [Border's] National Latino Book Club pick.
Annie Berger is an Editor at Sourcebooks Jabberwocky and Sourcebooks Fire. She started as an editorial assistant at Simon & Schuster’s Aladdin imprint. There she worked with authors Brandon Mull, Rachel Renée Russell and Lauren Barnholdt. Annie was involved in many successful repackages including a Felix Salten line, new Anne of Green Gables books and the re-launch of Fablehaven. She was the editor for both the middle-grade and chapter book Nancy Drew and the middle-grade Hardy Boys series. Annie also signed up debut authors Jen Malone’s At Your Service and Gail Nall’s Breaking the Ice, which published in August 2014 and March 2015 respectively. Other books she’s acquired and edited in the recent past include: At Your Service, Map to the Stars, and Wanderlost by Jen Malone; Breaking the Ice and Exit Stage Left by Gail Nail; The Distance from A to Z by Natalie Blitt, The Tiara on the Terrace by Kristen Kittscher, the Confidentially Yours series by Jo Whittemore, and the upcoming The Someday Birds by Sally J. Pla, One Amazing Elephant by Linda Oatman High, and Roll by Darcy Miller. She is looking for picture books with strong hooks and fun vibrant characters. On the middle-grade side she enjoys boy narratives with humor, and says, “I’m a big fantasy fan, I absolutely love weird, zany, off-the-wall plots, mysteries, I am a sucker for contemporary, heartfelt realistic narratives, and I won’t say no to light horror. I have also always loved school-based friendship stories. On the teen side I also enjoy boy narratives, I am a big fan of thrillers/mysteries, I LOVE magical realism, and respond very well to romance, light fantasy, and gritty realistic stories.”
Molly Boyle is an assistant editor at Bantam Dell, where she works with Kate Miciak on a list of authors that include New York Times bestsellers Lee Child, Lisa Gardner and Karin Slaughter. She acquires commercial fiction and mysteries, particularly for women, as well as memoir, narrative, and pop culture nonfiction, and has a particular fondness for offbeat and dark edges. She began her publishing career at NAL/Penguin.
Kat Brzozowski is an associate editor at Thomas Dunne Books, a division of St. Martin's Press, where she has worked since 2009. She works on a wide range of young adult fiction, including the new Fear Street books by R. L. Stine (the first, Party Games, came out in September 2014); Hello, I Love You, a love story set in the world of K-Pop (June 2015), Romancing the Dark in the City of Light, in which a troubled teen, living in Paris, is torn between two boys (October 2015), The Weight of Feathers, best described as The Night Circus meets Romeo and Juliet for teens (September 2015), In Real Life, set over one weekend in Vegas where a teen meets her online BFF IRL for the first time (2016) and Firsts, about a girl who gives classmates their perfect first time – until everything starts to fall apart (2016). Kat is looking to acquire young adult fiction across a wide range of genres, especially contemporary, realistic YA with a strong hook; dark, contemporary fiction (not too issues-y), mysteries, suspense, and thrillers; horror; and sci-fi (that’s mostly rooted in this world; think Minority Report). She is especially interested in YA with crossover appeal. When she’s reading YA, she looks for a strong sense of voice, multi-dimensional characters, and realistic dialogue. Kat grew up reading Beverly Cleary’s Ramona series and Lois Lowry’s Anastasia Krupnik voice and loves contemporary middle grade books with a lot of heart and an individual voice with a lot to say. She maintains close relationships with the Mac Kids division and will happily refer MG and picture book projects to her colleagues in the Flatiron Building.
Jackie Cantor is an Executive Editor at The Berkley Publishing Group, a division of Penguin. Prior to joining Berkley in August 2005, she was a Vice President and Executive Editor at Bantam Dell, where her list included a wide variety of fiction and nonfiction titles in all formats. She is proud to have discovered the New York Times bestselling authors Diana Gabaldon and Eloisa James. Other major authors whose work she has acquired include John Grisham, John Lescroart, and Hope Edelman (Motherless Daughters). At Berkley, her list includes the nationally bestselling authors Kate Furnivall (The Russian Concubine, Shadows on the Nile), Kate Quinn (Mistress of Rome, The Serpent and the Pearl), Laura Brodie (The Widow’s Season), Lucy Dillon (Lost Dogs and Lonely Hearts, The Secret of Happy Ever After), and Lucy Ferriss (The Lost Daughter).
Anna deVries is the Executive Editor at Picador. She acquires and edits a range of literary fiction and non-fiction. Some of the books she has edited include One Day We’ll All Be Dead and None of This Will Matter by Scaachi Koul; We Gon’ Be Alright: On Race and Resegregation by Jeff Chang; Black Man in a White Coat: A Doctor’s Reflections on Race and Medicine by Damon Tweedy, MD; Selfish, Shallow, and Self-Absorbed: 16 Writers on the Decision Not to Have Kids edited by Meghan Daum; No One Can Pronounce My Name by Rakesh Satyal, The Birth of Korean Cool by Euny Hong, and Pro: Reclaiming Abortion Rights by Katha Pollitt.
Mark Doten is Senior Editor at Soho Press, where he acquires crime fiction and the majority of the literary list. His authors have been listed for numerous awards and honors, including the Center for Fiction Flaherty Dunham first novel prize, the PEN/Open Book award, the PEN/Robert W. Bingham award, the NYPL Young Lions award, Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year, Rolling Stone Best Music Book of the Year, and Washington Post Notable Book of the Year. He has published four New York Times Editors' Choice titles. His author Dan Josefson won the Whiting Award after Soho's publication of his first novel, That's Not a Feeling, and Alex Shakar's Luminarium was awarded the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Fiction.
Julia Elliott is an Assistant Editor at William Morrow, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers. She edits a wide range of nonfiction and fiction projects and is most interested in upmarket and literary speculative fiction and fantasy; psychological suspense; smart, character-driven thrillers; and narrative nonfiction/memoir with cultural and/or scientific underpinnings. She is the editor of the Agatha Christie brand. Before joining HarperCollins, Julia worked at Penguin Random House for three years, with a focus on celebrity, humor, and politics.
Claire Evans is an editorial assistant at Dial Books for Young Readers, where she works with Kathy Dawson and Jess Garrison on a list of authors who write for YA (like Franny Billingsley and Kristin Cashore), middle grade (authors such as Gennifer Choldenko and Jacqueline West), and who write and illustrate picture books (Joe Berger and Kevin Sherry). She is on the look out for middle grade and young adult fiction, especially action or sports stories with strong characters. She also likes character-driven tales in the edgy fantasy and magical realism genres—anything that puts a new and surprising twist on things.
Shauna Fay is Assistant Editor, G. P. Putnam’s Sons, A Division of Penguin Young Readers Group. Shauna works on everything from picture books to young adult novels. She edited the 2010 Children’s Choice Book Award winner, Little Pink Pup by Johanna Kerby, and the 2010 IRA Children’s Book Award winner, Wanted: The Perfect Pet by Fiona Roberton, as well as the upcoming debut novel, The Vindico by Wesley King. While open to books for all ages, she is particularly interested in middle grade fiction with a strong voice (magical realism always welcome!), historical fiction with a commercial hook, and young, funny/quirky picture books.
Erika Goldman, Publisher and Editorial Director of Bellevue Literary Press, has been an editor of fiction and nonfiction for over two decades at several major publishing houses in New York City, including St. Martin’s Press, Charles Scribner’s Sons, Simon & Schuster, and W. H. Freeman. A recipient of fellowships from Rendez-vous à Montreal-Québec Edition, the IV Programme in conjunction with IFOA Toronto, the Frankfurt Book Fair/German Book Office, and the Jerusalem International Book Fair, she has lectured and taught at the Yale Writers’ Conference, the Wesleyan Writers Conference, the New Hampshire Institute of Art, and New York University’s Center for Publishing. She is an instructor at the New York University School of Medicine, Division of Medical Humanities.
Sarah Grill has been working in publishing since 2016, interning at Harvey Klinger, Janklow & Nesbit, and Writers House before joining the editorial staff at St. Martin's Press in 2018. In a past life, she lived in Los Angeles and worked in development at Alloy Entertainment, packaging, adapting, and pitching books for films and TV shows. Sarah is looking to acquire upmarket women's fiction, psychological thrillers and elevated mysteries, narrative nonfiction, and true crime with a literary edge. Some recent and upcoming titles she's worked on include Shamed by New York Times bestselling author Linda Castillo, Anything for You by Saul Black, The Escape Room by Megan Goldin, Where There's Hope by New York Times bestselling author Elizabeth Smart, and Secrets of a Marine's Wife by New York Times bestselling author Shanna Hogan.
Pam Gruber has worked on everything from novelty and picture books to novels. She is currently an Editor acquiring for both Little, Brown Books for Young Readers and its Poppy imprint, focusing primarily on young adult novels aimed at girls ages 12 and up, as well as select middle grade projects. She is the editor of contemporary YA novels such as What Happens Next by Colleen Clayton and Now Is the Time For Running by Michael Williams, and the sci-fi YA novel Illusive by Emily Lloyd-Jones, all of which received starred reviews. She is also excited to be the editor on such diverse projects as Alecia Whitaker’s country music-themed series Wildflower, debut author Virginia Boecker’s forthcoming fantasy novel The Witch Hunter, and blogger Shauna Miller’s budget style book Penny Chic. Pam loves alternate histories, off-beat teen romances, witty voices, and losing herself in fully realized worlds—realistic or fantastic. Pam is a graduate of NYU’s Gallatin School, where she studied the relationship between art and imagery and folklore—a combination tailor-made for children’s publishing and one that has inspired an affinity for comic books.
Michael Homler is an Editor at St. Martin’s Press. He acquires in a wide range of areas which include general and literary fiction, mystery/thrillers, graphic novels, narrative nonfiction and biography. He has worked on such books as the NBCC winning biography James Tiptree Jr. by Julie Phillips, The Fault Tree by Louise Ure, Lee Child’s anthology Killer Year, the Edgar-nominated Pyres by Derek Nikitas, and Don Mattingly’s Hitting Is Simple by Don Mattingly and Jim Rosenthal.
