Faculty |
| Stephanie Gordon | Susan Patron | Cecilia Yung |
Miriam Altshuler established her own agency in 1994 after twelve years as an agent at Russell & Volkening where she worked with such writers as Anne Tyler, Bernard Malamud, Annie Dilliard, Jean Fritz, Mary Ann Hoberman and Walter Dean Myers. She represents both adult and children's book writers and is particularly interested in Young Adult and Middle Grade books. She continues to represent Walter Dean Myers and also represents among others, Lamda Award winning author, Alex Sanchez, Barbara Seuling, Mitra Modarressi, Charles R. Smith, Jr, Annie Wedekind, and Donna Freitas.
Alessandra Balzer is Executive Editor at Hyperion Books for Children. Balzer acquires everything from Picture books to YA, with the exception of non-fiction and novelty books. Some of her titles include the Artemis Fowl series, and all of Eoin Colfer's books,Don’t Let The Pigeon Drive The Bus!, Knuffle Bunny, and all of Mo Willems' books, Sold by Patricia McCormick, John Paul, George & Ben by Lane Smith, and others.
Anamika Bhatnagar is Senior Editor at Scholastic Press and Director of Paperback Reprints for Scholastic’s hardcover imprints. She works on a variety of projects, from picture books to YA novels and everything in between, including chapter-book series, middle-grade fiction, and graphic novels. She recently edited Captain Underpants and the Preposterous Plight of the Purple Potty People by Dav Pilkey, How To Be a Girly Girl in Just Ten Days by Lisa Papademetriou, Crackback by John Coy, and Elijah of Buxton by Christopher Paul Curtis. Her interests include humorous picture books and fiction, sports fiction, action-packed adventures for middle-grade and YA, illustrated chapter-book series, and contemporary novels featuring multicultural characters.
Harry Bliss is an internationally syndicated cartoonist and cover artist for The New Yorker magazine. His self-titled, single-panel gag cartoon, ‘BLISS’ appears in newspapers across the country and Japan. Prior to his cartoons and covers for The New Yorker, Bliss illustrated dozens of book covers for writers such as Lawrence Block, Dorothy Uhnak, Bob Dole, and Fiona Buckley. Bliss has also created the pictures for Diary of a Worm, Diary of a Spider, and Diary of a Fly by Doreen Cronin, all New York Times bestsellers. Other bestsellers include Don't Forget To Come Back by Robie H. Harris and A Very Brave Witch by Alison McGhee. Bliss’s first cartoon collection, Death By Laughter, with an introduction by Christopher Guest will be published by Abrams in the spring of 2008.
Robert A. Brown is the owner of Books, Bytes & Beyond, an independent children’s specialty bookstore located in northern New Jersey. Robert and his wife, Mary Brown, have operated Books, Bytes & Beyond since 1993. The business serves traditional retail customers, and works actively with teachers and educators. Every year Books, Bytes & Beyond hosts numerous children’s author and illustrator events both in-store and in offsite locations.
Caitlyn M. Dlouhy is Editorial Director at Athenum Books for Young Readers: Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing. Caitlyn acquires all genres. Her list includes: Kira-Kira by Cynthia Kadohata (Newbery Award),Beautiful Blackbird by Ashley Bryan (CSK Award), Copper Sun by Sharon Draper (CSK Award), Dovey Coe by Frances O’Roard Dowell (Edgar Award), Dooby Dooby Moo by Doreen Cronin/Betsy Lewin (NYTimes bestseller), Someday by Alison McGhee/Peter Reynolds (# 1 NYTimes bestseller), Clever Beatrice by Margaret Willey/Heather Solomon (Charlotte Zolotow Award), When Dinosaurs Came with Everything by Elise Broach/David Small, Leonardo’s Shadow by Christopher Gray, If I Were a Lion by Sarah Weeks/Heather Solomon, Tales of Mystery & Madness by Poe/Gris Grimly, the Alice series by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor, Chicken Boy by Frances O’Roark Dowell, and Into the West by James McPherson
Judy Enderle has written numerous books for young children. Smile, Principessa is her most recent picture book.
David Gale is Vice President, Editorial Director, at Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers. David acquires and edits single titles, hardcover, picture books through teen, for a retail market. Some of his recent titles include: Teen - The Search for the Red Dragon by James A. Owen, Parrotfish by Ellen Wittlinger, You Know Where To Find Me by Rachel Cohn. Middle Grade - Georges Secret Key To The Universe by Lucy and Stephen Hawking. Picture Book – Orange Pear Apple Bear by Emily Gravett, Skelly the Skeleton Girl by Jimmy Pickering.
