Oktoberfest 2025

Jennifer March Soloway is a senior agent with the Andrea Brown Literary Agency. Agenting is her dream job. She loves working with writers and illustrators, and nothing gives her greater joy than to help an author elevate their story. She enjoys all genres and kidlit categories, from laugh-out-loud picture books to young adult. A suspense junkie, she adores action-packed thrillers and mysteries. Throw in a dash of romance, and she’s hooked! But as much as she loves a good thriller, her favorite novels focus on family, relationships, sexuality, mental health, or addiction. Regardless of genre, she is most drawn to emotionally compelling voices and fresh perspectives underrepresented in literature. To learn more about Jennifer, follow her on Twitter, @marchsoloway, and find her full wish list at

With a strong background in editing and writing, Michael enjoys teaching at workshops and conferences to help develop emerging writers. He is fluent in Spanish and speaks conversational French. Before joining Veritas, Michael had professions as diverse as programming simulators for nuclear submarines and owning an inn in Vermont.

Karly is an agent at Fuse Literary building KidLit universes with stories that matter. She first joined the agency in 2016 as a reader for Tricia Skinner and then promoted to Literary Assistant soon after. In 2019, she was promoted to associate agent. Karly has built a career with a strong background as a freelance editor as well as extensive experience with graphic design and marketing. She is looking to develop long-term career authors and nurture their entire writing journey as a strong editorial agent with marketing, social media, and design support. Karly is also the KidLit track coordinator for the San Francisco Writers Conference. Karly’s clients have won or been nominated for such awards as Kirkus Best Books of the Year, NCTE Notable Books List, SLJ Best Book of the Year, and Kirkus Prize Finalist.

Rachel Kent started at Books & Such as a summer intern while she was attending U.C. Davis and then, after graduating, worked part-time at the agency as an assistant. Rachel has been an agent with Books & Such since 2007, and has more than fifteen years of experience and training working closely with Janet Kobobel Grant and the Books & Such team. Through Rachel’s work at the agency and with authors, she has gained an understanding of the publishing process, contract negotiation, and what it takes to successfully write and market a book. Rachel’s goal is to develop strong relationships with her authors and to help them to develop lasting relationships with their editors and publishers. She has worked with many authors to place their books with publishers and to help shape their writing careers. Rachel acquires fiction and nonfiction projects and is open to children’s picture book submissions. She lives with her family in Northern California.

Summer Dawn Laurie entered the world of children’s book publishing in 1997 at Chronicle Books for Children, working in both the marketing and editorial departments. In 2000 she joined Tricycle Press, the children's imprint of Ten Speed Press where as Senior Editor she worked on over 50 books published across varied genres—picture books, board books, novels, activity books, fiction and nonfiction. After seven years she became an independent editor, working directly with authors and publishers. Since 2007 Summer has worked as a children’s bookseller, starting the Wild Girls Mother-Daughter Book Club and running a monthly children's writers' critique group. For 15 years, Summer managed the children’s and teen programming of San Francisco’s annual Litquake literary festival. She was the founding chair of the NCIBA Children's Alliance and currently sits on advisory councils for both BAC Group and the ABC Group of the ABA.

Ariel Richardson is a Senior Editor in Children's at Chronicle Books in San Francisco. She's a versatile bookmaker, comfortable with everything from creating large publishing programs and ideating in-house ‘homegrown’ ideas, to participating in high-profile auctions. She has demonstrated successes, such as Invisible Things landing on the New York Times bestseller list its first week on sale and This Is How We Do It being the most reprinted book in the company the year it released. They made There Is a Rainbow, a picture book about the pandemic, in under 6 months from acquisition to publication. And Seen and Unseen: What Dorothea Lange, Toyo Miyatake, and Ansel Adams’s Photographs Reveal About the Japanese American Incarceration won the Robert F. Sibert Medal and Bologna Ragazzi Award. She has worked at three independent bookstores on two coasts, and has a masters degree in Children’s Literature from Simmons University.