Grace House is a graduate of Tufts University and joined Penguin Random House in 2014. She started her career in the contracts department before switching over to the editorial side, and is currently an Assistant Editor with Berkley. Grace enjoys reading and working on romance, women’s fiction, cozy mysteries, thrillers, suspense, and true crime. Her authors include Lorna Barrett and Tom Wood.
Bronwen Hruska is the Publisher and Editor-In-Chief of Soho Press, an independent publisher of literary fiction. Founded twenty-four years ago, Soho has launched the careers of authors including Edwidge Danticat, Garth Stein, Stephen Fry, Dan Fesperman, Jacqueline Winspear, Cara Black and Robert Hellenga. Soho publishes between 60 and 80 titles a year under three imprints—Soho, Soho Crime and Soho Constable—and specializes in literary fiction and memoir, and mystery series set overseas.
Katherine Jacobs is a senior editor at Roaring Book Press, an imprint of Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group. She is looking for smart, character-driven books, from picture books to young adult, fiction and nonfiction, with an emphasis on middle grade and teen novels. Some of her recent titles are: The picture books I See Kitty by Yasmine Surovec and When the Beat Was Born by Laban Carrick Hill, illustrated by Theodore Taylor III, middle grade novel The Graham Cracker Plot by Shelley Tougas, and teen novels The Truth About Alice and Devoted both by Jennifer Mathieu, and SEKRET by Lindsay Smith.
Allison Janice is an Assistant Editor at the Berkley Books Group of Penguin Random House and a graduate of Emerson College, where she spent a few years trying to figure out how to turn her love of reading into a career. Memoir/narrative nonfiction as well as women’s fiction are her main focuses when acquiring, and she is especially interested in projects on the topics of food, body-image, pop-culture, or the environment. She is a New England transplant currently residing in Brooklyn.
Lyssa Keusch is an Executive Editor at HarperCollins Publishers, where she primarily acquires a range of commercial fiction, including thrillers and suspense, as well as women’s fiction. Among her authors in the thriller/suspense genre are New York Times bestsellers James Rollins (The Doomsday Key), JA Jance (Queen of the Night) and International Thriller Writers award winner Jamie Freveletti (Running From the Devil). In the romance genre, Lyssa works with #1 New York Times bestseller Julia Quinn (Ten Things I Love About Your) and New York Times bestsellers Elizabeth Boyle (Mad About the Duke and Samantha James (The Secret Passion of Simon Blackwell). Among her commercial women’s fiction authors are Jean Reynolds Page (The Space Between Before and After) and Jessica Jiji (Sweet Dates in Basra). Lyssa also acquires selected non-fiction, with interest in memoir and narrative nonfiction with a commercial slant. Her most recent titles are Self-Compassion: Stop Beating Yourself Up and Leave Insecurity Behind by Kristin Neff, PhD and Real Food for Healthy Kids by Tanya Wenman Steele and Tracey Seaman. Other titles include Not Fade Away: A Short Life Well Lived by Laurence Shames and Peter Barton and Love & Madness: The Murder of Martha Ray, Mistress of the Fourth Earl of Sandwich. Lyssa is also currently in the process of developing a popular science book with biologist Daniel Riskin, PhD for acquisition.
Adam Korn is an executive editor in the William Morrow Books division of HarperCollins Publishers. He has been on both sides of the industry as an editor and agent, and has specialized in non-fiction in both capacities. Titles on which he’s worked include actor/director/writer Billy Bob Thornton’s The Billy Bob Tapes, former pitcher and current MLB commentator John Smoltz’s Starting and Closing, and fighter Urijah Faber’s The Laws of the Ring, former football star Jerry Rice’s Go Long!, fighter Forrest Griffin’s Got Fight?, TOMS Shoes CEO Blake Mycoskie’s Start Something That Matters, Wine to Water Founder and President Doc Hendley’s Wine to Water, rock guitarist Zakk Wylde’s Bringing Metal to the Children, ESPN radio host Mike Greenberg’s Why My Wife Thinks I’m an Idiot, John Weisman’s KBL: Kill Bin Laden (a novel based on true events), Trey Hamburger’s brilliant send-up to the paranormal investigation Ghost/Aliens, and Craig Heimbuch’s autobiographical tribute to manhood, fatherhood, and the great American hunt And Now We Shall Do Manly Things.
Jessica MacLeish is currently an assistant editor at HarperCollins Children’s books, where she works on a list that includes the Big Nate series by Lincoln Peirce and novels and picture books by Walter Dean Myers, as well as many other picture books, middle grade, and teen novels. She works very closely with Seymour Simon on his non-fiction photographic essay picture books, and other recent projects include The Bully Book, The School for Good and Evil, and Zits:Chillax. Jess is particularly interested in contemporary/realistic middle grade and teen projects.
Krista Marinois an Executive Editor at Delacorte Press (Random House Children’s Books) where she acquires and edits Young Adult and Middle Grade fiction. Authors she works with include Frank Portman, Michael Scott, Carrie Ryan, James Dashner, Matt de la Peña, and Jennifer Donnelly.
Samantha Martin acquires fiction, memoir, narrative nonfiction, and select parenting titles for Scribner. The fiction she has published includesModel Home by Eric Puchner, Alex Award winner and bestseller The God of Animals and Boys and Girls Like You and Me: Stories by Aryn Kyle,Lost by Alice Lichtenstein, and The Cure for Grief by Nellie Hermann. Current and upcoming nonfiction includes Henry’s Demons by NBCC finalist Patrick Cockburn and Henry Cockburn, Amen, Amen, Amen by Abby Sher, The Last of the Tribe by Monte Reel, The Journal of Best Practices by David Finch, Animal Investigators by Laurel Neme, Hippocrates’ Shadow by Dr. David Newman, The Blessing of a B Minus by New York Times bestselling author Wendy Mogel, Ph.D., Lost at School by Ross W. Greene, Ph.D., and Eat, Sleep, Poop by Dr. Scott W. Cohen.
Matt Martz is editor-in-chief of Criminal Lane Books. Authors he’s worked with include thought leaders in business like Carmine Gallo, author of Talk Like Ted: The 9 Public Speaking Secrets of the World’s Top Minds and investigative journalists like Frank Sennett, author of Groupon’s Biggest Deal Ever. The acclaimed historians and scientists at the cutting edge of their fields whom he’s published include such award-winning scholars as Thom Hatch, author of Glorious War: The Civil War Adventures of George Armstrong Custer. Matt publishes crime fiction ranging from explosive, high concept thrillers to more traditional mysteries. Authors include Karen Salvalaggio, Los Angeles Times Book Prize finalist Kelli Stanley, and Barry Award nominee Tim O’Mara.
Julie Mianecki works with women’s fiction, romance, and mystery at the Berkley imprint of Penguin Random House. Among her authors are Leah Ferguson, Fiona Sussman, Sarina Bowen, and RITA finalist Alyssa Alexander. You can find her on Twitter @juliemianecki.
Leah Miller is an editor at Harmony Books, a division of Penguin Random House. She acquires non-fiction in the wellness space, ranging from health, fitness, relationships, spirituality, and inspirational memoir. A graduate of the Johns Hopkins University Writing Seminars program, Miller worked previously as an editor at Free Press and at Sterling Lord Literistic in both domestic agenting and foreign rights. Forthcoming projects include: Michelle Phan’s MAKE UP:Your Life Guide to Beauty, Style, and Success—Online and Off and THE 13TH GIFT: A True Story of a Christmas Miracle by Joanne Huist Smith.
Vanessa Mobley joined Little, Brown as an executive editor in December 2014 after five years as an executive editor at The Crown Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House. Previously I worked as an editor at The Penguin Press, Henry Holt and Basic Books. I have edited and published three winners of the Pulitzer Prize, each of them debut authors: Samantha Power ("A Problem from Hell"), Caroline Elkins (Imperial Reckoning) and Liaquat Ahamed (Lords of Finance). I am proud to have also edited a number of other bestselling and prize winning authors including Matt Bai, Deborah Baker, Moustafa Bayoumi, Matthew B. Crawford, Yochi Dreazen, Sheri Fink, Timothy F. Geithner, Michelle Goldberg, Chris Hayes, Peniel Joseph, Brendan I. Koerner, Rebecca Mead, Jenny Nordberg, John Pomfret and Clay Shirky.
David Moldawer is an associate editor at St. Martin’s Press, where he acquires and edits nonfiction books. His titles include Rule the Web by Mark Frauenfelder, The Mad Fisherman by Charlie Moore with Charles Salzberg, The Indie Band Survival Guide by Jason Feehan and Randy Chertkow of the band Beatnik Turtle, and Lawyer Boy, a memoir of law school by Rick Lax. David lives in New York City.
Allison Moore is an associate editor at Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, who works on everything from illustrated titles to middle grade and young adult novels. Her recent and upcoming projects include City Shapes by Diana Murray and Bryan Collier, The Sweetest Sound by Sherri Winston, Dreamland Burning by Jennifer Latham, Be Who You Are by Todd Parr, and several books in the Dragonsitter, Space Taxi, Sweet Pea & Friends, Birdie, and Nuts series. Allison is interested in clever picture books with dynamic illustration styles and all-ages appeal; high-concept chapter books; and MG and YA novels that encourage readers to consider unexpected perspectives. You can find her on Twitter @allisonm610.
Aubrey Poole got her start as an editor correcting her friends’ grammar in high school, an effort which naturally guaranteed instant popularity. She is now an associate editor at Sourcebooks, acquiring children’s books from picture books through young adult. Her first YA novel, Send by Patty Blount, was a Junior Library Guild pick. Her middle grade novel This Journal Belongs to Ratchet by Nancy Cavanaugh received a Starred review from Kirkus and is a Florida State Bookaward winner. Aubrey hopes to continue shamelessly courting librarians with her forthcoming middle grade series The Ninja Librarians, which also received a Starred review from Kirkus. Some of Aubrey’s authors include NYT and USA Today bestseller Suzanne Brockmann, USA Today bestseller Juliana Stone, award-winner Mari Mancusi, award-winner Jen Calonita, Janet Gurtler, Natalie D. Richards, Anna Staniszewski and illustrator Tracy Dockray.