Robin Galender has been serving as a Copyright Information Specialist in the Public Information Office of the US Copyright Office since 1998. She is currently the Lead Copyright Information Specialist, Public Information Service at the US Copyright Office.
Barry Goldblatt opened his literary agency in September 2000, after an 11-year career in the rights and contracts departments at various publishing houses, including Dutton Children’s Books, Dial Books for Young Readers, The Putnam & Grosset Group, and Orchard Books. Barry Goldblatt Literary LLC represents everything from very young picture books up through crossover YA fiction. Barry prefers character driven work, and also leans towards the quirky, edgy and offbeat.
Terri J. Goldich is the Curator for the Northeast Children's Literature Collection, housed at the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center at the University of Connecticut. Now in her 30th year in the University Libraries system, Goldich received a B.A. with honors in Germanic Languages and Literature from the University of Connecticut and her M.L.S. from Southern Connecticut State University. She won the University of Connecticut Library Award for Excellence.
Stephanie Gordon is a freelance editor, writing instructor, and author of numerous books for children. Smile, Principessa is her most recent picture book.
Nikki Grimes is the recipient of the 2006 NCTE Award for Excellence in Poetry for Children. Distinguished works include ALA Notable book, What is Goodbye?, the novels Jazmin's Notebook, Dark Sons, The Road to Paris (Coretta Scott King Author Honor Books) and the Meet Danitra Brown poetry series.
Elizabeth Harding has been at Curtis Brown Ltd. for over twelve years. She represents a wide range of young adult, middle-grade, and picture book authors and illustrators, including Jane Yolen, Nikki Grimes, Gennifer Choldenko, Gordon Korman, Patricia McKissack, Jane Dyer, Caroline Cooney, Karen Cushman, Pat Mora, Lee Bennett Hopkins, Jennifer Lynn Barnes, and S.E. Hinton.
Jennifer Hunt is Senior Editor at Little Brown Books for Young Readers. Jennifer is looking to acquire literary and/or strong commercial YA fiction, middle-grade fiction and off beat, humorous picture books. Her novels include The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie, 47 by Walter Mosley, Story of a Girl by Sara Zarr, the How to Train Your Dragon series by Cressida Cowell, All of the Above by Shelley Pearsall, and The Name of This Book is Secret by Pseudonymous Bosch. Her picture books include Fred Stays with Me! by Nancy Coffelt and illustrated by Tricia Tusa, The Long Gone Lonesome History of Country Music by Bret Bertholf and Tickle the Duck by Ethan Long. Jennifer has worked at Random House, Lee & Low Books, and at Money, Time and Honey magazines.
Brian Kelleher is Director of Sales at Simon and Schuster.
Arthur A. Levine is
a Vice President at Scholastic Inc. and the Editorial Director of Arthur
A. Levine Books, a literary, hardcover imprint of Scholastic.
Wendy Loggia is Executive
Editor at Delacorte Press, an imprint of Random House Children's Books.
The focus at Delacorte is almost exclusively on novels for ages 8-12
and 12 & up. She is always looking for strong voices, great stories,
and characters to care about. Literary fiction, quirky romance, and
humor are favorites. Wendy has edited The Sisterhood of the Traveling
Pants, The Second Summer of the Sisterhood, Girls
in Pants, and Forever in Blue by Ann Brashares; The
Gemma Doyle Trilogy: A Great and Terrible Beauty, Rebel Angels,
and The Sweet Far Thing by Libba Bray; The Magic in Manhattan
books by Sarah Mlynowski: Bras & Broomsticks, Frogs
& French Kisses, Spells & Sleeping Bags. She edits
plenty of books that aren't part of trilogies too, including Scout,
by Christine Ford, Grief Girl by Erin Vincent, and Made
You Look by Diane Roberts--all of which grew out of SCBWI conferences
she attended.
Carolyn Mackler is the author of the award-winning teen novels, The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things (A Michael L. Printz Honor Book), Guyaholic, Vegan Virgin Valentine, and Love and Other Four-Letter Words. Carolyn’s novels have been published in several countries, including the United Kingdom, Australia, Germany, France, Italy, Korea, the Netherlands, Denmark, Israel, and Indonesia.
John Mason is Director of Library and Educational Marketing at Scholastic. John has served on the Boards of the Children's Book Council (CBC), and the Association of Booksellers for Children (ABC), and on various American Library Association (ALA) committees, and am currently President-Elect of USBBY (US Board on Books for Young Readers).
