2012 Featured Agents, Editors, & Speakers
Check back often! New agents, editors, and authors are confirming every day, and we’ll post their names here as we confirm them.
2012 Featured Agents
Michelle Brower - Folio Literary Management
Michelle Brower began her career in publishing in 2004 while studying for her Master’s degree in English Literature at New York University, and has been hooked ever since. During that time, she assisted the agents Wendy Sherman and Joelle Delbourgo, and found herself in love with the process of discovering new writers and helping existing writers further their careers. After graduating, she became an agent with Wendy Sherman Associates, and there began representing books in many different areas of fiction and non-fiction. In 2009, she joined Folio Literary Management, where she is looking for literary fiction, thrillers, high-quality commercial fiction that transcends genre, and narrative non-fiction. She enjoys digging into a manuscript and working with authors to make their project as saleable as it can be, and her list includes the authors S.G. Browne, Julia Wertz, Todd Ritter, and Michele Young-Stone among many others.
Miriam Goderich - Dystel & Goderich Literary Management
Miriam Goderich, of Dystel & Goderich Literary Management, oversees a dynamic literary agency alongside business partner Jane Dystel. With eight other talented young agents, DGLM boasts an impressive client list and offers representation on an eclectic array of general fiction and nonfiction projects. Miriam is looking for he next brilliant novel, fun beach read, gripping nonfiction narrative, inspirational memoir or biography, and instructional self-help title.
Dawn Michelle Hardy - Serendipity Literary Agency
Since 2004 Dawn Michelle Hardy has planned effective public relations campaigns for fiction authors signed to Hachette Book Group, Simon & Schuster and Kensington/Dafina, as well as non-fiction self-published titles on career, health and empowerment. Quarterly she lends her voice to Called Magazine, as the Books & Products editor for the lifestyle publication for women in ministry. Dawn Michelle Hardy is actively seeking to represent a broad range of projects. She joined Serendipity Literary Agency as an agent looking to acquire non-fiction self help, motivational and empowerment, women's fiction, relationship, pop culture, leadership and non-denominational spiritual titles.
Erin Harris - Irene Skolnick Literary Agency
Erin joined the Irene Skolnick Literary Agency in 2008. A graduate of the MFA program in creative writing at The New School, she was a student of Susan Cheever, Ann Hood, James Lasdun, and Sigrid Nunez, among others. She received her B.A. in Literature from Trinity College (Hartford, CT), where she was Presidential Fellow of the English Department and inducted into Phi Beta Kappa. She is passionate about the art of storytelling in books, theater, and film and is seeking submissions in the following categories: literary fiction, up-market women's fiction, noir, thrillers, middle grade, YA, and narrative non-fiction. She is a member of Women's Media Group.
Jud Laghi - The Jud Laghi Agency
Jud Laghi has represented, developed and launched a number of trendsetting and bestselling books. He began his career as a literary agent at ICM and, before forming The Jud Laghi Agency, was a Senior Agent at Larry Kirshbaum’s LJK Literary Management. His clients include a diverse range of writers who contribute to The New York Times, Rolling Stone, New York, Spin, ESPN The Magazine, Wired, GQ, Sports Illustrated, The Atlantic Monthly, The Believer, Slate, Science and the radio show This American Life. He graduated from Trinity College with a B.A. in English and creative writing, and lives in his native Brooklyn with his wife and daughter. Jud is looking to represent both fiction and non-fiction clients.
