SCBWI | Faculty

MAIN CONFERENCE :

Heather Alexander, agent, came to Pippin Properties after six years in editorial at Dial. Some of her favorite projects have been the hilarious graphic chapter book series, Mr. Pants by Scott McCormick and RH Lazzell, and The Thing About Yetis by author/illustrator Vin Vogel, discovered through SCBWI. Her dream projects are about those moments that change a person forever, and she loves thoughtfully drawn characters. She’s looking for books for all ages, picture books through young adult. Funny is a fast way to her heart, but beautiful writing will keep it, and she leans toward boy books with girl appeal. On Twitter: @HeatherAlexand

Kwame Alexander is a poet and author of eighteen books, including Acoustic Rooster and His Barnyard Band (The 2014 Michigan Reads One Book Selection), He Said, She Said (a Junior Library Guild Selection), and The Crossover, a middle grade novel. He is the founder of Book-in-a-Day, a student-run publishing program that has created more than 3,000 student authors; and LEAP for Ghana, an international literacy project that builds libraries, trains teachers, and empowers children through literature. The Kwame Alexander Papers, a collection of his writings, is held at the George Washington University Gelman Library.

Bonnie Bader is the associate publisher of Frederick Warne, where she oversees the Peter Rabbit and Spot publishing programs, as well as the editor-in-chief of Penguin Young Readers/Early Readers program. The leveled reader program houses fiction and nonfiction readers from every imprint in the Young Readers division, including books from David Adler, Betsy Byars, Eric Carle, Paula Danziger, Jean Fritz, and Loren Long. The 8×8 picture book program, Penguin Core Concepts, includes both fiction and nonfiction titles. She continues to edit several best-selling series including George Brown, Class Clown and Magic Bone by Nancy Krulik, and Here’s Hank by Lin Oliver and Henry Winkler. Bonnie is a member of the SCBWI Board of Advisors.

Jordan Brown is an executive editor with the imprints Walden Pond Press and Balzer + Bray at HarperCollins Children’s Books. In the ten years he has been in children's editorial, he has been fortunate enough to work with such esteemed authors and illustrators as Jon Scieszka, Anne Ursu, Gris Grimly, Steve Brezenoff, Frank Cottrell Boyce, Chris Rylander, Erin McGuire, Laura Ruby, Kevin Emerson, Christopher Healy, Greg Ruth, Dan Wells, Lois Metzger, M. Sindy Felin, and many others. Amongst the books he’s edited are New York Times bestsellers, ALA Best Fiction for Young Adults, an NPR Backseat Book Club Selection, and a National Book Award finalist, in addition to other accolades. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Justin Chanda is vice president, publisher of the three flagship children's imprints at Simon & Schuster: S&S Books for Young Readers, McElderry Books and Atheneum. He oversees the publication of two hundred and fifty titles per year ranging from the youngest picture book to the edgiest YA. He is keenly interested in publishing books that are equal parts commercial and literary, books that make a contribution to the tradition. Justin continues to edit, working with the likes of: Jon Scieszka, Loren Long, Kenneth Oppel, Patricia MacLachlan, Peter Brown, Michael Ian Black, Karma Wilson, Dan Krall, Morgan Matson, Mike Lupica, and Debbie Ohi (whom he discovered through SCBWI). Justin is also an adjunct instructor for the NYU Graduate Publishing Program. He recently added publisher of SAGA press, a newly minted adult Sci-Fi/Fantasy imprint, to his resume. Follow him on Twitter @jpchanda

Emily Clement is an associate editor at Arthur A. Levine Books, an imprint of Scholastic. She has worked on books by Shaun Tan, Jaclyn Moriarty, Alaya Dawn Johnson, and Erin Bow, among others. She manages her imprint’s international literature program, and has edited books translated from German, Dutch, and Russian. Emily attended Stanford University, followed by the Columbia Publishing Course, and translates children’s books from Italian. She grew up in Tempe, Arizona, and now lives in Brooklyn.