Elizabeth Poteet, born in Nashville, Tennessee, attended Colby College where she majored in English and Religious Studies. While studying at St. Andrews, she realized that though she enjoyed Shakespeare and the Dead Sea Scrolls, she preferred reading stories that were a hair more modern. Lizzie is now an Assistant Editor at St. Martin's Press and is always looking for a good love story. She loves sassy heroines, witty banter, and good old fashion romance. She’s actively seeking New Adult, YA, historical and contemporary romances, and loves anything with a happy ending. A few of her recent acquisitions include an edgy, emotional romantic suspense, The Sttrongest Steeel by Scarlett Cole, a funny, DIY-filled romance novel Start Me Up by Nicole Michaels and the heartwarming Jewell Cove series by Donna Alward.
Kate Prosswimmer is an assistant editor at Sourcebooks’ children’s and teen imprints, Sourcebooks Jabberwocky and Sourcebooks Fire. She works on a wide range of titles from picture books through young adult novels, including the forthcoming Frayed (June 2016), a young adult psychological thriller by Wattpad author Kara Terzis.
Daniela Rapp is an editor at St. Martin’s Press, where she acquires a wild and eclectic mix of projects in various genres, including mysteries and thrillers, books on animals/pets/nature, travel, food, humor, language/writing, and history, as well as memoirs. She is also interested in being introduced to high-concept narratives in fiction and is actively looking for Native American writers and books. Recent and forthcoming projects include And Then Life Happens by Auma Obama, The Starboard Sea by Amber Dermont, Shucked by Erin Byers Murray, and Across Many Mountains by Yangzom Brauen.
Helen Richard is an Assistant Editor at G. P. Putnam’s Sons. She is looking to acquire literary and book club fiction, upmarket women’s fiction, psychological and domestic suspense, thrillers, memoirs, and select narrative nonfiction in history, culture, and popular science. She has a particular love for books about the American West, the wilderness, or small-town America. She also loves literary page-turners with a rich sense of place, voicey characters, and writers that open up closed-off communities in a universal way. She’s edited PEN Center USA Literary Award winner Siobhan Fallon, genderqueer writer and activist Jacob Tobia, and novelists including Camille Perri, Robert Hillman, Lindsay Starck, and Anne-Marie Casey, among others. Before joining Putnam, she worked at Viking/Penguin and at Other Press. She got her start in the industry as a bookseller in Colorado at The Boulder Book Store and The Tattered Cover Book Store.
Ruta Rimas edits and acquires picture books, middle-grade novels, and teen novels for both the Atheneum and Margaret K. McElderry imprints at Simon & Schuster. Ruta has had the honor and privilege of working with some of the most talented authors and illustrators in the industry including Kimberly Derting, Claire Caterer, Elissa Brent Weissman, Melissa Wiley, Lucy Cooke, M.M. Vaughan, Janet Ruth Young, and many others. Ruta loves characters that come to life on the pages, stories that resonate long after the last page is read, and fiction that challenges our preconceived notions of the world.
Brant Rumble is a Senior Editor at Scribner. His list includes Esquire columnist Chuck Klosterman, ESPN.com’s Rob Neyer, and nationally syndicated ¡Ask a Mexican! columnist Gustavo Arellano. Brant’s recent titles include Benjamin Nugent’s American Nerd: The Story of My People and Daniel Radosh’s Rapture Ready!: Adventures in the Parallel Universe of Christian Pop Culture. Brant acquires and edits a variety of narrative nonfiction, memoir, and literary fiction; usual subjects include pop culture, subcultures, music, and sports. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife and son.
Denise Scarfi is an Assistant Editor at W. W. Norton & Company, where she has worked for over four years. She began at Norton as the assistant to Executive Editor Alane Salierno Mason and poetry and literary fiction editor Carol Houck Smith shortly after graduating from NYU with a degree in Comparative Literature and a focus in Latin American literature. Her first acquisition for Norton, Gun Dealers’ Daughter by Gina Apostol (July 2012), is a Borgesian literary puzzle set in the Marcos-era Philippines.
Denise Silvestro, a graduate of New York University, has been in the publishing industry for seventeen years and is currently Executive Editor at the Berkley Publishing Group. Although she acquires both fiction and nonfiction, 90% of her list is nonfiction. She works within all genres, including narrative nonfiction, memoir, self-help/motivational, personal finance, health/well-being, and spirituality. She has worked with bestselling authors such as Don Piper, psychic-medium John Edward, minister T. D. Jakes, and financial expert Julie Stav.
As an Assistant Editor at Balzer + Bray, an imprint of HarperCollins Children’s Books, Viana Siniscalchi supports the Co-Publisher and a Senior Editor, and edits everything from picture books to young adult fiction. She works with many acclaimed, award-winning, and bestselling authors and illustrators, including Colin Meloy and Carson Ellis, Kadir Nelson, Adam Rex, and Maryrose Wood. Before joining Harper, Viana attended the Columbia Publishing Course and interned at W.W. Norton & Company. She is interested in acquiring picture books, and middle-grade and YA fiction in the following genres: contemporary realism, sci-fi/fantasy, romance, and re-imaginings.
Yaniv Soha has been working in book publishing for nine years, at both literary agencies and book publishers. He is an associate editor at St. Martin’s Press, where he publishes in the areas of narrative nonfiction, pop culture, humor, and popular psychology. He has published books by Pulitzer-winning reporters, film producers, rock journalists, professors, and stand-up comedians. He is also the fiction and prose editor of 2 Bridges Review, the literary/arts journal of CUNY City Tech.
Nicole Sohl joined Thomas Dunne Books, an imprint of St. Martin’s Press, in March 2011 after interning at industry landmarks such as Workman Publishing, Regal Literary, Folio Literary Management, and assisting at the agency powerhouse WME. At Thomas Dunne, she has assisted on the young adult series by Julie Cross that follows a 19-year-old time traveler, as well as the Conquered Earth young adult series by J. Barton Mitchell and the Grimm City young adult series by Gareth Jefferson Jones and genre-icon, K. W. Jeter. She is eager to acquire fiction for both middle school and young adult audiences, especially contemporary fiction with crossover appeal in the mystery and horror genres.
Hilary Rubin Teeman joined St. Martin’s Press as an Associate Editor in May 2006. Prior to that, she spent three years at Trident Media Group, where she represented her own list of authors and handled audio rights for the company. At St. Martin’s Press, Hilary is looking to acquire commercial and literary women’s fiction, historical fiction and romantic suspense, as well as memoirs, pop-culture, sociology, and prescriptive non-fiction titles.
Alison S. Weiss is an editor at Sky Pony Press, working on picture books through YA. She's especially eager to find middle grade with a cozy feel, and voice-driven, sweeping, romantic YA. She's worked with New York Times best-selling author Jessica Verday (Of Monsters and Madness), Agatha Award winner Peny WArner (The Code Busters Club series), YALSA-award winning Sarah Cross (Kill Me Softly and Tear You Apart), ITW Award Finalist Kristen Lippert-Martin (Tabula Rasa), Mike A. Lancaster, Kristina McBride, Jessica Taylor, Amalie Howard, and Sarah McGuiare, among others. She also assisted on Christopher Myer's H.O.R.S.E., which won a 2013 Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor Award and the 2014 Odyssey Award. Follow her on Twitter @alioop7.
Julie Will is a Senior Editor at Rodale. She acquires and edits in the categories of health & wellness, science, psychology, self-help, mind/body, relationship, and memoir. Her authors include former FDA Commissioner Dr. David Kessler, Discovery Channel host and conservationist Jeff Corwin, journalist Julia Savacool, and Men’s Health sex columnist Debby Herbenick. She also oversees the best-selling Intellectual Devotional and Biggest Loser franchises.
Clarissa Wong is an editor at the Feminist Press, where she acquires and edits fiction, memoir, and narrative non-fiction. Prior to the Feminist Press, she worked on children’s books and graphic novels. She is drawn to stories with a strong, unique voice (especially from a multicultural point of view) that hooks the readers in on the first page.
Agents
Agents at conferences past.
Amelia Atlas: I represent both fiction and nonfiction, with a particular interest in literary fiction and narrative nonfiction in the areas of history, current affairs, biography, science, and cultural criticism (I love “idea” books that can still tell a great story). I started at ICM in 2006, working as assistant to Amanda Urban, and returned to build my own list in 2012, after a detour to Berlin, where I worked as a freelance book critic and then to Boston, as a senior publicist at Harvard University Press.
Stephen Barr: I spent the first 21 years of my life in Southern California, and the only thing I really knew about publishing before I moved to New York City was Robert Downey Jr’s portrayal of Terry Crabtree in Wonder Boys—he’s an editor, and he flies into Pittsburgh (wearing a big, comfy looking east coast coat) to coax a second novel out of his troubled but probably brilliant author, and then come the hijinks. That sounded pretty swell to me, so I read Wonder Boys on the flight over to New York, and over the course of six or seven months of interviews and internships, I realized that I still wanted the coat and the authors, but would be more comfortable playing the role (so to speak) of their agent (though editing is perhaps my favorite thing in the whole wide world, and I work very closely with my clients to polish and perfect their manuscripts before and after submission). I landed at Writers Housein 2008, became its biggest fan about four seconds later, started taking on my own clients in 2010 (I represent a pretty broad spectrum of adult and children’s titles, including picture books, middle grade, young adult, memoir, literary fiction, graphic novels, and some bizarre, unclassifiable stuff) and just got my coat back from the dry cleaner.
Matt Belford: Matt joined The Tobias Agency in 2020 after previously working at the David Black Agency and the Aaron M. Priest Agency. Once he received his Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from Emerson College, he decided to apply his talents in representing authors, as opposed to writing himself. A lover of all things science fiction and fantasy, Matt accepts his nerd status readily. Some of his favorite reads include: The Summoner by Gail Z Martin; Kings of the Wyld by Nicholas Eames; Trail of Lightning by Rebecca Roanhorse; and Red Rising by Pierce Brown. Matt is interested in receiving submissions for both graphic memoirs and graphic novels, as well as adult science fiction and fantasy, and some popular nonfiction. He is not interested in YA.
