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Up Close with Publishing Professionals

$150

For SCBWI Members Only

Sunday,  February 13, 2022

This additional session offers SCBWI members the opportunity to hear from acquiring children’s book agents and editors. The agents and editors leading each breakout session will discuss the types of books they acquire or represent, what keeps them turning the pages of a submission, common mistakes they’ve seen in their slush piles, and what factors they consider in acquiring books and working with authors and illustrators. Each faculty member will provide attendees with their query  guidelines.

Participants will choose one session to attend in each of the two time slots.  If you are unable to attend the live sessions you have registered for, recordings will be available to view until March 31, 2022.

Spots for the Up Close with Publishing Professionals are limited.  Because of this, there will be no refunds and no changes made after registration.

Session One

9am-10am Pacific / 12pm-1pm Eastern

Choose one of the following faculty sessions to attend:

	Alison S. Weiss has been in publishing for more than ten years. She is currently acquisitions editor at Pixel+Ink (part of the Trustbridge Media Group), a publisher focused exclusively on series publishing with transmedia potential. She’s worked on many series, including Twig and Turtle by Jennifer Richard Jacobson, The Great Peach Experiment by Erin Soderberg Downing, and the forthcoming The Curious League Of Detectives And Thieves by Tom Phillips. She’s run her own editorial consultancy, working with publishers including Simon & Schuster, Audible, and Arctis, as well as private clients, and was editorial director at Sky Pony Press, where her list included William C. Morris Finalist Devils Within by S.F. Henson, the Project Droid series by New York Times best-selling author Nancy Krulik and Amanda Burwasser, illustrated by Mike Moran, the Timekeeper trilogy by Tara Sim, and the Mahabharata-inspired Celestial Trilogy by Sangu Mandanna. In 2016 she was named a Publishers Weekly Star Watch Honoree. She’s been trying to live up to the title ever since. You can follow her on Twitter @alioop7 and learn more about Pixel+Ink at www.pixelandinkbooks.com.
	Alyza Liu is an associate editor at Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, assisting Krista Vitola and Alexa Pastor on their lists while building her own. Previously, she assisted Justin Chanda and Denene Millner. Prior to Simon & Schuster, she studied at New York University, where she graduated magna cum laude, majoring in East Asian Studies and minoring in English and Studio Art. She is looking primarily for books written by authors of color, queer authors, and disabled authors across all age ranges and formats (excepting board books), as well as translated genre fiction from Latin America, Africa, and Asia. She is most drawn to emotionally driven stories with strong voices, atmospheric writing, and complicated characters with a fresh point of view. She’s also a big fan of monsters, mean girls, and wuxia.
	Andrea Welch is executive editor at Beach Lane Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing. She has the pleasure of working with a long list of wonderful authors and illustrators, including Liz Garton Scanlon, Ashley Wolff, and April Pulley Sayre. Books she has edited include What Do You Do With a Voice Like That? by Chris Barton, illustrated by Ekua Holmes; Life by Cynthia Rylant, illustrated by Brendan Wenzel; The Antlered Ship by Dashka Slater, illustrated by Terry & Eric Fan; and the New York Times best-selling LMNO Peas series by Keith Baker.
	Foyinsi Adegbonmire is an associate editor at Feiwel & Friends, an imprint of Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group. She acquires middle grade and young adult fiction, from contemporary to mystery to grounded science-fiction, and enjoys lighthearted stories with conversational narrative voices. She’s also in love with romance and forever searching for fluffy YA contemporary romances. She was named a 2021 PW Star Watch Honoree and her acquisitions include New York Times best seller Ace of Spades by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé.