Denise Cronin is an art director and vice president, who with a staff of four, is responsible for the illustration and design of Viking Children’s Books, an imprint of Penguin Young Readers Group. She has long been involved in creating books for children, starting with Dial Press, then Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers, and for the last eighteen years, with Viking. Denise works with many talented artists, writers, designers, and editors, and thoroughly enjoys the collaborative nature of publishing.

James Dashner is the author of The Maze Runner, recently released as a film by Twentieth Century Fox. His other works include The Eye of Minds and The 13th Reality, as well as Infinity Ring for younger readers.

Aimee Friedman is an executive editor at Scholastic, where she has worked for over a decade and edits such titles as the New York Times best-selling middle grade series Whatever After by Sarah Mlynowski, and the YA novel Skinny by Donna Cooner, which is an ALA BFYA nominee. Aimee is also a New York Times best-selling author of YA fiction, including the novel Sea Change. She writes for middle grade readers under the name Ruth Ames. A native of New York City, Aimee lives, works, and writes in Manhattan.

Kami Garcia is the New York Times best-selling coauthor of the Beautiful Creatures & Dangerous Creatures novels and the author of the instant New York Times bestseller and Bram Stoker nominated novel Unbreakable and the sequel Unmarked, in the Legion Series. Beautiful Creatures has been published in fifty countries and translated into thirty-nine languages. It was a finalist for the ALA’s William C. Morris Debut Author Award, a SCIBA Award Finalist, a New York Public Library’s “Books for the Teen Age” selection, and Beautiful Creatures was named Amazon’s #1 Teen Book of 2009, and #5 on the Editor’s Top 100 List. On Twitter: @kamigarcia.

Jessica Dandino Garrison, editor at Dial Books for Young Readers and voted “Most likely to eat the frosting off one too many cupcakes and regret it for the rest of the morning.” She has edited I’ll Give You the Sun, My Life Next Door, The Books of Elsewhere, Here Comes the Easter Cat, and others. She looks for middle grade and YA across all genres with robust plots, writing that has literary quality but commercial appeal, a strong, fresh voice, emotional heart and heft, and often a dose of moral ambiguity. Her picture book tastes tend toward the character-driven and humorous, with a subtle takeaway and a bit of bite.

Laura Godwin is vice president and publisher of Henry Holt Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Macmillan LLC where she has been for the past twenty-five years. She is also the editor of many award-winning picture books and novels including, Little Elliot, Big City by Mike Curato; What’s Your Favorite Color? by Eric Carle and Friends; The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jackie Kelly; and Breaking Stalin’s Nose by Eugene Yelchin.

Barry Goldblatt opened his eponymous agency in September 2000, originally focusing exclusively on children's books. Now in his fourteenth year of agenting, his list has expanded to include some fiction for adults. His client list includes many stellar writers and illustrators, among them Christopher Barzak, Holly Black, Angela Johnson, Jo Knowles, Lauren Myracle, Genevieve Valentine, Colleen AF Venable, Ed Vere, Charles Vess, and Stephanie Yue.

Anthony Horowitz has written over forty books including the best-selling teen spy series Alex Rider which has sold nineteen million copies worldwide. He recently released The House of Silk, a Sherlock Holmes novel, and the sequel, Moriarty, comes out this month. He is a patron of East Anglia Children’s Hospices and the anti-bullying charity, Kidscape. In February 2014, Anthony was presented an Order of the British Empire for his services to Literature.

Beverly Horowitz is vp & publisher of Delacorte Press, an imprint of Random House Children's Books. She began her career in the editorial department of Little, Brown and has held positions as publicity/promotion director at Bradbury Press and Academic Marketing and School and Library marketing director at Farrar, Straus and Giroux. Beverly has never stopped being an editor. She works with Judy Blume, Louis Sachar, E. Lockhart, Laura Hillenbrand, Caroline B. Cooney, Wes Moore, and many other beloved and debut authors. Throughout her career, she has been an advocate of First Amendment rights and has fought against censorship.