Amy Elizabeth Bishop joined Dystel, Goderich & Bourret in 2015 after interning for them in 2014. In addition to her own client list at DG&B, Amy assists the president, Jane Dystel, and oversees the office and the interns. She reads widely, but her main interests at this time include upmarket women’s fiction, voice-driven historical fiction, and stories with a Victorian Gothic flair; in terms of nonfiction, she’s eagerly on the hunt for narrative nonfiction that addresses issues of politics, social justice, feminism or targets a millennial audience. In all genres, she’s eager to find work from minority voices and you can find her on Twitter @amylizbishop.
William Callahan: an agent at Inkwell Management, attended Fordham University and the University of Iowa. He has edited and published a zine of short fiction, edited crosswords, and is the writer for, and co-founder of, the New York-based Three Sciences Productions, a theatre group whose plays have been performed at the Ontological-Hysteric Theatre, the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre, and The Tank, among others. He is interested in a similarly wide range of fiction and non-fiction. He is also very interested in innovative presentations and formats for books. He would like to represent a cookbook of recipes you can execute in your bedroom.
Sonali Chanchani is an associate agent at Folio Literary Management, where she represents character-driven literary fiction, upmarket women’s fiction, and narrative nonfiction with an eye towards social justice. She earned her degree in English and Narrative Studies from the University of Southern California and began her career in publishing at Kaya, an independent press dedicated to publishing authors from the Asian diaspora. A fierce advocate of authors from marginalized communities, she’s keen to represent a diversity of voices.
John Cusick is an agent with Greenhouse Literary, representing picture books, middle-grade, and young adult novels. He is the author of Girl Parts and Cherry Money Baby (Candlewick Press), as well as managing fiction editor at Armchair/Shotgun, a literary magazine. He is a regular speaker at writers’ conferences, and keeps a blog at www.JohnMCusick.com. You can also find him on twitter: @johnmcusick. He lives in Brooklyn.
B.G. Dilworth: With over 20 years of experience as a New York-based literary agent, B.G. Dilworth represents a broad range of mid-list and bestselling authors in the fields of history, memoir and biography, health and fitness, true crime, business, economics, pop culture, and cooking. B.G. works closely with his clients in the creation and sale of their projects, offering advice on book conception and organization; editorial assessment; image and brand management; co-writer selection; marketing asset development; rights licensing; and contract negotiations. Before founding his own agency, B.G. Dilworth was a senior literary agent with a 15-year tenure at Authors and Artists Group, one of New York City’s premier boutique literary agencies.
Priya Doraswamy: Read Priya’s bio.
Hannah Fergesen: Before settling in New York City, Hannah worked and went to school in Denver, where she obtained her degree in Writing for Film and Television. Opportunities in New York presented themselves before she could run off to LA, and she course corrected her career toward publishing, a dream of hers since childhood. After stints as a remote intern for a well-known agent, a bookseller at the famous Books of Wonder, an intern at Soho Press, a literary assistant at Trident Media Group, and a freelance editor working with well-known authors, Hannah joined KT Literary in 2016. Hannah is a proud geek and TV junkie, with an all-consuming love for Doctor Who, Harry Potter, and anything created by Joss Whedon. With her background in film and television, she is attracted to stories with strong visuals and sharp dialogue, whether presented in edgy speculative or contemporary YA and MG fiction, or dark and lyrical speculative adult fiction.
Thomas Flannery Jr is an agent with Vigliano Associates, the pre-eminent boutique literary agency. Established in 1986, Vigliano Associates has represented 16 #1 New York Times bestsellers and almost 100 books that have made the lists. Thomas is also the head of Vigliano Books, an independent book publishing platform that was established in 2013. He has a BA in English Literature from Fairleigh Dickinson University and was an actor in a past life. Facebook: Vigliano Associates Twitter: @ViglianoAssoc
Scott Gould is a literary agent at RLR Associates Ltd. in Manhattan, a boutique agency founded nearly 30 years ago, where he oversees all book development within the firm. Scott began his career in the editorial department of Playboy Magazine and later in publicity at Tor/Forge. At RLR, he represents both commercial and literary fiction, as well as general audience nonfiction. Scott is a graduate of New York University, where he received a BA in English and American Literature.
Doug Grad was an editor for 22 years at imprints of Simon & Schuster, Random House, Penguin, and HarperCollins. He acquired and edited numerous bestsellers in fiction and nonfiction, including the first two New York Times bestselling novels of historical fiction by Jeff Shaara. Over the years he’s worked with generals and admirals, war heroes, historians, politicians, astronauts, sports stars, coaches, comedians, mobsters, cops, journalists, musicians, truckers, cowboys and Native Americans among others. He opened his own literary agency in 2008 and has sold fiction and nonfiction to Simon & Schuster, Ballantine/Bantam/Dell, HarperCollins, Three Rivers Press, Ten Speed Press, St. Martin’s Press, New American Library, Threshold, Thomas Dunne Books, Kensington, Wiley, Lyons Press, Running Press, Triumph Books, Naval Institute Press, Osprey Books, Sourcebooks, Midnight Ink and Crooked Lane Books. His biggest sale is for the EarthEnd Saga trilogy by Gillian Anderson (of “The X-Files”) and Jeff Rovin to Simon 451, the new science fiction imprint at Simon & Schuster. In 2011, Doug started Antenna Books, an ebook company dedicated to his authors’ backlist titles, including the novels and short stories of Pulitzer Prize winner Michael Shaara. Doug is married to a librarian, lives in Brooklyn, NY with his wife and two children and their pug dog, Winston.
Sylvie Greenberg is a literary agent at Fletcher and Company, a full-service literary agency that works closely and creatively with clients from the editorial stage to strategizing ways to take advantage of multi-platform possibilities including film/tv development. She especially enjoys working with emerging writers and developing long-term relationships, and is looking for strong writing and powerful stories in literary fiction and a wide range of non-fiction topics, including business, sports, humor, science, memoir and history. Sylvie is from California and is a graduate of Stanford University.
Lisa Grubka spent a decade first at the William Morris Agency and then Foundry Literary + Media, before joining Fletcher and Co. in 2012. Lisa works with a broad variety of authors, from debut novelists to Food Network stars, and has represented several New York Times bestsellers. She represents and is looking for both fiction (literary, upmarket women’s, and young adult) and non-fiction (narrative, food, science, and more). She takes a very hands-on approach in working with her authors, and is a thorough editor, ensuring the best possible proposal or manuscript. She works closely with her authors every step of the way, and takes pleasure in matchmaking her authors with the right publishing home. She began her career at Farrar, Straus and Giroux and is a graduate of the University of Michigan.
Jenny Herrera joined the David Black Agency in 2015 after working at Fletcher & Company and Europa Editions. She went to college in Ohio, where she studied French, Philosophy, and Russian, and she has master’s degrees in Philosophy and Social Sciences. She represents authors ranging from serious non-fiction to humor to diet and fitness. She has a special passion for non-fiction that is driven by big ideas, told in a literary way. The David Black Agency represents Erik Larson, Jeff Hobbs, Jennifer Gonnerman, Bill Phillips, and others. www.davidblackagency.com
Annie Hwang is an agent at Folio Literary Management where she represents a range of fiction for adults and select nonfiction projects. She gravitates toward literary fiction with commercial appeal, and is particularly drawn to braided narratives and layered plots, especially when populated by complex characters with deep emotional resonance. Commercially, she’s looking for both sweeping historical fiction and visceral literary thrillers that depart from the norm of the genre. The most important thing to her, beyond concept or pitch, is breathtaking storytelling that stretches its genre to new heights. A California native, Annie worked in journalism before joining the publishing world, where she digs for stories that keep her reading late into the night and stay with her long after she puts them down.
Hillary Jacobson is a literary agent at ICM Partners in New York City. She is actively building a list consisting of commercial and literary fiction, YA, as well as narrative non-fiction and memoir. She joined ICM in 2015, started representing books in 2016, and was officially promoted to agent in 2017. Prior to ICM, she interned at Random House, Janklow & Nesbit and Alloy Entertainment. She is a graduate of Brown University
Molly Jaffa has been working closely with Folio authors’ projects since 2008, and is an Associate Member of the Association of Authors’ Representatives (AAR). In addition to building her selective but growing list of fiction and nonfiction clients, Molly is Folio’s Co-Director of International Rights. Her children’s fiction clients include #1 New York Times bestselling author Julie Murphy (SIDE EFFECTS MAY VARY and DUMPLIN’), Jeramey Kraatz (THE CLOAK SOCIETY), Kristen Lippert-Martin (TABULA RASA), and Barrie Summy (The “I So Don’t Do…” mystery series). You can follow her on Twitter @molly_jaffa.
Heather Karpas has been at ICM Partners since 2012 building a list consisting of literary and commercial fiction, narrative nonfiction, memoir, lifestyle/health, and pop culture. She holds a degree in Psychology from Middlebury College in Vermont.
Kristyn Keene has been at ICM Partners since 2006, building a list consisting of literary and commercial fiction, narrative nonfiction, memoir, young adult, and pop culture. She is a graduate of the Columbia Publishing Course and holds a degree in English and writing from the University of California at Santa Barbara.
Patrick Kennedy, a partner at the Second Sight Literary Agency, specializes in nonfiction and memoir projects. He was trained at Johns Hopkins (Phi Beta Kappa BA 2008, Writing Seminars MFA 2010) and McGill University (English Research MA 2011), and began his career as an education journalist and university professor. Patrick’s Second Sight clients include experts in fitness, the performing arts, pet care, and international politics, as well as select authors in suspense, romance, and literary fiction. He is presently interested in signing memoir and autobiographical projects (all age levels) and instructional books (particularly cooking, career advice, and self-help).
Dan Kirschen began his career at ICM Partners in 2010 and has been there since, focusing on literary fiction, narrative nonfiction, current events, and pop culture (music and comedy in particular). He's a graduate of William & Mary, with a degree summa cum laude in Philosophy, and in his nocturnal life he plays the drums in a band.