	Janna Morishima is a literary agent at New Leaf Literary Agency. She specializes in graphic novels and visual storytelling. Janna currently represents a diverse range of comics creators, including Misako Rocks, Shauna Grant, Andi Watson, and Black Sands Entertainment. Janna started her career at Scholastic, where she co-founded the Graphix imprint. Later, she was the director of the Kids Group for Diamond Book Distributors, and launched and ran the NYC Department of Education’s “NYC Reads 365” literacy initiative. She is the founder of Kids Comics Unite, an online community for kids and YA graphic novel professionals. Find out more at http://jannaco.co and https://www.kidscomicsunite.com/.
	Jas Perry is a Manhattan-based Literary Agent with KT Literary representing middle grade and young adult fiction and Graphic Novels. Jas is Black/Japanese and represents a diverse range of strong voices with a focus on BIPOC, QTPOC, and/or disabled creators. Jas is the upcoming Director of Special Projects at People of Color in Publishing, a We Need Diverse Books grantee, a former freelance editor, and editorial intern with Levine Querido and Scholastic/Arthur A. Levine Books. She attended New York University in Florence & London before graduating with a BA in English from the City University of New York. Jas has served on the Manuscript Evaluation committee for Reese’s Book Club x WNDB’s inaugural LitUp fellowship, as well as on the judging panel for WNDB’s Walter Dean Meyers Grants for diverse writers and illustrators. Find her online at jas-perry.com.
	Jazmia Young is an associate agent at Curtis Brown Ltd. She received her bachelor’s degree in English with a concentration in Creative Writing at the City College of New York and was a graduate of the Publishing Certificate Program at CCNY. She is interested in representing children’s books–picture books through YA–focusing on middle grade fiction/nonfiction with the goal of amplifying underrepresented voices and experiences. She particularly loves stories with friendship ties, complicated family dynamics, and grief or loss. Being a New York native, anything based in the great NYC has her heart. Jazmia is also the administrative assistant of the Association of American Literary Agents.
	Jennifer Rofé is an agent with Andrea Brown Literary Agency. She works primarily in the middle grade and picture book spaces, and especially loves working with author-illustrators and illustrators. Overall, she seeks masterful writing, distinct voices and perspectives, and richly developed characters. In middle grade novels, she is open to all genres–literary, commercial, contemporary, magical, fantastical, historical, and everything in between. She especially appreciates stories that make her both laugh and cry, and that offer an unexpected view into the pre-teen/teen experience. In picture books, she likes funny, character-driven projects; beautifully imagined and written stories; and milestone moments with a twist. Ultimately, she longs to have an emotional response to the ending of a picture book–be it a guffaw, hurrah!, or a heart-tug. Jennifer is currently accepting queries from only middle grade writers (if in addition to middle grade you write in other children’s categories, such as YA, you are welcome and encouraged to query), author-illustrators, and illustrators. She currently accepts YA queries through conference events or by referral only.
	John Cusick is a senior vp and literary agent with Folio Literary Management, representing a diverse list of award winners and New York Times best sellers. His focus is middle grade, young adult, and crossover fiction. He is also the author of the YA novels Girl Parts and Cherry Money Baby (Candlewick Press), and the middle grade Dimension Why duology (HarperCollins). He tweets @johnmcusick and discusses the craft and business of writing on YouTube at youtube.com/c/AgentBrainWriterBrain. His submission guidelines are available on Publishers Marketplace: https://www.publishersmarketplace.com/members/JohnC/