Jennifer Laughran - Andrea Brown Literary Agency
Jennifer joined Andrea Brown Literary Agency in 2007 after many years as a children's bookseller and buyer. Always on the lookout for sparkling YA and middle grade fiction with unusual and unforgettable characters and vivid settings, she is drawn to all kinds of books, whether realistic comedies or richly imagined magical adventures. However, the common thread in her favorite stories is an offbeat world-view. Jennifer loves funny books, thrilling books, romantic books, books that make her cry, and all-around un-put-downable books... and her true favorites are all of the above. Clients include: Daniel Pinkwater, Calef Brown, Matt Faulkner, Jackie Dolamore, Ilsa J. Bick, Eric A. Kimmel, L.K. Madigan, Adam Selzer, Tara Kelly and Kate Messner, and many debut authors you'll know about soon! Jennifer dishes advice on her blog: http://literaticat.blogspot.com/and often features ridiculously cute pictures of her dog on twitter: @literaticat
Laurie McLean - Larsen Pomada Literary Agents
Laurie McLean joined the two agency founders in 2005 following a 20-year stint as the CEO of a successful Silicon Valley public relations agency. Laurie specializes in adult genre fiction (romance, fantasy, science fiction, mystery, westerns, horror, etc.) plus middle-grade and young adult children's books. Laurie specializes in adult genre fiction (romance, fantasy, science fiction, mystery, westerns, horror, etc.) plus middle-grade and young adult children's books. She does not handle non-fiction, or commercial, literary or women's fiction, nor does she handle children's picture books or graphic novels. Laurie is also the Dean of the newly created San Francisco Writers University, where writers meet and you learn. For more on Laurie, check out her blog at www.agentsavant.com.
Elena Mechlin - Pippin Properties
Elena Mechlin joined the Pippin team in June of 2009. Having begun her publishing career in subsidiary rights, moving on to children’s book marketing with a stint in audio, she realized that a position in agenting would enable her to continue to be involved in the many aspects of publishing about which she is so passionate from one place. She is thrilled to be pursuing her love of children’s literature and the industry from her seat at Pippin and especially enjoys the treasure hunt that is sorting through the daily query emails. Elena is looking to represent new authors of children's literature.
Kimberly Perel - Wendy Sherman Associates
Kim Perel joined Wendy Sherman Associates in January 2009. After graduating from Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Communications, Kim worked in the editorial department at Forbes magazine and later as a freelance journalist. While pursuing a MFA degree at The New School in New York City, Kim joined WSA and fell in love with the idea of championing emerging talent and helping new writers through the process of getting published. Kim is drawn to voice-driven fiction, novels that illuminate an unknown world, and true-to-life characters. She also loves memoir and journalistic non-fiction.
Rita Rosenkranz - Rita Rosenkranz Literary Agency
A former editor with major New York houses, Rita Rosenkranz founded Rita Rosenkranz Literary Agency in 1990. Her adult non-fiction list stretches from the decorative--FLOWERS, WHITE HOUSE STYLE: More Than 125 Arrangements by the Former White House Chief Floral Decorator by Dottie Temple and Stan Finegold (Simon & Schuster) to the dark--SAVING BEAUTY FROM THE BEAST: How to Protect Your Daughter from an Unhealthy Relationship by Vicki Crompton and Ellen Zelda Kessner (Little, Brown; Books for a Better Life Award, 2003). Her list includes health, history, parenting, music, how-to, popular science, business, biography, popular reference, cooking, spirituality, sports and general interest titles. She works with major publishers, as well as regional publishers that handle niche markets. She looks for authors who are well-paired with their subjects for personal or professional reasons and for projects that present familiar subjects freshly or lesser-known subjects presented commercially.
Susan Schulman - Susan Schulman Literary Agency
Susan Shulman established her literary and dramatic agency specializing in contemporary fiction and nonfiction for adult readers and both picture books and general fiction and nonfiction books for children and young adults. In addition, the agency represents the film, television, and allied rights for its own clients as well as authors published by BenBella Books, Fairview Press, Mid-List Press, and Academy Chicago Publishers. Properties sold include The Artists’ Way and many other titles by Julia Cameron, Will I ever be Good Enough by Karyl McBride, Parents Who Cheat by Ana Nogales, and more. Films sold include Cocoon, The English Patient, Holes, and The Color of Money.