Jim McCarthy interned for Dystel, Goderich & Bourret while studying urban design at New York University. Upon graduating, Jim realized he would much rather continue working with books than make the jump (as he had originally intended) to the field of city planning. 18 years later, he remains at DG&B as a VP and agent. As an avid fiction reader, his interests encompass both literary and commercial works in the adult, young adult, and middle grade categories. He is particularly interested in literary fiction, underrepresented voices, fantasy, mysteries, romance, anything unusual or unexpected, and any book that makes him cry or laugh out loud. In addition to fiction he is also interested in narrative nonfiction whether it be memoir, historical, science, pop culture, or just a darn good polemic. His list includes New York Times bestsellers Richelle Mead, Morgan Rhodes, Michael Arceneaux, Victoria Laurie, Livia Blackburne, Juliet Blackwell, Suzanne Young, and Robin Talley among many other successful and established authors
Tia Mele is a Junior Agent at Talcott Notch Literary and is excited to build her list in Middle Grade and Young Adult Fiction. She lives in northern Connecticut with her pet rabbit and three dogs. Some of her earliest memories involve reading and writing books, so it was only natural that she pursue a career that allows her to read every day. When she isn't exploring new worlds through books, she's travelling, watching baseball, and spending time with her family. Tia is looking for middle grade and young adult fiction that makes her feel a wide array of emotions. She loves characters that are well rounded and diverse, and she loves a good romance, as long as it doesn't detract from the overall story. She has a soft spot for sports, especially baseball, in both fiction and non-fiction. In adult fiction, she's primarily looking for emotional women's fiction with realistic characters and strong stories. She's also looking for genre romance, and she loves new takes on old tropes.
Jessica Papin: Read Jessica’s bio.
Sharon Pelletier joined DG&B in 2013 after working for Europa Editions, Vantage Press, and Barnes & Noble. Born and raised in the suburbs of Detroit, Michigan, Sharon moved to New York in 2009 and now can't imagine ever living anywhere else. In addition to growing her own list, Sharon oversees digital projects and social media for the agency. While her interests are broad, Sharon is especially seeking upmarket fiction, including unexpected suspense fiction; smart, complex women’s fiction; and hearty, unforgettable book club fiction. On the nonfiction side Sharon is eager for compelling, fierce narrative nonfiction by journalists and experts, and emerging voices with a growing platform who can speak to pop culture, feminism, sports, social justice, and/or religion.
Kimberly Perel: Read Kimberly’s bio.
Rick Pascocello has spent 25 years marketing books, most recently with Penguin Random House, where he was Vice President, Executive Director of Marketing. While there, he was given the rare opportunity to work closely with a wonderfully diverse collection of writers, including some of fiction’s premier authors like Harlan Coben, Patricia Cornwell, Ken Follett, Charlaine Harris, Khaled Hosseini, Nora Roberts, Patrick Rothfuss and JR Ward; as well as non-fiction bestsellers such as Stephen Johnson, Jen Lancaster, James McBride, Dan Pink, and Joan Rivers. Rick oversaw the marketing campaigns for thousands of New York Times best-sellers, and spearheaded innovative marketing strategies in social media, retail partnerships, and cause-related marketing, such as ‘Read Pink’ to benefit the Breast Cancer Research Foundation and The Kite Runner campaign that built a school in Afghanistan. Since 2015, he has provided independent marketing support to authors, corporations and not-for-profit organizations. He currently serves on the board of DBW 2017 as marketing captain coordinating conference programming. He brings a vast and diverse range of experience and relationships to his role as a literary agent, and will continue to leverage his broad, insider knowledge of book publishing and media to advocate for his clients.
Janet Reid: Read Janet’s bio.
Michelle Richter joined Fuse Literary after eight years at St. Martin’s Press. While there, she edited nonfiction including MELISSA EXPLAINS IT ALL by Melissa Joan Hart and RENEWABLE by Jeremy Shere, and worked on women’s fiction, memoir/ biography, pop culture, cookbooks, and diet/health books. She has a M.S. in Publishing from Pace University, and a B.A. in Economics with a minor in Russian from UMass Boston. Michelle is primarily seeking fiction, especially book club reads, women’s fiction, literary fiction, and mystery/suspense/thrillers. Her favorite authors include Ann Patchett, Emma Straub, Laura Lippman, Richard Russo, Tom Perrotta, and Gillian Flynn. For nonfiction, she’s interested in fashion, pop culture, science/medicine, sociology/social trends, and economics.
Soumeya Bendimerad Roberts joined Writers House in 2015 and represents a diverse list of nonfiction, memoir, literary fiction, upmarket/book club fiction, and select realistic young-adult. Prior to joining Writers House, she was director of foreign rights at the Susan Golomb Literary Agency, handling translation rights for award-winning authors such as Jonathan Franzen, Rachel Kushner, William T. Vollmann, as well as representing her own clients. She brings ten years of experience to the position; she was a literary scout at Sanford Greenburg Associates and began her career in editorial, at an independent literary publishing house, where she launched a lifelong commitment to shepherding quality fiction and nonfiction to publication. She is from the San Francisco Bay Area and lives in Brooklyn, New York.
Rita Rosenkranz: Read Rita’s bio.
Elizabeth Winick Rubinstein, senior agent and president at McIntosh & Otis, has degrees from New York University and Manhattan School of Music. She began her book publishing career in subsidiary rights and then took on the responsibilities of acquisitions editor at a major audio publishing imprint. Initially, she joined McIntosh & Otis to manage all subsidiary rights but began working as an agent shortly thereafter. Her primary interests include literary fiction, women's fiction, historical fiction, and mystery/suspense, romance, along with narrative non-fiction, history and current affairs. Elizabeth represents numerous New York Times bestsellers, and both Agatha and Edgar Award winners and nominees.
Zoe Sandler has been at ICM for nearly five years, much of that time working for Esther Newberg, and has spent the last two years building her own list of author clients while serving as coordinator for ICM’s literary department. She is primarily interested in narrative nonfiction, working with journalists who report on subjects in the sciences, and on the environment, social justice, and travel. Zoe started her publishing career at a small academic press in North Carolina, and is originally from California, but loves calling New York home.
Katharine Sands (Sarah Jane Freymann Literary Agency) Katharine has worked with a varied list of authors who publish a diverse array of books including fiction, memoir and non-fiction. Among the books she represents are: The Apothecary’s Curse, by Bram Stoker Award nominee Barbara Barnett; Girl Walks Out of a Bar, a memoir by Lisa Smith that was featured by People Magazine as Notable Nonfiction; and teenage climate activist Jamie Margolin’s Youth to Power: Your Voice and How to Use it. Katharine likes books that have a clear benefit for readers’ lives in categories of food, travel, lifestyle, home arts, beauty, wisdom, relationships, parenting, and fresh looks, which might be at issues, life challenges or popular culture. When reading fiction she wants to be compelled and propelled by urgent storytelling, and hooked by characters. For memoir, femoir, and himoir, she likes to be transported to a world rarely or newly observed.
Alec Shane majored in English at Brown University, a degree he put to immediate use by moving to Los Angeles after graduation to become a professional stunt man. Realizing that he prefers books to breakaway glass, he moved to New York City in 2008 to pursue a career in publishing. Alec quickly found a home at Writers House Literary Agency, where he worked under Jodi Reamer and Amy Berkower on a large number of YA and Adult titles. Alec is now aggressively building his own list and is always looking for great mysteries and thrillers, as well as horror, historical fiction, and YA/middle grade books geared towards boys. On the nonfiction side, Alec would love to see humor, biography, history (particularly military history), true crime, “guy” reads, and all things sports. Genres I prefer: Mystery, Thriller, Horror, Literary Fiction, Historical Fiction, Noir, Biography, Military History, True Crime, Sports, Action/Adventure, Dark Fiction, HumorNot Looking For: Romance (paranormal or otherwise), women’s fiction, picture books, high fantasy, science fiction featuring aliens/intergalactic warfare, self-help, poetry, religious fiction
Wendy Sherman: Read Wendy’s bio.
Erica Spellman-Silverman: Read Erica’s bio.
Alex Slater: Read Alex's bio.
Diane Stockwell is the founder of Globo Libros Literary Management, a boutique agency focusing on a range of narrative non-fiction and select fiction. Particularly interested in books that impact public discourse and shed new light on important subjects, recent projects include National Immigration Forum Director Ali Noorani's book There Goes The Neighborhood: How Communities Overcome Prejudice and Meet the Challenge of American Immigration (Prometheus); Slaves for Peanuts: How the Peanut Prolonged Slavery in West Africa by Jori Lewis (The New Press); and Watching Them Die: The Mexican Army and the 43 Disappeared, a documentary by Temoris Grecko (Netflix). In addition to literary representation, Diane also performs book-length and short translations from Spanish into English.
Laura Usselman joined Stuart Krichevsky Literary Agency in 2016 after spending three years at Cambridge University Press. Her interests include literary and upmarket fiction, as well as inventive memoir, travel and food writing. Before moving to New York, Laura earned her MFA in Fiction at Virginia Tech, where she taught composition and creative writing. She began her publishing career with internships at the University of Georgia Press and Inkwell Management. A native of Atlanta, she studied English and film at the University of Georgia. She lives in Brooklyn.
NYWW Workshop Leaders of conferences past:
Laura Geringer Bass, editor, story advisor and writer, has collaborated with many celebrated authors and artists in the field of children’s books. She has worked with numerous publishing houses and entertainment studios including HarperCollins, Simon and Schuster, Scholastic, Houghton Mifflin, Hyperion/Disney, Dreamworks, Fox, and CBS. Laura Geringer Books, an award-winning imprint of HarperCollins, sold over fifty million books worldwide, including the If You Give a Mouse a Cookie franchise, and modern day classics by William Joyce, Brian Selznick and others. She is the author of twenty books for children including the bestselling A Three Hat Day, an ALA Notable Book illustrated by Arnold Lobel, a Top Ten featured selection on LeVar Burton’s Reading Rainbow. Her YA fantasy, Sign of the Qin, an ALA Best Book, was shortlisted for the Printz award. Myth Men, her popular series of graphic novels, was adapted by CBS as an animated TV show. Her love of story informs her service on the board of First Book, a non-profit organization that has delivered over one hundred million books into the hands of children in need. Her new novel, The Girl With More Than One Heart is due out from Abrams in Spring 2018. Visit Laura at: www.laurageringerbass.com
June Clark is a New York-based writer and the author of numerous books including, The Everything Baby Name, The Mix and Match Baby Name Book, and The Everything Mother Goose Book. She is also the co-author of Signature For Success and The Complete Book of Astrology.Prior to being a published author, June worked in cable TV marketing and promotion and is the recipient of a Cable ACE/Emmy Award, among other industry merits. During her career, June penned notable multimedia campaigns for cable services like Food Network, Bravo, CNBC, HBO, A&E, and AMC, as well as promotional materials for AOL, Hasbro, Kraft Foods, and Sony. She is now the founder of Get There Media, a promotion/marketing and creative services company that provides brand strategy and editorial guidance to authors, experts, and entrepreneurs. Over the years, June has worked with hundreds of writers as a Senior Associate at FinePrint Literary Management, specializing in nonfiction books. She has guided authors through the publishing process from creating marketable book proposals to closing and managing book deals. June holds a Master’s Degree from Emerson College in Writing and Publishing. Her play, Separation Anxiety, is a Rod Parker Playwriting Award winner and was produced at the Brimmer Street Theatre in Boston. A monologue from the play is featured in the book One on One: The Best Women's Monologues of the 21st Century. For more information, visit www.gettheremedia.com and www.juneclark.com.