Session Two

11am-12pm Pacific / 2pm-3pm Eastern

Choose one of the following faculty sessions to attend:

	Alexandra Penfold is a literary agent with Upstart Crow Literary Agency and the New York Times best-selling author of All Are Welcome, illustrated by Suzanne Kaufman. She represents works for all age ranges and across genres. Some of the books Alexandra has represented include SCBWI Golden Kite winner Boats for Papa by Jessixa Bagley; Be the Change by Arun Gandhi and Bethany Hegedus, illustrated by Evan Turk; and Quackers by Liz Wong. Clients include New York Times best-selling illustrators Elizabeth Baddeley and Suzanne Kaufman; and authors Bethany Hegedus, Adam Lehrhaupt, and Stephanie Ledyard, among others. Alexandra is the author of several books for children: Eat, Sleep, Poop, illustrated by Jane Massey; We Are Brothers, We Are Friends, illustrated by Eda Kaban; The Littlest Viking, illustrated by Isabel Roxas; and Food Truck Fest, illustrated by Mike Dutton. Find her on Twitter @agentpenfold or www.alexpenfoldbooks.com.
	Andrea Welch is executive editor at Beach Lane Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing. She has the pleasure of working with a long list of wonderful authors and illustrators, including Liz Garton Scanlon, Ashley Wolff, and April Pulley Sayre. Books she has edited include What Do You Do With a Voice Like That? by Chris Barton, illustrated by Ekua Holmes; Life by Cynthia Rylant, illustrated by Brendan Wenzel; The Antlered Ship by Dashka Slater, illustrated by Terry & Eric Fan; and the New York Times best-selling LMNO Peas series by Keith Baker.
	Jennifer Rofé is an agent with Andrea Brown Literary Agency. She works primarily in the middle grade and picture book spaces, and especially loves working with author-illustrators and illustrators. Overall, she seeks masterful writing, distinct voices and perspectives, and richly developed characters. In middle grade novels, she is open to all genres–literary, commercial, contemporary, magical, fantastical, historical, and everything in between. She especially appreciates stories that make her both laugh and cry, and that offer an unexpected view into the pre-teen/teen experience. In picture books, she likes funny, character-driven projects; beautifully imagined and written stories; and milestone moments with a twist. Ultimately, she longs to have an emotional response to the ending of a picture book–be it a guffaw, hurrah!, or a heart-tug. Jennifer is currently accepting queries from only middle grade writers (if in addition to middle grade you write in other children’s categories, such as YA, you are welcome and encouraged to query), author-illustrators, and illustrators. She currently accepts YA queries through conference events or by referral only.
	Karly Dizon is an associate agent at Fuse Literary. She was born in the Philippines and immigrated to Northern California as a child. Professionally, Karly began her career in the publishing industry as a reader for Tricia Skinner at Fuse. Her responsibilities quickly grew and she was promoted to literary assistant, a role that also included a spot on the production team of Short Fuse. Karly has a deep love for characters with a strong voice and seeks out stories she can get lost in. Diversity in genre fiction is a major bonus. She specializes in picture books, middle grade, and young adult genre fiction (fantasy, science fiction, and contemporary).
	Kat Brzozowski is a senior editor at Feiwel & Friends. She has edited a wide range of young adult fiction, including award winners and national best sellers. Some of her authors include R.L. Stine, Anna-Marie McLemore, and Leslie Odom, Jr. 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; mysteries, suspense and thrillers; and sci-fi and fantasy that’s mostly rooted in this world. She is especially interested in YA with crossover appeal, characters from marginalized backgrounds, and strong voices. She’s also interested in select YA nonfiction, middle grade novels, and picture books.
	Kayla Cichello is an agent at Upstart Crow Literary, open to picture books through YA and illustrators. A former conference coordinator for the Summer and Winter Conferences for SCBWI, she most recently logged several years as assistant to senior agent Jennifer Rofé at the Andrea Brown Literary Agency. She has met multiple clients from SCBWI events, including author-illustrator Kirbi Fagan, illustrator of Summer Of The Tree Army (Sleeping Bear, 2021) and Ana Otaru, author of the upcoming Masquerade For Grandpa (Atheneum/S&S, 2023).
	Laurel Symonds joined The Bent Agency in Fall 2018 after nearly a decade of experience in the publishing industry.  What she loves most about being an agent is being the author’s advocate through all the parts of the publication process. Laurel represents young adult and middle grade fiction, graphic novels, picture books, and select nonfiction for children and teens. In every category, she is seeking voices that have previously been underrepresented and stories that have been overlooked. Laurel’s profile and submission guidelines are at www.thebentagency.com and she can also be found online on Twitter and Instagram (@LaurelSymonds).
	Meghan Maria McCullough is an associate editor at Levine Querido. Previously, she was an editorial assistant at Arthur A. Levine Books, an imprint of Scholastic. Prior to joining Scholastic, she worked in marketing at Penguin Random House. She holds an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from The New School. Meghan is on the hunt for voicey, character-driven YA and MG that explores themes of multiculturalism, identity, mental health, and family history. She is open to any genre, although she does have a soft spot for contemporary YA. She would also love to acquire a fun, story-driven picture book that may or may not contain a “lesson.” Lesson-first picture books tend to put her to sleep!
	Trisha de Guzman is an editor at Farrar Straus Giroux Books for Young Readers, acquiring and editing picture books, middle grade and young adult novels. Born in the Philippines, she immigrated to NYC from Manila when she was seven years old. She’s passionate about amplifying BIPOC creators and making kidlit a more inclusive place. In her spare time, she likes to climb rocks, ride bikes, and revel in nature. Visit her at trishadeguzman.com or on Twitter at @trishadeg.