Jennifer Laughran is a senior agent at the Andrea Brown Literary Agency. She joined ABLA in 2007 after many years as a buyer and event coordinator for an independent bookstore. Jenn is always on the lookout for sparkling YA and middle grade fiction with unusual and unforgettable characters and vivid settings; the common thread in all her favorite stories is an offbeat world-view. She loves funny books, thrilling books, romantic books, books that make her cry, and all-around un-put-downable books.

Stephanie Lurie is the associate publisher of Disney-Hyperion, an imprint that publishes approximately eighty titles a year, for preschoolers through young adults. Stephanie manages a team of eighteen people and also edits picture books and novels. Recently she has had the privilege of collaborating with such authors as Bob Shea, Jonathan Stroud, Eoin Colfer, and Rick Riordan. She is the mother of two young men, both of whom are writers, and has been married to her beau from college for thirty-three years.

Stephen Mooser, President of the SCBWI, is the author of nearly sixty books for children. He began as the author of a number of reading programs including those for SWRL/Ginn, ABC and Harcourt, but most readers know Stephen for his trade books, which began with the publication of 101 Black Cats (Scholastic) in 1975, and continues through his most recent series, Goofball Malone, Ace Detective. He has written in every genre: picture books (The Ghost with the Halloween Hiccups), to series books (The Creepy Creature Club; It's a Weird, Weird School), to nonfiction (Lights! Camera! Scream!), to novels (Elvis Is Back and He’s in the Sixth Grade). His most recent book and multi-media story is Class Clown Academy. He is the co-founder and President of SCBWI.

Lin Oliver is a children’s book author and writer-producer of television series and movies for children. With Henry Winkler, she writes the New York Times best-selling book series, Hank Zipzer: World’s Best Underachiever, which is also a hit television series on the BBC. She is also the author of the Who Shrunk Daniel Funk quartet, the tween series Almost Identical, and Sound Bender and The Shadow Mask, adventure/science fiction middle grade novels she coauthored with Theo Baker. Another series, Ghost Buddy, is being developed as a TV pilot by Amazon Studios. Her latest works are the Here’s Hank series (with Henry Winkler) and the highly praised Little Poems for Tiny Ears, illustrated by Tomie dePaola. She is the co-founder and Executive Director of SCBWI. Follow her on Twitter @linoliver.

Elizabeth Parisi is creative director, trade publishing, Scholastic Inc. Elizabeth oversees over 150 book titles per year, in middle grade and young adult fiction and nonfiction genres. A graduate of RISD with a BFA in illustration, Elizabeth has won two gold medals as an art director from the Society of Illustrators, and has worked on many acclaimed titles, including the Hunger Games Trilogy, with her husband, Tim O'Brien as illustrator; Gorgeous, by Paul Rudnick; the Gregor the Overlander series, by Suzanne Collins; Out of the Dust, by Karen Hesse, and What I Saw and How I Lied, by National Book Award winner, Judy Blundell.

Margaret Raymo is senior executive editor at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt where she has worked for almost thirty years. Authors she has edited include: Lois Lowry, Chris Van Allsburg, Steve Jenkins, Catherine Gilbert Murdock, Joelle Charbonneau, Barry Lyga, Charise Mericle Harper, and Kwame Alexander.

Ben Rosenthal is a senior editor at Katherine Tegen Books, an imprint of HarperCollins Children’s Books. He acquires middle grade and YA fiction but also loves fresh and surprising nonfiction. At Harper, he has worked with such authors as Patrick Carman, Mindy McGinnis, and Jordana Frankel. Before arriving at KT Books in 2014, Ben spent seven years at Enslow Publishers, where he edited more than 150 nonfiction and middle grade fiction titles and created a teen fiction imprint, Scarlet Voyage. Raised in St. Paul, Minnesota, he now lives in New Jersey with his wife.

Laura Vaccaro Seeger is a New York Times best-selling author and illustrator and a two-time winner of the Caldecott Honor Award for First the Egg and Green, winner of the New York Times Best Illustrated Book Award, the Boston Globe/Horn Book Award for Best Picture Book, and a two-time winner of the Theodor Seuss Geisel Honor Award. She is also the recipient of both the Massachusetts Reading Association and the New York Empire State awards for “Body of Work and Contribution to Children’s Literature”.