Allison Estes grew up playing on Faulkner’s grave, which is about as steeped in literary heritage as you can get. She is an author, freelance editor and book doctor, and an adjunct professor in the Meek School of Journalism and New Media at the University of Mississippi. She has taught writing to all ages through the New York Writers Workshop in New York, the Yoknapatawpha Arts Council in Oxford, Mississippi, and various other venues for about a million years. Besides books, she loves dogs, horses and kids, so she has some of each. When she isn’t busy writing, editing, teaching and soccer-momming, if the grave of a famous author is not available, she plays softball as much as possible. Allison has written fifteen middle grade and young adult novels, including the Short Stirrup Club series (Simon and Schuster). Her last adult book was Paw & Order: Dramatic Investigations by an Animal Cop on the Beat (Bowtie Press). Her picture book, Izzy & Oscar (Sourcebooks/ Jabberwocky) was released in April 2015. Visit Allison’s website at www.allisonestes.com.
Laurence Klavan wrote the novels, The Cutting Room and The Shooting Script, published by Ballantine Books. His novel, Mrs. White, co-written under a pseudonym, won the Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America. His graphic novels, City of Spies and Brain Camp, co-written with Susan Kim, were published by First Second Books at Macmillan, and their Young Adult fiction series, Wasteland, is currently being published by Harper Collins. His short work has been published in such print and online journals as The Alaska Quarterly, The Literary Review, Conjunctions, Natural Bridge, Gargoyle, Failbetter, Pank, Stickman Review, Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, among many others, and a collection, ‘The Family Unit’ and Other Fantasies, has been published by Chizine Publications. He received two Drama Desk nominations for the book and lyrics to Bed and Sofa, the musical produced by the Vineyard Theater in New York and the Finborough Theatre in London. His one-act, The Summer Sublet, produced in the EST Marathon in New York, was published in Applause Books' Best American Short Plays 2000-2001. His web site is LaurenceKlavan.com.
Ross Klavan’s novella Thump Gun Hitched was published in 2016 in the compilation Triple Shot (along with Charles Salzberg and Tim O’Mara) by Down and Out Press. His darkly comic novel Schmuck was published by Greenpoint Press in 2014. His original screenplay for the film Tigerland starring Colin Farrell was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award. Klavan recently finished an adaption of John Bowers’ The Colony and has written scripts for Miramax, Intermedia, Walden Media, Paramount and TNT TV, among others. He moderated a conversation between Kurt Vonnegut and Lee Stringer which was later published as Like Shaking Hands with God; and his short stories have appeared in magazines and been produced by the BBC. An earlier novel, Trax, was published under a pseudonym. His play How I Met My (Black) Wife (Again), co-written with Ray Iannicelli, has been produced in New York City. He has worked as a newspaper and radio journalist in London and New York City, where he lives with his wife, the painter, Mary Jones.
Agents at conferences past.
Amelia Atlas: I represent both fiction and nonfiction, with a particular interest in literary fiction and narrative nonfiction in the areas of history, current affairs, biography, science, and cultural criticism (I love “idea” books that can still tell a great story). I started at ICM in 2006, working as assistant to Amanda Urban, and returned to build my own list in 2012, after a detour to Berlin, where I worked as a freelance book critic and then to Boston, as a senior publicist at Harvard University Press.
Stephen Barr: I spent the first 21 years of my life in Southern California, and the only thing I really knew about publishing before I moved to New York City was Robert Downey Jr’s portrayal of Terry Crabtree in Wonder Boys—he’s an editor, and he flies into Pittsburgh (wearing a big, comfy looking east coast coat) to coax a second novel out of his troubled but probably brilliant author, and then come the hijinks. That sounded pretty swell to me, so I read Wonder Boys on the flight over to New York, and over the course of six or seven months of interviews and internships, I realized that I still wanted the coat and the authors, but would be more comfortable playing the role (so to speak) of their agent (though editing is perhaps my favorite thing in the whole wide world, and I work very closely with my clients to polish and perfect their manuscripts before and after submission). I landed at Writers Housein 2008, became its biggest fan about four seconds later, started taking on my own clients in 2010 (I represent a pretty broad spectrum of adult and children’s titles, including picture books, middle grade, young adult, memoir, literary fiction, graphic novels, and some bizarre, unclassifiable stuff) and just got my coat back from the dry cleaner.
Matt Belford: Matt joined The Tobias Agency in 2020 after previously working at the David Black Agency and the Aaron M. Priest Agency. Once he received his Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from Emerson College, he decided to apply his talents in representing authors, as opposed to writing himself. A lover of all things science fiction and fantasy, Matt accepts his nerd status readily. Some of his favorite reads include: The Summoner by Gail Z Martin; Kings of the Wyld by Nicholas Eames; Trail of Lightning by Rebecca Roanhorse; and Red Rising by Pierce Brown. Matt is interested in receiving submissions for both graphic memoirs and graphic novels, as well as adult science fiction and fantasy, and some popular nonfiction. He is not interested in YA.
Amy Elizabeth Bishop joined Dystel, Goderich & Bourret in 2015 after interning for them in 2014. In addition to her own client list at DG&B, Amy assists the president, Jane Dystel, and oversees the office and the interns. She reads widely, but her main interests at this time include upmarket women’s fiction, voice-driven historical fiction, and stories with a Victorian Gothic flair; in terms of nonfiction, she’s eagerly on the hunt for narrative nonfiction that addresses issues of politics, social justice, feminism or targets a millennial audience. In all genres, she’s eager to find work from minority voices and you can find her on Twitter @amylizbishop.
William Callahan: an agent at Inkwell Management, attended Fordham University and the University of Iowa. He has edited and published a zine of short fiction, edited crosswords, and is the writer for, and co-founder of, the New York-based Three Sciences Productions, a theatre group whose plays have been performed at the Ontological-Hysteric Theatre, the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre, and The Tank, among others. He is interested in a similarly wide range of fiction and non-fiction. He is also very interested in innovative presentations and formats for books. He would like to represent a cookbook of recipes you can execute in your bedroom.
Sonali Chanchani is an associate agent at Folio Literary Management, where she represents character-driven literary fiction, upmarket women’s fiction, and narrative nonfiction with an eye towards social justice. She earned her degree in English and Narrative Studies from the University of Southern California and began her career in publishing at Kaya, an independent press dedicated to publishing authors from the Asian diaspora. A fierce advocate of authors from marginalized communities, she’s keen to represent a diversity of voices.
John Cusick is an agent with Greenhouse Literary, representing picture books, middle-grade, and young adult novels. He is the author of Girl Parts and Cherry Money Baby (Candlewick Press), as well as managing fiction editor at Armchair/Shotgun, a literary magazine. He is a regular speaker at writers’ conferences, and keeps a blog at www.JohnMCusick.com. You can also find him on twitter: @johnmcusick. He lives in Brooklyn.
B.G. Dilworth: With over 20 years of experience as a New York-based literary agent, B.G. Dilworth represents a broad range of mid-list and bestselling authors in the fields of history, memoir and biography, health and fitness, true crime, business, economics, pop culture, and cooking. B.G. works closely with his clients in the creation and sale of their projects, offering advice on book conception and organization; editorial assessment; image and brand management; co-writer selection; marketing asset development; rights licensing; and contract negotiations. Before founding his own agency, B.G. Dilworth was a senior literary agent with a 15-year tenure at Authors and Artists Group, one of New York City’s premier boutique literary agencies.
Priya Doraswamy: Read Priya’s bio.
Hannah Fergesen: Before settling in New York City, Hannah worked and went to school in Denver, where she obtained her degree in Writing for Film and Television. Opportunities in New York presented themselves before she could run off to LA, and she course corrected her career toward publishing, a dream of hers since childhood. After stints as a remote intern for a well-known agent, a bookseller at the famous Books of Wonder, an intern at Soho Press, a literary assistant at Trident Media Group, and a freelance editor working with well-known authors, Hannah joined KT Literary in 2016. Hannah is a proud geek and TV junkie, with an all-consuming love for Doctor Who, Harry Potter, and anything created by Joss Whedon. With her background in film and television, she is attracted to stories with strong visuals and sharp dialogue, whether presented in edgy speculative or contemporary YA and MG fiction, or dark and lyrical speculative adult fiction.
Thomas Flannery Jr is an agent with Vigliano Associates, the pre-eminent boutique literary agency. Established in 1986, Vigliano Associates has represented 16 #1 New York Times bestsellers and almost 100 books that have made the lists. Thomas is also the head of Vigliano Books, an independent book publishing platform that was established in 2013. He has a BA in English Literature from Fairleigh Dickinson University and was an actor in a past life. Facebook: Vigliano Associates Twitter: @ViglianoAssoc
Scott Gould is a literary agent at RLR Associates Ltd. in Manhattan, a boutique agency founded nearly 30 years ago, where he oversees all book development within the firm. Scott began his career in the editorial department of Playboy Magazine and later in publicity at Tor/Forge. At RLR, he represents both commercial and literary fiction, as well as general audience nonfiction. Scott is a graduate of New York University, where he received a BA in English and American Literature.