Stefanie Von Borstel - Full Circle Literary
Stefanie von Borstel is co-founder of Full Circle Literary. Prior to agenting, she worked in various editorial and marketing positions with Penguin and Harcourt. Stefanie represents children's books from baby to teen, as well as adult nonfiction. On the adult side, her focus is on parenting and family-interest, design/lifestyle, narrative nonfiction and prescriptive how-to. Representative clients include: Meg Mateo Ilasco, Joy Cho of Oh Joy!, Barb Blair of Knack Studios, Betz White, and Kelly McCants of Modern June. On the children's side she is especially drawn to middle grade fiction and nonfiction. For younger readers: author/illustrators, character-driven, humor and picture books that celebrate cultures of all kinds. Representative clients include Monica Brown, Jennifer Ward, Toni Buzzeo, Rafael Lopez, Sara Palacios, Carmen Tafolla, Carmen T. Bernier-Grand, Diana Lopez, Malin Alegria. Stefanie is thrilled to work with children's books writers with a distinct style or expertise that can crossover to the adult market. Most of all, she loves unique voices and viewpoints that make us look at the world and ourselves in new ways. A native of San Antonio, Stefanie is now based in southern California.
Carlie Webber - Jane Rotrosen Agency
Carlie Webber refused to major in English in college because no one would let her read Stephen King or R.L. Stine for class. She took her love of young adult and genre fiction to the University of Pittsburgh, where she obtained a Master of Library and Information Science, and worked as a YA librarian and reviewer for publications including Kirkus Reviews. Wishing to explore her interest in the business side of books, she decided to switch from librarianship to publishing and enrolled in the Columbia Publishing Course. Now she is building her agenting career on her favorite genres: young adult, middle grade, romance, horror, mystery, suspense, thrillers, literary fiction, contemporary fantasy and women's fiction. Her ongoing submissions wishlist includes but is not limited to high-concept YA, literary suspense, grunge era nostalgia and things that go bump in the night.
2012 Featured Editors
Beena Kamlani – Viking Press
Beena Kamlani(Viking Penguin) is interested in literary fiction, mysteries, and historical fiction, as well as narrative nonfiction, history, biography, and essays. She has worked in book publishing for over twenty-five years -- at Oxford University Press, Harper & Row, Random House and both the Viking and Penguin imprints of the Penguin Group. In her more than two decades at Viking Penguin, she has edited and developed a wide range of books. She has worked with Saul Bellow, Terry McMillan, Garrison Keillor, Margaret George, Peter Kramer, Diane Middlebrook, Bob Shacochis, Sir Peter Medawar, Maira Kalman, David Leavitt, and Blanche Weisen Cook.
Alan Rinzler – Independent Consulting Editor
Alan Rinzler has edited and published Toni Morrison, Hunter S.Thompson, Tom Robbins, Shirley MacLaine, Lorraine Hansberry, Clive Cussler, Andy Warhol, Robert Ludlum, Jerzy Kosinski, Bob Dylan, and others. He began at Simon and Schuster in 1962, then went to Macmillan and Holt as Senior Editor. He was Director of Trade Book Publishing at Bantam Books, Associate Publisher and Vice President of Rolling Stone Magazine, and President of the Rolling Stone Book Division Straight Arrow Books. He was also West Coast Editor for the Grove Press, Editor of the Berkeley Monthly, and for 19 years Executive Editor of Jossey-Bass, the San Francisco imprint of John Wiley & Sons.
Stephanie Elliott - Working Partners
Stephanie Lane Elliott is an editor at Working Partners, UK, She has worked at Spark Entertainment, a book packager owned by Sparknotes that specializes in YA fiction. Previously she worked as a senior editor for Delacorte Press, acquiring and editing middle grade and YA fiction. She has also worked for Alloy Entertainment, the well-known packager of teen fiction, and Tor/Forge books.
Liese Mayer - Little, Brown and Company
Liese Mayer joined Little, Brown in 2009, having previously worked at Grove/Atlantic in publicity, and The Overlook Press and Grupo Santillana in Argentina in editorial. Liese is drawn to character-driven nonfiction with strong narrative elements, and history with cultural and social undertones, as well as memoir, investigative journalism, biography, travel, and pop culture. At Little, Brown, she has recently acquired narrative histories about the California Gold Rush and how it changed world history, and about life in Nazi-occupied Paris during WWII, and has had the pleasure of working with a range of authors who include Jonathan Safran Foer, Evan Thomas, Mary Gabriel, Jim Miller, Dean King, James Bradley, Dana Priest, and Jake Tapper.
