Oktoberfest 2025

Emily Daluga (she/her) is an editor at Chronicle Books who focuses mostly on middle-grade novels and kids graphic novels. Whether it be heartfelt contemporary fiction or funky genre fiction, she’s most drawn to stories that feature a diverse cast of queer characters, monsters of any kind, unexpected twists, and tug-at-your-heartstrings emotions. When not editing, she enjoys reading and writing in cozy coffee shops, seeing musicals with her partner, and overanalyzing bad horror movies. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Karly Dizon 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.

Prior to joining Andrea Brown Literary Agency, Sally spent more than fifteen years in children’s book marketing and publicity at a variety of publishers including Macmillan, Penguin, and Chronicle Books. More recently, she has worked as an independent consultant for global children’s book publishers and literacy-related non-profits. Sally lives in San Francisco, California, where she spends most of her free time taking videos of her cat. Sally is looking to represent a wide range of children’s book authors, illustrators, and author-illustrators. She is drawn to stories with a distinct voice, unexpected wit, aggressive pacing, punchy and/or emotionally resonant endings. When it comes to illustration, she gravitates to versatile artists using traditional mediums and those with a unique take on color, texture, perspective, and unexpected details.

Stefanie joined Ladderbird Literary Agency in April 2021 after spending her early career advocating for marginalized folks in publishing as a technical editor at a national laboratory, senior editor at the literary journal F(r)iction, and book coach and editor for women of color. She is one-half Mexican, one-quarter Japanese, and one-quarter Irish. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in English and a Bachelor of Arts in Communications, both from the University of California at Davis. Aside from reading, she enjoys hiking, swimming, baking strange new things, and playing the piano. Her favorite place in the world is Yosemite National Park. You can find her on Twitter @agentstefanie, on Instagram @agent.stefanie, or on BlueSky @agentstefanie.bsky.social.

Marissa Moss has written more than seventy children’s books, from picture books to middle-grade and young adult novels. Best known for the Amelia’s Notebook series, her books are popular with teachers and children alike. Her young adult novel, A Soldier’s Secret: the Incredible True Story of Sarah Emma Edmonds, a Civil War Hero, won the California Silver Book Award. Barbed Wire Baseball, a picture book biography won the California Book Award, Gold medal and was named an ALA Notable Book and a Notable Book for Social Studies this year. Her books have been translated into French, Spanish, Chinese, Indonesian, Korean, and Polish. Her first adult book, Last Things: a Graphic Memoir of Loss and Love, won the Cowan Award. In 2013, Moss founded Creston Books, starting the small children’s press with a kickstarter campaign. Dedicated to strong storytelling, the creator-centered house hopes to give debut and established authors a bigger role in their books, from design to marketing. Each list of four titles has a good balance of picture book and older readers, debut authors and well-known names, and strives to showcase the very best in children’s books. Of the nineteen titles published so far, a third have earned starred reviews from Kirkus, Booklist, and Publishers Weekly, three are Junior Library Guild selections, one was named a Notable Book for Social Studies, one an Outstanding Trade Science Book, Cook Honor Book, Eureka Gold Medal Winner, and Amelia Bloomer book, and three made the Kirkus Best Books lists.

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.

Nadia Salomon is a #PitMad Success Story and award-winning author of GOODNIGHT GANESHA, which is a Bank Street Best Book, ALSC DIA Selection, and #NCTEWow book. Her new book, A VOICE OF HOPE: THE MYRLIE EVERS WILLIAMS STORY, released on Sept. 24, 2024! She writes on themes of South Asian and Caribbean culture, STEM, nonfiction, and humor. Nadia is an award-winning journalist and holds a journalism degree from Emerson College. When not participating in her own goodnight rituals or spinning silly yarns... you'll find her working closely with SCBWI, 12x12 Challenge, Kids Comics Unite, and Storyteller Academy.

Irene Vásquez completed a B.A. in Ethnicity, Race, and Migration and English at Yale. In 2021, with the support of the Pulitzer Center, Irene reported on environmental justice advocacy and healing in Black and Indigenous communities on the Louisiana coast. By day, Irene works as an associate editor at Levine Querido, where they edited the USA Today bestseller, The Free People's Village. When not in the world of books, Irene likes drinking coffee, watching the WNBA, and reminding folks that the South has something to say.

Monica Wesolowska writes for both adults and children. Her most recent children’s picture book Elbert in the Air was named a “Best Children’s Book of the Year” by Bank Street College of Education. Her debut picture book Leo + Lea won an SCBWI Crystal Kite Award. She’s also published widely for adults, including the memoir Holding Silvan: A Brief Life which was named a “Best Book of the Year” by Library Journal and The Boston Globe. In addition to writing, Monica is a respected creative writing instructor and editor. For over twenty years, she’s taught at Stanford Continuing Studies, UC Berkeley Extension, Left Margin Lit, Book Passage, and elsewhere around the Bay Area while also running an independent editing business. A graduate of Reed College and a former fellow at the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, she is the current co-coordinator for SCBWI, Alameda County. She lives with her family in her hometown of Berkeley, California.

Natasha Yim is a children’s author and freelance writer. She has published eleven picture books including, Goldy Luck and the Three Pandas (Charlesbridge Publishing, 2014), a Junior Library Guild and Scholastic Book Club selection, Mulan's Lunar New Year (Disney Press, 2018), Luna's Yum Yum Dim Sum (Charlesbridge Publishing, 2020) and Lunar New Year (Words & Pictures, Quarto Books, 2023). She has also written for the children's magazines, "Highlights for Children", "Appleseeds", "Faces", and "Muse". Natasha's new books, Luna and the Case of the Missing Mooncakes, another book in Charlesbridge Publishing's Storytelling Math series, will be released on Aug. 12, 2025. Her first board book, No School For Me (Change is Hard), part of the Chicken Soup for the Soul Babies series, was released on Aug. 5, 2025. Natasha grew up in Malaysia, Singapore, and Hong Kong and loves to write about people and cultures from around the world.