Doug Grad was an editor for 22 years at imprints of Simon & Schuster, Random House, Penguin, and HarperCollins. He acquired and edited numerous bestsellers in fiction and nonfiction, including the first two New York Times bestselling novels of historical fiction by Jeff Shaara. Over the years he’s worked with generals and admirals, war heroes, historians, politicians, astronauts, sports stars, coaches, comedians, mobsters, cops, journalists, musicians, truckers, cowboys and Native Americans among others. He opened his own literary agency in 2008 and has sold fiction and nonfiction to Simon & Schuster, Ballantine/Bantam/Dell, HarperCollins, Three Rivers Press, Ten Speed Press, St. Martin’s Press, New American Library, Threshold, Thomas Dunne Books, Kensington, Wiley, Lyons Press, Running Press, Triumph Books, Naval Institute Press, Osprey Books, Sourcebooks, Midnight Ink and Crooked Lane Books. His biggest sale is for the EarthEnd Saga trilogy by Gillian Anderson (of “The X-Files”) and Jeff Rovin to Simon 451, the new science fiction imprint at Simon & Schuster. In 2011, Doug started Antenna Books, an ebook company dedicated to his authors’ backlist titles, including the novels and short stories of Pulitzer Prize winner Michael Shaara. Doug is married to a librarian, lives in Brooklyn, NY with his wife and two children and their pug dog, Winston.
Sylvie Greenberg is a literary agent at Fletcher and Company, a full-service literary agency that works closely and creatively with clients from the editorial stage to strategizing ways to take advantage of multi-platform possibilities including film/tv development. She especially enjoys working with emerging writers and developing long-term relationships, and is looking for strong writing and powerful stories in literary fiction and a wide range of non-fiction topics, including business, sports, humor, science, memoir and history. Sylvie is from California and is a graduate of Stanford University.
Lisa Grubka spent a decade first at the William Morris Agency and then Foundry Literary + Media, before joining Fletcher and Co. in 2012. Lisa works with a broad variety of authors, from debut novelists to Food Network stars, and has represented several New York Times bestsellers. She represents and is looking for both fiction (literary, upmarket women’s, and young adult) and non-fiction (narrative, food, science, and more). She takes a very hands-on approach in working with her authors, and is a thorough editor, ensuring the best possible proposal or manuscript. She works closely with her authors every step of the way, and takes pleasure in matchmaking her authors with the right publishing home. She began her career at Farrar, Straus and Giroux and is a graduate of the University of Michigan.
Jenny Herrera joined the David Black Agency in 2015 after working at Fletcher & Company and Europa Editions. She went to college in Ohio, where she studied French, Philosophy, and Russian, and she has master’s degrees in Philosophy and Social Sciences. She represents authors ranging from serious non-fiction to humor to diet and fitness. She has a special passion for non-fiction that is driven by big ideas, told in a literary way. The David Black Agency represents Erik Larson, Jeff Hobbs, Jennifer Gonnerman, Bill Phillips, and others. www.davidblackagency.com
Annie Hwang is an agent at Folio Literary Management where she represents a range of fiction for adults and select nonfiction projects. She gravitates toward literary fiction with commercial appeal, and is particularly drawn to braided narratives and layered plots, especially when populated by complex characters with deep emotional resonance. Commercially, she’s looking for both sweeping historical fiction and visceral literary thrillers that depart from the norm of the genre. The most important thing to her, beyond concept or pitch, is breathtaking storytelling that stretches its genre to new heights. A California native, Annie worked in journalism before joining the publishing world, where she digs for stories that keep her reading late into the night and stay with her long after she puts them down.
Hillary Jacobson is a literary agent at ICM Partners in New York City. She is actively building a list consisting of commercial and literary fiction, YA, as well as narrative non-fiction and memoir. She joined ICM in 2015, started representing books in 2016, and was officially promoted to agent in 2017. Prior to ICM, she interned at Random House, Janklow & Nesbit and Alloy Entertainment. She is a graduate of Brown University
Molly Jaffa has been working closely with Folio authors’ projects since 2008, and is an Associate Member of the Association of Authors’ Representatives (AAR). In addition to building her selective but growing list of fiction and nonfiction clients, Molly is Folio’s Co-Director of International Rights. Her children’s fiction clients include #1 New York Times bestselling author Julie Murphy (SIDE EFFECTS MAY VARY and DUMPLIN’), Jeramey Kraatz (THE CLOAK SOCIETY), Kristen Lippert-Martin (TABULA RASA), and Barrie Summy (The “I So Don’t Do…” mystery series). You can follow her on Twitter @molly_jaffa.
Heather Karpas has been at ICM Partners since 2012 building a list consisting of literary and commercial fiction, narrative nonfiction, memoir, lifestyle/health, and pop culture. She holds a degree in Psychology from Middlebury College in Vermont.
Kristyn Keene has been at ICM Partners since 2006, building a list consisting of literary and commercial fiction, narrative nonfiction, memoir, young adult, and pop culture. She is a graduate of the Columbia Publishing Course and holds a degree in English and writing from the University of California at Santa Barbara.
Patrick Kennedy, a partner at the Second Sight Literary Agency, specializes in nonfiction and memoir projects. He was trained at Johns Hopkins (Phi Beta Kappa BA 2008, Writing Seminars MFA 2010) and McGill University (English Research MA 2011), and began his career as an education journalist and university professor. Patrick’s Second Sight clients include experts in fitness, the performing arts, pet care, and international politics, as well as select authors in suspense, romance, and literary fiction. He is presently interested in signing memoir and autobiographical projects (all age levels) and instructional books (particularly cooking, career advice, and self-help).
Dan Kirschen began his career at ICM Partners in 2010 and has been there since, focusing on literary fiction, narrative nonfiction, current events, and pop culture (music and comedy in particular). He's a graduate of William & Mary, with a degree summa cum laude in Philosophy, and in his nocturnal life he plays the drums in a band.
Jim McCarthy interned for Dystel, Goderich & Bourret while studying urban design at New York University. Upon graduating, Jim realized he would much rather continue working with books than make the jump (as he had originally intended) to the field of city planning. 18 years later, he remains at DG&B as a VP and agent. As an avid fiction reader, his interests encompass both literary and commercial works in the adult, young adult, and middle grade categories. He is particularly interested in literary fiction, underrepresented voices, fantasy, mysteries, romance, anything unusual or unexpected, and any book that makes him cry or laugh out loud. In addition to fiction he is also interested in narrative nonfiction whether it be memoir, historical, science, pop culture, or just a darn good polemic. His list includes New York Times bestsellers Richelle Mead, Morgan Rhodes, Michael Arceneaux, Victoria Laurie, Livia Blackburne, Juliet Blackwell, Suzanne Young, and Robin Talley among many other successful and established authors
Tia Mele is a Junior Agent at Talcott Notch Literary and is excited to build her list in Middle Grade and Young Adult Fiction. She lives in northern Connecticut with her pet rabbit and three dogs. Some of her earliest memories involve reading and writing books, so it was only natural that she pursue a career that allows her to read every day. When she isn't exploring new worlds through books, she's travelling, watching baseball, and spending time with her family. Tia is looking for middle grade and young adult fiction that makes her feel a wide array of emotions. She loves characters that are well rounded and diverse, and she loves a good romance, as long as it doesn't detract from the overall story. She has a soft spot for sports, especially baseball, in both fiction and non-fiction. In adult fiction, she's primarily looking for emotional women's fiction with realistic characters and strong stories. She's also looking for genre romance, and she loves new takes on old tropes.
Jessica Papin: Read Jessica’s bio.
Sharon Pelletier joined DG&B in 2013 after working for Europa Editions, Vantage Press, and Barnes & Noble. Born and raised in the suburbs of Detroit, Michigan, Sharon moved to New York in 2009 and now can't imagine ever living anywhere else. In addition to growing her own list, Sharon oversees digital projects and social media for the agency. While her interests are broad, Sharon is especially seeking upmarket fiction, including unexpected suspense fiction; smart, complex women’s fiction; and hearty, unforgettable book club fiction. On the nonfiction side Sharon is eager for compelling, fierce narrative nonfiction by journalists and experts, and emerging voices with a growing platform who can speak to pop culture, feminism, sports, social justice, and/or religion.
Kimberly Perel: Read Kimberly’s bio.
Rick Pascocello has spent 25 years marketing books, most recently with Penguin Random House, where he was Vice President, Executive Director of Marketing. While there, he was given the rare opportunity to work closely with a wonderfully diverse collection of writers, including some of fiction’s premier authors like Harlan Coben, Patricia Cornwell, Ken Follett, Charlaine Harris, Khaled Hosseini, Nora Roberts, Patrick Rothfuss and JR Ward; as well as non-fiction bestsellers such as Stephen Johnson, Jen Lancaster, James McBride, Dan Pink, and Joan Rivers. Rick oversaw the marketing campaigns for thousands of New York Times best-sellers, and spearheaded innovative marketing strategies in social media, retail partnerships, and cause-related marketing, such as ‘Read Pink’ to benefit the Breast Cancer Research Foundation and The Kite Runner campaign that built a school in Afghanistan. Since 2015, he has provided independent marketing support to authors, corporations and not-for-profit organizations. He currently serves on the board of DBW 2017 as marketing captain coordinating conference programming. He brings a vast and diverse range of experience and relationships to his role as a literary agent, and will continue to leverage his broad, insider knowledge of book publishing and media to advocate for his clients.
Janet Reid: Read Janet’s bio.
Michelle Richter joined Fuse Literary after eight years at St. Martin’s Press. While there, she edited nonfiction including MELISSA EXPLAINS IT ALL by Melissa Joan Hart and RENEWABLE by Jeremy Shere, and worked on women’s fiction, memoir/ biography, pop culture, cookbooks, and diet/health books. She has a M.S. in Publishing from Pace University, and a B.A. in Economics with a minor in Russian from UMass Boston. Michelle is primarily seeking fiction, especially book club reads, women’s fiction, literary fiction, and mystery/suspense/thrillers. Her favorite authors include Ann Patchett, Emma Straub, Laura Lippman, Richard Russo, Tom Perrotta, and Gillian Flynn. For nonfiction, she’s interested in fashion, pop culture, science/medicine, sociology/social trends, and economics.