Liz Tingue is an associate editor at Razorbill, an imprint of Penguin Random House. She edits a diverse list of titles for young adults and children, including the Falling Kingdoms series by New York Times bestselling author Morgan Rhodes, The Way We Bared Our Souls by Willa Strayhorn, the New York Times bestselling picture book Marcel the Shell with Shoes On by Jenny Slate and Dean Fleischer-Camp, and Zodiac by Romina Russell, which was named one of Amazon’s best books of December. Forthcoming titles include I Am Her Revengeby debut author Meredith Moore, A Book of Spirits and Thieves by Morgan Rhodes, and A Tale of Two Besties by HelloGiggles co-founder Sophia Rossi. Liz holds a BA from Harvard and an MFA in Fiction from Columbia. She lives in Brooklyn.

Hervé Tullet studied Fine Art and worked as an art director before joining the advertising industry. In 1994 he published his first book for children and has since become one of the world’s most innovative book makers. Known in France as ‘The Prince of pre-school books,’ Tullet takes the concept of reading to a new level, teaching young minds to think imaginatively, independently and creatively. His books include the New York Times bestseller Press Here, as well as I Am Blop! and the Let’s Play Games series of board books. Tullet leads performance workshops for kids and families and exhibits his works worldwide.

Tina Wexler is an agent at ICM Partners, focused on middle grade and young adult fiction and non-fiction. She is particularly interested in modern folklore, non-linear storytelling, magical realism, humor, weepies, and most anything with a feminist slant. Current and forthcoming titles include Teddy Mars, Almost a World Record Breaker by Molly Burnham, Pointe by Brandy Colbert, Poisoned Apples by Christine Heppermann, Nightbird by Alice Hoffman, and Bone Gap by Laura Ruby. She holds an MFA in poetry from Brooklyn College and is the mother of two boys. On Twitter: @tina_wexler.

Stacy Whitman is the founder and publisher of Tú Books, an imprint of Lee & Low Books that publishes fantasy, science fiction, historical fiction, and mystery for children and young adults with a particular emphasis on diversity. She holds a Master’s degree in children’s literature from Simmons College.

ILLUSTRATOR INTENSIVE:

Pat Cummings is the author/illustrator of over thirty-five books for young readers. She also edited the award-winning series, Talking with Artists, which profiles prominent children's book illustrators. She teaches at Parsons and Pratt, and her children's book illustration class has a growing number of notable illustrator/authors among its graduates. Pat serves on the SCBWI Board of Advisors as well as on the boards of the Authors Guild, the Authors League Fund, The Authors Guild Foundation, and the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art. She conducts a summer Children’s Book Boot Camp that brings writers and illustrators together with top editors and art directors from major publishing houses.

Christie Ottaviano is Publisher of Christy Ottaviano Books, and imprint of Henry Holt/Macmillan. Her imprint features author-illustrators and encompasses literary and commercial picture books and fiction for all ages. Her books have won numerous awards, including the National Book Award, The Boston Globe-Horn Book Award, the EB White Read Aloud Award, the Ezra Jack Keats Award, the Coretta Scott King Award, the John Steptoe Award, the Bank Street College Josette Frank and Claudia Lewis Awards, and The Society of Illustrators Founders Award. Among the esteemed authors and illustrators in her stable: Laurie Keller, Janet Tashjian, Tom Lichtenheld, Elise Broach, Francesca Lia Block, Sophie Blackall, Hope Anita Smith, Obert Skye, April Henry, Brian Karas, and Kimberly Willis Holt. She holds master degrees in English & American Literature from Boston College, and in Education from Teachers College, Columbia University.