Holly McGhee founded Pippin Properties, Inc., a full-service integrated publishing and entertainment representation agency. Pippin represents the works of writers and artists to a wide range of publishing, animation, motion picture, television, and licensing companies.
Kate McClelland is Youth Services Librarian at Perrot Memory Library. She has been a Board Member of the American Library Association/Association for Library Service to Children since 2005, is a book review for the Kirkus Reviews and School Library Journal and was awarded New York Times Librarian of the Year in 2006.
Mark McVeigh is Editorial Director at Aladdin Paperbacks, Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division. Mark acquires middle-grade and tween fiction and middle grade nonfiction.
Molly O'Neill is an Assistant Editor at HarperCollins. After spending almost five years working in Marketing, first at Clarion Books and later at HarperCollins, Molly joined Brenda Bowen's new imprint at HarperCollins. The new venture is seeking projects that are both literary and commercial, with particular focus on attracting new talent to HarperCollins, publishing groundbreaking formats, and creating books with a global reach. Molly's particular interests include retold/novelized fairy/folktales, dance/theatre/arts-themed stories for any age, middle-grade/YA with cinematic flavor, historical novels with a twist, quirky picture books, middle-grade mysteries, and voice-driven contemporary YA. The first list for the imprint will be published in Winter 2009, and will include The Dragons of Ordinary Farm, a middle-grade fantasy; The Gettysburg Graphic, a graphic novel-style work of nonfiction, Willoughby and the Lion, a picture book by author/illustrator Greg Foley, and other works by both well-established and first-time creators of children's books.
Susan Patron was a librarian for 35 years at the Los Angeles Public Library. She has taught courses in children's literature, reviewed children's books for various print media, published articles and given lectures on aspects of juvenile materials collection development, and served on many local, state, and national children's book award committees. Susan is also a children's book writer with four picture books, a chapter book called Maybe Yes, Maybe No, Maybe Maybe, and a novel, The Higher Power of Lucky, (Simon & Schuster/Atheneum/A Richard Jackson Book) which was awarded the 2007 Newbery Medal.
Richard Peck was the 2004 SCBWI Member of the Year. His latest novel is On the Wings of Heroes. His upcoming one-act play, “Effigy in the Outhouse” is included in Acting Out: Six Plays from Newbery Authors.
Jerry Pinkney is the recipient of five Caldecott Honor Medals, five Coretta Scott King Awards and three Coretta Scott King Honor Awards. His books have been translated into eleven languages and published in fourteen different countries. Jerry was a United States nominee for the 1997 Hans Christian Andersen Illustration Medal. He was awarded four gold medals, four silver medals, the Hamilton King Award, four New York Times Best Illustrated Book awards, and in 2006 the Original Art’s Lifetime Achievement Award from the Society of Illustrators, New York, NY.
Jodi Reamer an agent and attorney, has been with Writers House since 1995 and represents both children’s and adult book authors including Stephenie Meyer, author of the #1 New York Times bestseller, Eclipse; Carolyn Mackler author of Guyaholic and the Printz Honor book, The Earth, My Butt and Other Big Round Things; John Green author of the Printz Award-winner, Looking for Alaska and the Printz Honor Book, An Abundance of Katherines; Blake Nelson, author of Paranoid Park, which will soon be released on the big screen in a Gus Van Sant production; Lisa Yee, author of the Sid Fleischman Humor Award winning Millicent Min trilogy; Michelle Knudsen, author of the New York Times bestseller, Library Lion.
Robert Sabuda is a celebrated author and illustrator of books for children. He is considered one of the most innovative illustrators in his field and was dubbed "The Prince of Paper" by Publishers Weekly. He is highly regarded for his delicate paper-cut illustrations in books such as The Paper Dragon and imaginative pop-up creations like those in his New York Times #1 best-selling book The Wizard of Oz. Sabuda is a two-time recipient of both the Golden Kite and Meggendorfer Awards, and his books have been frequent American Library Association Notable Books. His most recent works include the picture book series The Adventures Of Providence Traveler and the pop-up book Alice in Wonderland.
Anne Schwartz is Vice President & Coordinator of Schwartz & Wade Books, an imprint at Random House Children’s Books. Her numerous critically acclaimed titles include: Duck and Goose and Duck, Duck, Goose by Tad Hills, Porch Lies: Tales of Slicksters, Tricksters, and other Wily Characters by Patricia McKissack, illustrated by Andre Carrilho, How to Be a Baby by Me, the Big Sister by Sally Lloyd Jones, illustrated by Sue Heap, Toys Go Out by Emily Jenkins, illustrated by Paul O. Zelinsky, The All-I’ll-Ever-Want Christmas Doll by Patricia McKissack, illustrated by Jerry Pinkney and Mary and the Mouse, the Mouse and Mary by Beverly Donofrio, illustrated by Barbara McClintock.