Yaniv Soha -St. Martin's Press
Yaniv Soha has been working in book publishing for ten 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, science, pop culture, humor, and fiction. He has published books by Pulitzer-winning reporters, film producers, music writers, professors, and humorists. He was the fiction and prose editor for the inaugural issue of2 Bridges Review, the literary/arts journal of CUNY City Tech.
Authors
Jessica Lee Anderson
Jessica Lee Anderson is the author of Trudy (winner of the 2005 Milkweed Prize for Children’s Literature), Border Crossing (Quick Picks Nomination, Cynsational Book of 2009), as well as Calli (YALSA's Readers' Choice Booklist Nomination, 2011). She’s published two nonfiction readers, as well as fiction and nonfiction for a variety of magazines including Highlights for Children. Jessica graduated from Hollins University with a Master of Arts in Children's Literature, and instructed at the Institute of Children's Literature for five years. She is a member of The Texas Sweethearts & Scoundrels and hopes to be more sweetheart than scoundrel.
Laurie Lynn Drummond
Laurie Lynn Drummond's collection of linked stories, Anything You Say Can and Will be Used Against You (HarperCollins 2004), was a LLDfinalist for the PEN/Hemingway Award and won the Best Book Award from the Texas Institute of Letters and the Violet Crown Award from the Writers' League of Texas, and has been translated into Finnish, Japanese, and French. A story from her collection, "Something About a Scar," won an Edgar Award for Best Short Story. Her fiction has appeared in journals such as The Southern Review, New Delta Review, Story, New Virginia Review, Black Warrior Review, and Fiction. Her essays, several of which have been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and cited in Best American Essays, have been published in Creative Nonfiction, Fourth Genre, Brevity, and River Teeth. Drummond has received fellowships from The Virginia Center for the Arts, Ucross, and the Sewanee Writers' Conference. She is the Thornton Writer-in-Residence at Lynchburg College in Lynchburg, Virginia, for the spring 2012 semester.
Keith Graves
Keith Graves is the author and illustrator of many of his own zany titles, including The Unexpectedly Bad Hair of Barcelona Smith, Three Nasty Gnarlies, Uncle Blubbafink's Seriously Ridiculous Stories, and Frank Was a Monster Who Wanted to Dance. He lives with his family in Texas.
Debbie Gonzales
Debbie Gonzales is the author of eight “transitional” readers for New Zealand publisher, Giltedge. A Montessori teacher, former school administrator, and curriculum consultant specializing in academic standards annotation, Debbie now devotes her time to various freelance projects as well as serving the Austin SCBWI community as RA. Deb earned her MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from the Vermont College of Fine Arts.
Bethany Hegedus
Bethany Hegedus’s second novel Truth with a Capital T debuted at the 2010 Texas Book Festival. Forthcoming, with Antheneum/Simon & Schuster is the picture book Grandfather Gandhi, co-authored with Arun Gandhi, grandson of the Mahatma. Bethany’s first novel Between Us Baxters was named a Bank Street Books Best Books of 2010 (starred) and a Top 40 Fiction Books for Young Adults by the Pennsylvania School Librarians Association. Bethany continues to serve as co-editor of the Young Adult & Children’s page for the VCFA literary journal Hunger Mountain and will be part of the Diversity in YA Fiction Tour when it makes it's Austin stop. A longtime resident of NYC, she now writes from her home in Austin.
Heather Hepler
Heather Hepler is the author of several award winning novels for tweens and teens, including Love? Maybe. and The Cupcake Queen. Her writing has been called fun, quirky, smart, and delicious (she writes a lot about food.) She and her son split their time between East Texas and Downeast Maine.
K.A Holt
K.A. Holt is an author, mama, and terrible cook. As a writer for grown-ups, Kari published Haiku Mama (Quirk, 2006) and periodically contributes to McSweeney's Internet Tendency and Parents Magazine. She is the author of Mike Stellar: Nerves of Steel (Random House, 2009) and Brains For Lunch (a zombie novel in haiku?!) (Neal Porter Books, Roaring Brook, 2010). When she’s not busy imagining how she would travel to Mars or survive a zombie apocalypse, she’s busy imagining how she will survive the day. Brains For Lunch received a starred review in Publisher's Weekly and was highlighted on the Texas Library Association's Annotated Lone Star Reading List for 2011. Kari lives in Austin, TX with her husband and three children. None of them have been to Mars or are zombies. Yet.