Nancy Paulsen's Penguin imprint publishes fifteen books a year and focuses on picture books that are eye-opening and often funny, and fiction from diverse and distinct voices. These are the kinds of books that are adopted by book clubs and appear on state lists, generated by the votes of children. Recent picture books include Coretta Scott King Honor-winner Each Kindness by Jacqueline Woodson and E. B. Lewis, Looking at Lincoln by Maira Kalman, Ol’ Mama Squirrel by David Ezra Stein and Little Poems For Tiny Ears by Lin Oliver and Tomie dePaola. She publishes many picture book debuts, including the New York Times Bestseller Miss Maple’s Seeds by Eliza Wheeler, Dream Friends by You Byun, and Maple by Lori Nichols.

Neal Porter has been in and around the children’s book publishing industry for over thirty years, holding marketing, editorial, or executive positions at houses such as Farrar, Straus and Giroux, Atheneum, Orchard, Dorling Kindersley, and Walker Books UK. In 2000 he decided to step away from administration and focus exclusively on editing. That year he helped to found Roaring Brook Press, now an imprint of the Macmillan Children’s Book Group, where he is publisher of Neal Porter Books. Authors and illustrators he has worked with include Laura Vaccaro Seeger, Philip C. and Erin E. Stead, Nick Bruel, Ted Lewin, Ed and Rebecca Emberley, Ed Young, and Wendell Minor. Books he has edited have won numerous awards including the Caldecott Medal, two Caldecott Honors, two Theodore Geisel Honors, two Seibert Honors, the Boston Globe/Horn Book Award, the Orbis Pictus Award, and over thirty ALA Notable Citations.

Laura Vaccaro Seeger is a New York Times best-selling author and illustrator and a two-time winner of the Caldecott Honor Award for First the Egg and Green, winner of the New York Times Best Illustrated Book Award, the Boston Globe/Horn Book Award for Best Picture Book, and a two-time winner of the Theodor Seuss Geisel Honor Award. She is also the recipient of both the Massachusetts Reading Association and the New York Empire State awards for “Body of Work and Contribution to Children’s Literature”.

David Ezra Stein was born in Brooklyn, NY. By the time he was three, he was asking adults, "Wanna come to my room? Read books?" David says, “I’ll never forget the experience of sitting in a beloved lap and having a whole world open before me: a world brought to life by the pictures and the grown-up’s voice. That wonder is what I want to re-create in my own books.” Children's-book historian Leonard S. Marcus has called David "one of the most gifted younger artists working today." David's Interrupting Chicken was awarded a Caldecott Honor. Scholastic named it one of the top 100 books of all time for children. His books have been translated into eight languages. David lives with his wife and two small children in Kew Gardens, NY.

WORLD BUILDING-A HANDS-ON WORKSHOP:

Emma D. Dryden is the founder of drydenbks, a premier children’s editorial and publishing consultancy firm. Emma has edited over a thousand books for children and young readers and many of her titles hit bestseller lists in USA Today, the New York Times, the Washington Post, and Publishers Weekly. Books published under Emma's guidance have received numerous awards and medals, including but not limited to the Newbery Medal, Newbery Honor, and Caldecott Honor. Emma speaks regularly on craft, the digital landscape, and reinvention, and her blog Our Stories, Ourselves explores the intertwined themes of life and writing. On Twitter: @drydenbks

Arianne Lewin is an executive editor at G. P. Putnam’s Sons, an imprint of Penguin Random House. She edits picture books, middle grade novels, and young adult fiction. Her recent projects include the Geisel-award winner Up, Tall, and High; and the New York Times best-selling novels The 5th Wave and The Infinite Sea.

Krista Marino is an executive editor at Delacorte Press (Random House Children's Books) where she acquires and edits young adult and middle grade fiction. Some of the books on her list include the Maze Runner series by James Dashner, the Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel series by Michael Scott, and the Forest of Hands and Teeth books by Carrie Ryan. Other books include the young adult works of Frank Portman, Matt de la Peña, and Revolution, by Jennifer Donnelly. Krista is always looking for strong new voices, innovative concepts, and great stories for her list.