Reka Simonsen is Senior Editor at Henry Holt for Young Readers. Simonsen acquires middle-grade and young adult fantasy, mystery, historical fiction and coming of age novels. She also acquires smart humor, both middle grade and early reader, early readers, lyrical picture book biographies of artists, musicians, writers, and other creative folks. Some of her recent titles include: The Golden Dream of Carlo Chuchio by Lloyd Alexander, Emmy and the Incredible Shrinking Rat by Lynne Jonell, Glass Slipper, Gold Sandal by Paul Fleischman, (illustrated by Julie Paschkis), The Swan Maiden by Heather Tomlinson, The Hollow Kingdom Trilogy by Clare B. Dunkle, and the Melvin Beederman, Superhero series by Greg Trine, (illustrated by Rhode Montijo).
Nancy
Siscoe is Associate
Publishing Director & Executive Editor at Knopf & Crown Books
for Young Readers. Nancy acquires both picture books and novels from
toddlers to teens. Some recent books on her list include Who Will
Sing a Lullaby? by Dee Lillegard and illustrated by Dan Yaccarino,
A Kitten Tale by Eric Rohmann, Bringing in the New Year
by Grace Lin, Runemarks by Joanne Harris, Taken by
Edward Bloor, The Daring Adventures of Penhaligon Brush by
S. Jones Rogan, Runaway by Wendelin Van Draanen, and Red
Spikes by Margo Lanagan.
Tom Starace is Executive Art Director at HarperCollins Children’s Books, where he has worked since 1992. In a career that that has spanned 4 decades, he has worked as a designer or illustrator for nearly all the major publishing companies, including Workman Publishing; Bantam, Doubleday, Dell and Random and Penguin and Putnam. He has worked with such authors and illustrators as Maurice Sendak, Eric Carle, Thacher Hurd, William Joyce, Aliki, Dan Yaccarino, and many others. He has illustrated 3 children’s books, Five Little Ducks (HarperCollins), If You Were My Valentine, and Easter Fun (both Simon and Schuster).
David Wiesner is the author/illustrator of seven picture books and the illustrator of numerous other works. He has been awarded the Caldecott Medal three times, for Flotsam in 2007, The Three Pigs in 2002, and Tuesday in 1992. He has received Caldecott Honors twice, for Sector 7 in 2000 and Free Fall in 1989. David is the United States nominee for the 2008 Hans Christian Andersen Award.
Jane
Yolen, often called "the Hans Christian
Andersen of America," is the author of almost 300 books, including
Owl Moon, The Devil's Arithmetic, and How Do Dinosaurs
Say Goodnight? Her books range from rhymed picture books and baby
board books, through middle grade fiction, poetry collections, nonfiction,
to novels and story collections for young adults and adults. Her books
and stories have won an assortment of awards--two Nebulas, a World Fantasy
Award, a Caldecott, the Golden Kite Award, three Mythopoeic awards,
two Christopher Medals, a nomination for the National Book Award, and
the Jewish Book Award, among others. She is also the winner (for body
of work) of the Kerlan Award and the Catholic Library's Regina Medal.
Six colleges and universities have given her honorary doctorates.
Jonah
Winter is the author of several award-winning picture book
biographies, including Diego (voted by The Ruminator as one
of the 100 Best Children’s Books of the 20th Century), Frida
(hailed as a “grand accomplishment” by The New York Times),
and Dizzy (recipient of 5 starred reviews and multiple awards).
Winter is also an illustrator, in addition to being the author of several
books of poetry for adults.
Tracy
van Straaten is Vice President of Publicity at Scholastic.
Prior to joining Scholastic, van Straaten was Vice President, Executive
Director of Publicity, for Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing.
And has held children’s book publicity positions at William Morrow
& Company, HarperCollins, and Little, Brown and Company in Boston.
She holds a B.A. in English and Art History from Hamilton College and
earned a Masters’ degree in Children’s Literature from Simmons
College in Boston.
Cecilia Yung is Art Director and Vice President at Penguin Young Readers Group, where she oversees illustration and design for hardcover titles for two imprints: G. P. Putnam's Sons and Philomel Books.
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