Soumeya Bendimerad Roberts joined Writers House in 2015 and represents a diverse list of nonfiction, memoir, literary fiction, upmarket/book club fiction, and select realistic young-adult. Prior to joining Writers House, she was director of foreign rights at the Susan Golomb Literary Agency, handling translation rights for award-winning authors such as Jonathan Franzen, Rachel Kushner, William T. Vollmann, as well as representing her own clients. She brings ten years of experience to the position; she was a literary scout at Sanford Greenburg Associates and began her career in editorial, at an independent literary publishing house, where she launched a lifelong commitment to shepherding quality fiction and nonfiction to publication. She is from the San Francisco Bay Area and lives in Brooklyn, New York.
Rita Rosenkranz: Read Rita’s bio.
Elizabeth Winick Rubinstein, senior agent and president at McIntosh & Otis, has degrees from New York University and Manhattan School of Music. She began her book publishing career in subsidiary rights and then took on the responsibilities of acquisitions editor at a major audio publishing imprint. Initially, she joined McIntosh & Otis to manage all subsidiary rights but began working as an agent shortly thereafter. Her primary interests include literary fiction, women's fiction, historical fiction, and mystery/suspense, romance, along with narrative non-fiction, history and current affairs. Elizabeth represents numerous New York Times bestsellers, and both Agatha and Edgar Award winners and nominees.
Zoe Sandler has been at ICM for nearly five years, much of that time working for Esther Newberg, and has spent the last two years building her own list of author clients while serving as coordinator for ICM’s literary department. She is primarily interested in narrative nonfiction, working with journalists who report on subjects in the sciences, and on the environment, social justice, and travel. Zoe started her publishing career at a small academic press in North Carolina, and is originally from California, but loves calling New York home.
Katharine Sands (Sarah Jane Freymann Literary Agency) Katharine has worked with a varied list of authors who publish a diverse array of books including fiction, memoir and non-fiction. Among the books she represents are: The Apothecary’s Curse, by Bram Stoker Award nominee Barbara Barnett; Girl Walks Out of a Bar, a memoir by Lisa Smith that was featured by People Magazine as Notable Nonfiction; and teenage climate activist Jamie Margolin’s Youth to Power: Your Voice and How to Use it. Katharine likes books that have a clear benefit for readers’ lives in categories of food, travel, lifestyle, home arts, beauty, wisdom, relationships, parenting, and fresh looks, which might be at issues, life challenges or popular culture. When reading fiction she wants to be compelled and propelled by urgent storytelling, and hooked by characters. For memoir, femoir, and himoir, she likes to be transported to a world rarely or newly observed.
Alec Shane majored in English at Brown University, a degree he put to immediate use by moving to Los Angeles after graduation to become a professional stunt man. Realizing that he prefers books to breakaway glass, he moved to New York City in 2008 to pursue a career in publishing. Alec quickly found a home at Writers House Literary Agency, where he worked under Jodi Reamer and Amy Berkower on a large number of YA and Adult titles. Alec is now aggressively building his own list and is always looking for great mysteries and thrillers, as well as horror, historical fiction, and YA/middle grade books geared towards boys. On the nonfiction side, Alec would love to see humor, biography, history (particularly military history), true crime, “guy” reads, and all things sports. Genres I prefer: Mystery, Thriller, Horror, Literary Fiction, Historical Fiction, Noir, Biography, Military History, True Crime, Sports, Action/Adventure, Dark Fiction, HumorNot Looking For: Romance (paranormal or otherwise), women’s fiction, picture books, high fantasy, science fiction featuring aliens/intergalactic warfare, self-help, poetry, religious fiction
Wendy Sherman: Read Wendy’s bio.
Erica Spellman-Silverman: Read Erica’s bio.
Alex Slater: Read Alex's bio.
Diane Stockwell is the founder of Globo Libros Literary Management, a boutique agency focusing on a range of narrative non-fiction and select fiction. Particularly interested in books that impact public discourse and shed new light on important subjects, recent projects include National Immigration Forum Director Ali Noorani's book There Goes The Neighborhood: How Communities Overcome Prejudice and Meet the Challenge of American Immigration (Prometheus); Slaves for Peanuts: How the Peanut Prolonged Slavery in West Africa by Jori Lewis (The New Press); and Watching Them Die: The Mexican Army and the 43 Disappeared, a documentary by Temoris Grecko (Netflix). In addition to literary representation, Diane also performs book-length and short translations from Spanish into English.
Laura Usselman joined Stuart Krichevsky Literary Agency in 2016 after spending three years at Cambridge University Press. Her interests include literary and upmarket fiction, as well as inventive memoir, travel and food writing. Before moving to New York, Laura earned her MFA in Fiction at Virginia Tech, where she taught composition and creative writing. She began her publishing career with internships at the University of Georgia Press and Inkwell Management. A native of Atlanta, she studied English and film at the University of Georgia. She lives in Brooklyn.
NYWW Workshop Leaders of conferences past:
Laura Geringer Bass, editor, story advisor and writer, has collaborated with many celebrated authors and artists in the field of children’s books. She has worked with numerous publishing houses and entertainment studios including HarperCollins, Simon and Schuster, Scholastic, Houghton Mifflin, Hyperion/Disney, Dreamworks, Fox, and CBS. Laura Geringer Books, an award-winning imprint of HarperCollins, sold over fifty million books worldwide, including the If You Give a Mouse a Cookie franchise, and modern day classics by William Joyce, Brian Selznick and others. She is the author of twenty books for children including the bestselling A Three Hat Day, an ALA Notable Book illustrated by Arnold Lobel, a Top Ten featured selection on LeVar Burton’s Reading Rainbow. Her YA fantasy, Sign of the Qin, an ALA Best Book, was shortlisted for the Printz award. Myth Men, her popular series of graphic novels, was adapted by CBS as an animated TV show. Her love of story informs her service on the board of First Book, a non-profit organization that has delivered over one hundred million books into the hands of children in need. Her new novel, The Girl With More Than One Heart is due out from Abrams in Spring 2018. Visit Laura at: www.laurageringerbass.com
June Clark is a New York-based writer and the author of numerous books including, The Everything Baby Name, The Mix and Match Baby Name Book, and The Everything Mother Goose Book. She is also the co-author of Signature For Success and The Complete Book of Astrology.Prior to being a published author, June worked in cable TV marketing and promotion and is the recipient of a Cable ACE/Emmy Award, among other industry merits. During her career, June penned notable multimedia campaigns for cable services like Food Network, Bravo, CNBC, HBO, A&E, and AMC, as well as promotional materials for AOL, Hasbro, Kraft Foods, and Sony. She is now the founder of Get There Media, a promotion/marketing and creative services company that provides brand strategy and editorial guidance to authors, experts, and entrepreneurs. Over the years, June has worked with hundreds of writers as a Senior Associate at FinePrint Literary Management, specializing in nonfiction books. She has guided authors through the publishing process from creating marketable book proposals to closing and managing book deals. June holds a Master’s Degree from Emerson College in Writing and Publishing. Her play, Separation Anxiety, is a Rod Parker Playwriting Award winner and was produced at the Brimmer Street Theatre in Boston. A monologue from the play is featured in the book One on One: The Best Women's Monologues of the 21st Century. For more information, visit www.gettheremedia.com and www.juneclark.com.
Allison Estes grew up playing on Faulkner’s grave, which is about as steeped in literary heritage as you can get. She is an author, freelance editor and book doctor, and an adjunct professor in the Meek School of Journalism and New Media at the University of Mississippi. She has taught writing to all ages through the New York Writers Workshop in New York, the Yoknapatawpha Arts Council in Oxford, Mississippi, and various other venues for about a million years. Besides books, she loves dogs, horses and kids, so she has some of each. When she isn’t busy writing, editing, teaching and soccer-momming, if the grave of a famous author is not available, she plays softball as much as possible. Allison has written fifteen middle grade and young adult novels, including the Short Stirrup Club series (Simon and Schuster). Her last adult book was Paw & Order: Dramatic Investigations by an Animal Cop on the Beat (Bowtie Press). Her picture book, Izzy & Oscar (Sourcebooks/ Jabberwocky) was released in April 2015. Visit Allison’s website at www.allisonestes.com.
Laurence Klavan wrote the novels, The Cutting Room and The Shooting Script, published by Ballantine Books. His novel, Mrs. White, co-written under a pseudonym, won the Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America. His graphic novels, City of Spies and Brain Camp, co-written with Susan Kim, were published by First Second Books at Macmillan, and their Young Adult fiction series, Wasteland, is currently being published by Harper Collins. His short work has been published in such print and online journals as The Alaska Quarterly, The Literary Review, Conjunctions, Natural Bridge, Gargoyle, Failbetter, Pank, Stickman Review, Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, among many others, and a collection, ‘The Family Unit’ and Other Fantasies, has been published by Chizine Publications. He received two Drama Desk nominations for the book and lyrics to Bed and Sofa, the musical produced by the Vineyard Theater in New York and the Finborough Theatre in London. His one-act, The Summer Sublet, produced in the EST Marathon in New York, was published in Applause Books' Best American Short Plays 2000-2001. His web site is LaurenceKlavan.com.
Ross Klavan’s novella Thump Gun Hitched was published in 2016 in the compilation Triple Shot (along with Charles Salzberg and Tim O’Mara) by Down and Out Press. His darkly comic novel Schmuck was published by Greenpoint Press in 2014. His original screenplay for the film Tigerland starring Colin Farrell was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award. Klavan recently finished an adaption of John Bowers’ The Colony and has written scripts for Miramax, Intermedia, Walden Media, Paramount and TNT TV, among others. He moderated a conversation between Kurt Vonnegut and Lee Stringer which was later published as Like Shaking Hands with God; and his short stories have appeared in magazines and been produced by the BBC. An earlier novel, Trax, was published under a pseudonym. His play How I Met My (Black) Wife (Again), co-written with Ray Iannicelli, has been produced in New York City. He has worked as a newspaper and radio journalist in London and New York City, where he lives with his wife, the painter, Mary Jones.