Antonia Markiet is senior executive editor at HarperCollins Children's Books. During her forty years at Harper, she's worked with Shel Silverstein, David Wiesner, Chris Van Allsburg, Maurice Sendak and Eric Carle. Since 1994, she has worked with the C.S. Lewis Estate on all things Narnia. She has always had a particular interest in both fantasy and sci-fi and early in her career edited books by Isaac Asimov and Gregory Maguire. She currently publishes Soman Chainani's The School for Good and Evil trilogy, Sarah Prineas' Magic Thief series, and an exciting new series, The Keepers, by Ted Sanders. In 2016, she will publish book one in Henry Neff's trilogy, Impyrium.

Henry Neff is the author and illustrator of The Tapestry (Random House) a five-book fantasy epic that has been nominated for multiple awards and translated into nineteen languages. His next project, Impyrium (HarperCollins), follows the adventures of 12-year-old Hazel, a gifted sorceress and last of the fabled Faeregine dynasty, and Hob, a 13-year-old boy who abandons a life of mining in the provinces for a chance to serve and spy in the capital. The first book is scheduled for 2016. Henry lives in Montclair, New Jersey, with his wife and two young sons. Visit www.henryhneff.com.

Brooks Sherman is a literary agent with the Bent Agency. He is a hands-on, editorial agent who delights in developing projects with his clients before bringing them to the attention of publishers. Brooks seeks projects that balance strong voice with gripping plot lines. (Stories that make him laugh earn extra points!) He is looking for middle grade fiction of all genres (particularly fantasy adventure and contemporary), humorous projects from author/illustrators, and young adult fiction of all types except paranormal romance. He would especially love to get his hands on a creepy and/or funny contemporary young adult project. On Twitter: @byobrooks

BUILDING YOUR FIRST WEBSITE:

Nick Confalone is a screen, TV, and children’s book writer. He’s written children’s animation for Disney Channel, Cartoon Network, and PBS.For Penguin Core Concepts he has written Ocean Monsters with Chelsea Confalone. His new book for Penguin Core Concepts Helicopters, is being released in February 2015. He spends way too much time on Twitter, Facebook, and Vine. On Twitter: @nickconfalone.

BLOGGERS:

Martha Brockenbrough is the author of five books for young readers: the YA novel Devine Intervention and The Dinosaur Tooth Fairy, a picture book. Both are with Arthur A. Levine at Scholastic, as are her forthcoming titles, The Game of Love and Death, another YA novel, and Love, Santa, another picture book. She also wrote the nonfiction middle grade Finding Bigfoot for Feiwel & Friends. In addition to her work on SCBWI's Team Blog, she is the founder of National Grammar Day and SPOGG, the Society for the Promotion of Good Grammar. She has worked as a journalist for over twenty years, and as a content strategist and marketer for more than a decade.

Jolie Stekly is a freelance writer and novelist, teacher, fitness instructor, and former SCBWI co-Regional Advisor of the Western Washington Chapter. She now directs the fall retreats for the region. One of Jolie’s greatest honors was being awarded SCBWI’s 2009 Member-of-the-Year.

Jaime Temairik’s debut picture book, How to Negotiate Everything, written by award-winning novelist Lisa Lutz, was published in 2013. She’s part of SCBWI’s TEAM BLOG, which covers SCBWI International Conferences (TEAM BLOG also covers Smothers Brothers songs). During the summer, Jaime teaches Illustrating Children's Picture Books for the University of Washington Extension program and she plans to blog about the class and the doughnuts she brings to class.

Lee Wind is The Captain of Team Blog, the official blogger for SCBWI: The Blog. A blogger, author and speaker, Lee holds a Master’s in Education and Media from Harvard. His articles and interviews with luminaries in the world of children’s literature have been published online and in print, including the 2011 and 2012 Children's Writer's And Illustrator's Market. His award-winning personal blog on Gay, Lesbian, Bi, Transgender, Queer and Questioning teen books and culture is I’m Here. I’m Queer. What the Hell Do I Read? Lee speaks to thousands of students and educators a year on ending bullying, smashing stereotypes, and empowering diversity.

Suzanne Young currently lives in Tempe, Arizona, where she teaches high school English. When not writing obsessively, Suzanne can be found daydreaming or reading romance novels. She is the author of several books for teens, including A Need So Beautiful and A Want So Wicked.