P.J. Hoover
P. J. Hoover first fell in love with Greek mythology in sixth grade thanks to the book Mythology by Edith Hamilton. After a fifteen year bout as an electrical engineer designing computer chips for a living, P. J. decided to take her own stab at mythology and started writing books for kids and teens. P. J. is a member of The Texas Sweethearts & Scoundrels. When not writing, P. J. spends time with her husband and two kids and enjoys practicing Kung Fu, solving Rubik's cubes, and watching Star Trek. Her first novel for teens, Solstice, takes place in a Global Warming affected future and explores the parallel world of mythology beside our own. Her middle grade fantasy novels, The Emerald Tablet, The Navel of the World, and The Necropolis, chronicle the adventures of a boy who discovers he’s part of two feuding worlds hidden beneath the sea.
Varian Johnson
Varian Johnson is the author of three novels, including My Life as a Rhombus, which was named to the Texas Library Association Tayshas High School Reading List, the New York Public Library “Stuff for the Teen Age” list, and was a finalist for a Texas Institute of Letters award. He holds an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from the Vermont College of Fine Arts, and has taught and presented at St. Edwards University, Texas State University, and Austin Community College. His latest novel, Saving Maddie, was recently named a Bank Street College of Education Best Children’s Book of 2011.
Mary Lindsey
Mary Lindsey lives in Houston, Texas, where she teaches acting to children and teens. She has one husband, two dogs, three children and dozens of hissing cockroaches. Her debut young adult novel, Shattered Souls, was released in December 2011. Upcoming projects include Annabel, a YA gothic based on Edgar Allan Poe's poem, "Annabel Lee" (2013), and a companion book to Shattered Souls (2014), all from Philomel/Penguin.
Diana Lopez
Diana López is the author of the teen novels, Confetti Girl and Choke. Her work has also been featured in You Don’t Have a Clue: An Anthology of Latino Teen Mysteries, and her upcoming novel, 500 Names in Pink, will be released next spring. In addition, López teaches composition and creative writing at the University of Houston – Victoria and is the editor of Huizache Magazine, a literary arts journal devoted to promoting Latino literature.
April Lurie
April Lurie is the author of several novels for young adults, all published by Random House. She was born and raised in Dyker Heights, Brooklyn, a neighborhood populated by the Mafia. This inspired her to write Brothers, Boyfriends & Other Criminal Minds (2007), a New York Public Library Book for the Teenage, a KLIATT Editor’s Choice, and a selection for the 2008 Texas Lone Star List. She is also the author of The Latent Powers of Dylan Fontaine (2008) and Dancing in the Streets of Brooklyn (2002). Her most recent novel, The Less-Dead (2010), is narrated by a teenage boy who tracks down a serial killer. Kirkus Reviews called it “A compelling, edge of your seat thriller." She lives near Austin, TX with her husband and their four children. Visit her at www.aprillurie.com.
Mari Mancusi
Mari Mancusi used to wish she could become a vampire back in high school. But she ended up in another blood sucking profession --journalism -- instead. Today she works as a freelance TV producer and author of books for teens and adults. When not writing about creatures of the night, Mari enjoys traveling, cooking, goth clubbing, watching cheesy horror movies, and her favorite guilty pleasure--videogames. A graduate of Boston University and a two time Emmy Award winner, she lives in Austin, Texas with her husband Jacob, daughter Avalon, and their dog Mesquite. You can find her online at www.bloodcovenvampires.com.
Margo Rabb
Margo Rabb is the author of the novel Cures for Heartbreak, which received four starred reviews, won the Teddy Book Award, and was named one of the best YA books of the year by Kirkus and Booklist. Her fiction and essays have been published in The New York Times, The Atlantic Monthly, Zoetrope, Seventeen, One Story, Best New American Voices, and elsewhere, and have been broadcast on National Public Radio. She received grand prize in the Zoetrope fiction contest, first prize in The Atlantic Monthly fiction contest, first prize in the American Fiction contest, and a PEN Syndicated Fiction Award. Her new YA novel will be published by Delacorte in early 2013. Visit her online at www.margorabb.com.
Lynda Rutledge
A fifth generation Texas, Lynda has hopped across literary and geographic boundaries in her writing career. She's been a freelance journalist, travel writer, ghostwriter, restaurant and film reviewer, copywriter, college professor, book collaborator, and nonfiction author while living/writing/studying in Chicago, San Diego, New Orleans, Madrid, and lots of other heres and theres around the globe. Her creative writing, though, has always been the love of her writing life and the stuff of her literary dreams. She holds an MFA from the University of New Orleans and has won awards and residencies from the Illinois Arts Council, Writers League of Texas, Ragdale Foundation, Atlantic Center for the Arts, and Squaw Valley Community of Writers as well as juried attendance to Sewanee Writers Conference among others. Currently, she is behaving herself in front of her computer screen in the hill country outside Austin, pursuing those pesky literary pretensions as she awaits her debut novel with Putnam's Amy Einhorn Books in April.
Brian Yansky
Brian Yansky is the author of three YA novels; the most recent is Alien Invasion & Other Inconveniences, published by Candlewick in 2010. A sequel will be published in 2013. He's also had many short-stories for adults published. He teaches writing at Austin Community College.
2012 Other Featured Speakers
Marilyn R. Atlas - Film Producer/Personal Manager
An award-winning producer and personal manager, Marilyn R. Atlas is equally at home in the worlds of film, television, and live theater. Among her credits as film producer are “Real Women Have Curves” for HBO, which won the Audience Award at the Sundance Film Festival, “A Certain Desire,” starring Sam Waterston, and “Echoes,” which won the Gold Award at the Texas International Film Festival. In live theater, Marilyn co-produced the award-winning play “To Gillian on Her 37th Birthday,” which was made into a film starring Michelle Pfeiffer and Peter Gallagher. Earlier in her career, Marilyn served as Casting Director for feature films, including John Frankenheimer’s “The Equals” and “The Whiz.” She is a founding member of Women in Film’s Luminas Committee which supports the portrayal of women in non-stereotypical roles in film and television. Marilyn is a member of NALIP, the National Association of Latino Independent Producers. Marilyn has been a guest at various colleges, including in the Bill Cosby Writing Program at USC, where she also teaches a class on creating three-dimensional, non-stereotypical characters. Marilyn has been in development on pilots for Showtime and ABC Family. She is also featured in the book “Write Now!” from Penguin/Tarcher Publishing, released January 2011.
Stephanie Barko - Literary Publicist
Stephanie Barko’s award-winning clients include traditional publishers and their authors, small presses, and independently published writers. She promotes nonfiction & historical fiction exclusively, nonfiction subgenres being spirituality, history, business/career, memoir, and biography. Ms. Barko was invited into the publishing industry after many years in high tech marketing. She has presented on book marketing & publicity at national conferences including the Writers’ League of Texas and Women Writing the West. Her articles and book reviews have been published in Western American Literature, Roundup Magazine, Book Marketing Matters, San Francisco Book Review, and the Texas Book Marketing Directory. She was a 2010 Finalist in More Magazine’s Reinvention Story Competition, nominated by her peers as 2010 Book Publicist of the Year, and was voted Preditors & Editors 2010 Best Book Promotion Service. Stephanie has degrees in Business & Sociology and is based in Austin. Since 2005, she has moderated a nonfiction book group that has hosted such nationally known authors as Paul Woodruff and Gilbert Tuhabonye.
Marika Flatt - PR by the Book
Marika launched PR by the Book, LLC in 2002, combining her love of the media, public relations and books. Marika spent seven years leading the publicists of an Austin-based book publicity firm. While there, she was the Director of Publisher Services, handling the company’s key publicity campaigns and serving as the company’s spokesperson. Marika was awarded a Gold Bulldog Award for a publicity campaign, which resulted in exposure in over 700 media outlets. Marika is a past-president of the Austin chapter of the Association for Women in Communications. Marika is a regular speaker at conferences around the country, educating audiences on topics related to publicity and promotion tactics. A cum laude graduate of Texas A&M University, Marika is the proud parent of three kids (with husband, Doug, who is Managing Partner).